[Genealogy] Christina's Name, Some Simple Things, Order Presentations Now and Save
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Sun Oct 11 21:12:24 CDT 2026
Genealogy Update
11 October 2026
** That Doesn't Look LIke Christina to Me
** Upcoming Presentations--save and order early!
** Some Simple Things
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That Doesn't Look Like Christina to Me
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*note: This is reprinted from our old blog and was originally published in
May of 2015. *
Transcribing foreign language records is not always as difficult as one
might expect. There’s a difference though between transcribing and
translating.
This image comes from the “family register” of the Immanuel Lutheran Church
in Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois, and is part of the digital
images associated with *Ancestry.com*‘s “Evangelical Lutheran Church of
America, Records, 1875-1940.”
The notations on the image below only transcribes the first names of the
family members listed in the entry. I used the script guide from an old
Family History Library research guide
<https://feefhs.org/sites/default/files/guide/german-gothic.pdf> to help me
through the transcription process.
The entries for Christina geb. Uffkes and Benjamin Rolfs are shown below.
The individual letters in “Christina geb.” have been circled in the image
below:
They are a pretty close match to the sample images in the guide to Gothic
script.
Pastor had very nice handwriting.
Too bad others didn’t.
Don't Miss Our Upcoming Presentations
*prices go up after initial release*
*** Using AI to Maximize Your Full-Text Searching*
*** BLM Tract Books and 2026 Search Site Update*
*** US Local Land Records*
*** More Land Platting with AI*
*** Getting Most from US Census Records*
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Using AI to Maximize Your Full-Text Searching
-----------------------------------
Enhance your Full-Text Searching with AI!
*Using AI to Maximize Your Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch*
Are you getting the most from full-text search? Are you considering all the
options? Are you feeling overwhelmed even though you know what the purposes
of all the boxes are?
AI can help organize and structure your full-text searches at FamilySearch.
It can be used to create a customized research log to track all the various
searches you perform at the site and all you need to do is indicate the
search was performed and what the results were.
It is still important for you to know how full-text search at FamilySearch
works–you cannot effectively problem solve if you don’t–but AI can make
your full-text searches more efficient. The best use of full-text search is
using it to find as much as possible–not just the low hanging fruit that
one often finds when simply typing in a name. Could there be more that you
could find with full-text search?
We will see in this presentation how to use AI to take your use of
full-text search to the next level.
You will get the most out of this presentation if you are already familiar
with how to use full-text search.
Order a copy of the AI presentation only–release date of 18 October
2026–for $16.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QUZM9TS8GBEVQ>
(introductory rate).
Order a copy of our other full-text search presentations:
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>–download
immediate
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>–download
immediate
------------------------------------
BLM Tract Books and 2026 Search Site Update
-----------------------------------
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Tract Books and the 2026 BLM Land Patent
Search site update
This presentation will discuss what the BLM tract books are (they keep
track of complete and incomplete federal land transactions), how to search
them on FamilySearch–there are multiple ways (focusing on manual searches
for when the indexed do not work), what clues can be gathered from these
records, accessing additional records suggested in the tract books,
documenting your searches of these books. Also included will be a
discussion of the current iteration of the Bureau of Land Management
Federal Land Patent search site.
Presentation to be released on 18 October–$17.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UQKGYQSX63Z3Y>
------------------------------------
US Local Land Records
-----------------------------------
*Land records have you confused? We have the answer.*
Reading the Deed Books: US Local Land Records for Genealogists
There are a lot of records your ancestor may have avoided being listed in.
But if he bought or sold land, there was a record created to document that
transfer and a copy of that record was probably made at the local court
house. Even if your ancestor never bought or sold the land he owned, he may
appear in local land records. Deeds are some of the most reliable records
we have, and genealogists overlook them all the time.
This presentation covers the land records kept at the county and town level
in the United States and the general structure and form of a deed itself
along with land record terminology. We'll talk about how the records are
usually organized, how to use grantor and grantee indexes (and what to do
when they fail you), and why the record you need might be sitting in a
parent county formed fifty years earlier. Local land records are not just
deeds, we'll look at mortgages, releases, powers of attorney, and the land
divisions that followed a death.
We'll also spend time on what a deed can tell you beyond the sale itself.
The legal phrasing often hides useful clues, and the details people skim
past, like witnesses, neighbors, or a wife releasing her dower, can point
to relatives and connections you didn't know about. We will look at
examples from a variety of US locations.
Searching these records can always be done onsite, but we will also talk
about accessing them where possible via FamilySearch (including manual
browsing and using full-text search where applicable).
You should be comfortable with basic research before signing up.
Presentation and handout included.
Receive recording only by 19 October 2026 for $15.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>
Purchase recording for delivery by 19 October 2026 and participate in a
one-time question and answers session regarding land deeds on 26 October
starting at 7:30 pm central time via zoom
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>
.
Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy forever forty
years, descends from generations of land-owning farmers, and has utilized
land records in his own research extensively during that time. He is a
former community college math instructor with a master’s degree in
mathematics.
------------------------------------
More Land Platting with AI
-----------------------------------
This session will expand on the “Metes and Bounds with AI” presentation. It
will include additional and more convoluted examples of metes and bounds
properties, discuss platting out properties in federal land states
involving sections and townships, and include an example of a metes and
bounds description in a federal land state. This session presupposes that
the listener has a basic understanding of land record terminology and knows
how to locate land deed records as those topics are not a part of this
presentation.
Release date: 15 October 2025.
Early order price: $18.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=C4JG43VE263BW>
Order includes audiovisual file and handout.
---------------------------------------------------------
Getting the Most from US Census Records
----------------------------------------------------------
This session will help you to get the most from United States census
records–covering from 1790 through 1950. We will start with what you should
do when you find any census enumeration–which is not to transcribe it. We
will highlight the questions asked, talk about using enumerator
instructions, see how to get as much from a census enumeration as possible,
determine when a census suggests other records be searched, and more.
We will cover typical errors and how those arose, concerns about
reliability of the informant (did they just guess at information?), reasons
why people lie, and more.
We will talk about research strategies for people who are difficult to
find, ways names get written and transcribed and how to formulate a census
search plan those individuals who are difficult to locate.
The presentation will last approximately ninety minutes. Purchase includes
media file and handout.
Pre-release order price is $15.99.
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H4MQXGKGGXM9U>
Release date: 16 October 2026.
--------------------
Webinars
--------------------
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
AI as a Genealogy Consultant
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-as-a-genealogy-consultant/>
--New!
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Female Ancestors
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/researching-female-ancestors/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-
Metes and Bounds With AI–platting and analysis
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-for-metes-and-bounds-deed-analysis/>
-
Unburying Funeral Home Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/unburying-funeral-home-records/>
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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