Current projects

Everyone has multiple projects going on at once. Here are some of mine, at least how they relate to genealogy.

For a few years I've been working on the descendants of George Dinterman, born in 1800. As one of those descendants I hit one of the typical problems genealogists have, finding two people with the same name and same basic age. In this case it turned out to be two men named Jacob Dinterman. Though one was ten years older then the other, they both died in 1907 and both had married women named Sarah.

In trying to solve the problem of which Jacob was my ancestor I started tracing all of the descendants of both men. Luckily, the majority of those descendants lived in and around Frederick. After awhile I found that I had found almost all of the descendants, named Dinterman, of both men. Only having to step back  a generation or two meant being able to get back to the George Dinterman. I've finished most of the work, I now need to transcribe a few wills and try and find out what happened to a handful of people before I can finish up on a one name study of the Dinterman name.

My second project I've been working on is locating and documenting the cemeteries of Frederick county. Two resources I've been using is Jacob Holdcraft's Names in Stone book and the Find a Grave web site to help locate the cemeteries. While Holdcraft's book is a great resource, he lists the names of the farms and other out of date place and road names. And while Find a Grave is another great resource, there are mistakes in locations or no location at all.

So, what I've been doing is taking the Wee-Strom out and trying to locate these cemeteries. I take a handheld GPS and record the location. With smaller cemeteries I've been also taking photos and if I can, making hand drawn plots of the stones. Those photos I put up on Find a Grave if they aren't already there, and I add or correct the cemetery's location if need be. When I finish I hope to be able to find the majority of the cemeteries that Holdcraft found, though I know a few at least have been destroyed or moved.