Thank you
for participating in the Most Holy Trinity project. The last set has been
delivered to Don Eckerle who will format the information for use in an Access
database and once the new German Genealogy Group webmaster deals with the
current backlog, you will see the MHT indices on the GGG website.
MHT will be
by far the largest church index on that website. We have recorded over 6,000
marriages between 1842 and 1940 and over 25,000 baptisms. This all started late
in 2011 with Bob Vornlocker suggesting to Father Tim that the GGG might be able
to prepare an online index that would make life easier for parish office staff
and received a positive response. It took a few months to tie down Father Tim
and make sure he had the pastor’s approval, but by late April Don Eckerle and
Bob Boeckle photographed the baptism and marriage records from the original books.
Bob then took the photos and made the CDs and hardcopy that would be used in the
project.
On June 30,
2012 the first sets of data were mailed to transcribers. Approximately 30
individuals throughout the US and Canada volunteered to enter data. Some were
GGG members and others were Descendants of Fosters Meadow (a 19th
Century German farming community on the present Queens/Nassau Counties border)
and a few of us were in both camps. Between transcribing, adding birth and
marriage certificate numbers from the GGG indices, and proofing, there were
over 250 individual tasks to be performed. Some volunteers completed one or two
sets and their contribution is greatly appreciated. Others were able to
complete between 5 and 10. A few stalwart warriors completed even more than 10.
Most Holy
Trinity is arguably one of the top 3 (St Nicolaus and Most Holy Redeemer in Kleindeutschland
being the others) most important German-American Catholic churches in North
America for genealogy information. The vast majority of German immigrants came
through the Port of New York and many started their families in the area before
moving on to the wilderness farms of Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The GGG
should broadcast this sites existence once it is up.
I want to
personally thank all of you and apologize if I too aggressively prodded,
encouraged, urged or entreated during this process and especially for the
occasional “You did What???”
Paul Hoffman
August 5,
2013