Book Reviews

HOW TO READ GERMAN CHURCH RECORDS WITHOUT KNOWING MUCH GERMAN!

by Arta F. Johnson
48 pages paper booklet $5.50 (see Chapter bookstore to order).

A primer, a beginners book designed for researchers who have no knowledge of the "Old German Script" language. It is not intended to be a course in the language, only the essential vocabulary and minimal grammar of the day.

You will find help words to look for within the records of births, baptisms, confirmation, marriage and death. Word translations from German to English found among the records. Illustrations of the written German Script, often times Latin, words translated into English.

She explains the pitfalls to be aware of when reading these documents. A chapter is dedicated to the "Standard Numbering System". The various international symbols used by genealogists around the world. A vocabulary containing the most used words from church records.

The book has a wealth of information within its 48 pages for someone who wants to learn and become familiar with their German records.

WOODEN SHOE HOLLOW: Charlotte Pieper's Cincinnati German Novel!

edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann
275 pages; paper; maps, photographs; notes; index
Little Miami Publishing Company $22.50
48 pages paper booklet $5.50

The book contains two parts the first part is a forward by Dr. Tolzmann with photographs and history of the Pieper Family and many of the farmers who made up the area known as Winton Place today. Most of these farmers came from north western Germany. The second part begins the story by Charlotte Pieper of those early days.

A historical novel that illustrates the turn of the 20th century of German-American heritage. It takes place in Wooden Shoe Hollow and is based on real people and places. It follows a young immigrant German woman, Rica Heber, in her desperate attempt to escape her homeland. She finds herself living among the truck farmers in Cincinnati, Ohio area. A German settlement of German-Americans. While trying to ignore her problems she learns how these new immigrants grow, love, play and survive in their new country.

I found this book informative and enjoyable, lending its stories to my own ancestors lives who owned a small piece of land in Wooden Shoe Hollow. The place where by father was born..