German's Fest Milwaukee in 2025!

Milwaukee's annual event would've been the perfect place to celebrate posting of the Epstein Files on Ancestry! Be sure to buy a beer & visit the German Genealogy gals in the Culture Tent. 😁

Der Volksfreund in 1848... The Peoples' Friend, "Devoted to Equal Rights"

An old "German guy" - a naturalized US citizen - had a beer-scented complaint for me about my display at German Fest: "The first German paper was published in 1944, NOT 1844!" he stated emphatically. "Nope" I said, "publishing in Milwaukee spanned 1844 to 1950." "1944!", "1844", "1944!", "1844". He eventually walked away. Another contradiction by other German Fest attendees followed. They had delivered the old Milwaukee Herold in the city AFTER 1950, one even worked in the office! But the publisher had left the City of Milwaukee in 1950 or shortly thereafter, but keeping the name of the paper.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, found in Milwaukee's genealogy circles ...

Recently a cluster of genealogy hacks went on the attack for my posting many of Holy Trinity Cemetery's lost burial records at Find-a-Grave. They complained to Find-a-Grave that my sources do not mention the cemetery. Admin. threats followed that these memorials would be changed to "burial unknown". But those whiners, who have more ambition than smarts, were wrong! 😄

Then an Admin. demanded I reveal specific sources used for my transcription of church registers specifying the cemetery. Imagine an LDS / FHL employee NOT knowing the source of church records? 😌

Then followed a new tack concerning my helpful research leads into Milwaukee's German newspapers: "Stop forcing volunteers to use your index at the library." Those valuable leads don't satisfy today's demand for instant gratification taught by the Ancestry retail site. Or maybe standard look-up requests as a library service by MPL were refused, or lacking, or both? It's easy to request a look-up in a specific resource when a name and death date are supplied. 😏

One volunteer demanded I post clippings & citations at Ancestry for her to copy. 😂

Not only do these people lack research skills, but they've also proved to be especially malicious and vindictive. My effort to post the bulk of lost records for Holy Trinity Cemetery - from its founding through 1909 - is largely complete. That was accomplished just in time before Find-a-Grave vindictively terminated my access to my account there. 😇