Chattahoochee

33-1/2 years makes a generation. In generations past, because of wars and disease, this was about the life expectancy of a person. In the 21st century, we enjoy good medicine and a better way. ” We have come a long way, baby.” Because the past was riveted with uncertainty, there are bundles of issues to consider while researching the family history. The researcher must consider the era in which he is working. Consider, up until about the 16th century, documents and old wills were written in Latin. Not only was the language different, but the elegant archaic script poses other problems. Although the dark (seldom fading) Indian ink written with a feather pen survives even to this day, it is not always possible to read the words or their meaning. Not without education in the past. When I was attending school, we were taught cursive writing, however, it did not contain the fancy looping effect that was employed fifty or a hundred years earlier. Although the era of Queen Victoria was during the late 19th century, most people are ignorant that there is a double-loop for (double “s”), and transcribe it as a “p” instead. Although I have read old records dating back to 1400, it is still necessary to employ visual aids. One essential aid is knowledge of the wording of legal documents, like deeds, wills, bonds, etc. If one knows that wording by heart, then it remains to work out the literal names such as the difference between capital letters and little letters in common names. Ancient writing styles (or early modern) are not taught in schools. In fact, I doubt if the average person can read the written word of the Victorian Age. Also, European children were taught Latin, English, and French. Before the coronation of King George, he only spoke German, thus, of necessity, he had to learn the English language! Yet, German immigrants populated America during the 17th and 18th centuries settling in German communities for obvious reasons, and there are old wills to be discovered, written in German, with an old-style flourish. So, how ignorant are we? Can we read the correspondence and documents of yesteryear? Or, do we procrastinate waiting for someone else to transcribe them for us? I have heard the rhetoric that Christopher Columbus raped tribal girls when he explored America. Yet, has anyone read his Journal? As it turns out, Columbus was deeply religious, and the journal in his own handwriting stated that he felt that God had sent him to find the New World. My question is this? How can such a brave explorer be judged by future reflections who had not or could not have read the explorer’s journal, written by his own hand in the Spanish language which went untranslated for hundreds of years?