How do I put an endorsement on your website?
From: Lois [Jurss] (katlynn@cfl.rr.com)
Sent: Tue 6/02/09 4:30 PM
To: Karl and Lynell Sala (karlmsala@msn.com)
[Hi Karl!] Here is something I sent to my genealogy buddies –
For me my brick wall was for my maternal ancestry. You see[,] my [Reinhol(d)(t) Horn, his wife & children] great grandparents all immigrated to the US around 1860.
I knew everything as far back as them getting on the boat to come [to the USA]. What I could not do was research that involved going back in to Prussia. If any of you have previously tried to do this, you would have learned that there is much more than a language barrier.
In 1920, Germany officially changed the alphabet. As if reading any old handwritten document isn’t challenging, try using a different language in an alphabet [and handscript] that has been changed. Several years ago I asked some people that I worked with to read something handwritten in [the old] German [handwriting]. They explained to me that only a few of the very old Germans know how to read this.
And so I had given up on making any further finds overseas.
[In 2007, by telephone, I was referred to] a man who is a [long-time, proven] professional German genealogist. [Based on the data I gave him of what I already knew about my immigrant ancestral family, Karl-Michael Sala aka GermanGenealogist.com] told me that he could make progress where I had made none. [I was pleasantly surprised that Karl even asked me in advance as to whether I would compensate him IF he found the place of origin for my ancestor! I agreed. I passed on my information and He clearly found it, so I paid him the reasonable fee, for he was extremely successful within just four hours’ research.]
He found my mother’s grandfather and several more family members [having been born, married & died] in Prussia. Where they live in today’s world is actually [now known as] Poland. So again, there is a huge complexity here to understand[, i.e.] not only the written language but the many border changes [in several modern-day countries of Eastern Europe of what was Prussia & partially what we all now call “Germany.”]
He also worked on my mothers maternal line (KREUDER) and was able to find information that is just amazing. The end result is a book that detailed my ancestry and even has [digital graphically embedded images] of the original documents.
I offer this letter to you all as testament to a very [personable,] talented and professional researcher[: Karl-Michael Sala aka GermanGenealogist.com 602-503-0775 = 1-888-456-7252 (both 24-hr #s; leave a detailed message]
Lois Lynn Jurss
