[ungelöst] German to English translation needed of family journal / Übersetzung benötigt von Tagebuch 1880-1889

[aschaub]

Quelle bzw. Art des Textes: personal journal
Jahr, aus dem der Text stammt: 1880-1890
Ort und Gegend der Text-Herkunft: Michigan, USA (possibly Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan)
Namen um die es sich handeln sollte: Author is likely in the Schwab family. Other surnames may be Witt or Schaub

My German is not very good, but the text is in German, so I think this is in the right part of the forum. I'm using Google's page translate, so please forgive any mistakes. If this is the wrong place, could a moderator move it instead of deleteing?

I'm sorry I can't communicate well in German, so I'm hoping someone here that is fluent or proficent in both German and English can help me. I have a family journal handed down. It has about a line a day written for nine years, 1880-1889, in German handwritten cursive. It's maybe 100-200 pages of tiny cursive on paper thats about 9x11 sewn/bound together. It was handed down through my paternal line great grandfather, but I dont know the exact author. There were a couple different branches from Germany, but I think it's the Schwab line in Adrian Michigan based off of some help I've gotten. I'm very glad it survived my great grandfather's basement and the flooding he occasionally had, so I'm hoping I can get all the pages scanned to be able to preserve the writing, but the pages are slightly longer than the scanner I have available will do, so I may have to scan each page twice to get all the information. My family would be very grateful for any help so we can get this correctly translated and know what it can tell us. I have the first couple pages scanned to give you an idea of the scope of the project. It's very difficult for me to figure out the cursive when I'm not familiar with the language.

Cover:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f8OaGjkaPVQjntNTiMJhXCe-CmXsZ6Ug/view?usp=sharing

Inside Cover Page:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KBxEnvUML70pn1QmnkjdWeaHdynzFFt5/view?usp=sharing

Page One:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GbNBJYDeUlR-eOUPMeT41miF7l3jPaPo/view?usp=sharing

Page Two:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17aD6o0l1iz-u5iQEF0mxqYLtc92_ViQc/view?usp=sharing

Page Three:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZyTeQ1njNfMiRZBnsDvsVfWcwPleonWz/view?usp=sharing

Page Four:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BQthK6w2MHT-ABX-CnFHhNhysmR6-ZSU/view?usp=sharing

Page Five:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BqgNKFhY4N51O98t457s9GWbnIqd15mW/view?usp=sharing

I really hope the links are ok for you guys to check out, I couldn't figure out a better way to insert photos into the forum chat. I've had someone scan it a little and found the place Adrian and the surname Witt, and told me it seem's to be a farmer's journal about the weather. Any details are welcome. I would love to get the full journal translated at some point, but even anyone willing to do a small amount is appreciated.

[Karla Hari]

hola,


sorry, my english is not so good
but, it is plenty of text, and unfortunetly the beginning of the lines are often not readable, or some complete parts (see picture below)
I think, it doesnt make sense to translate only half of the page/lines
and I cant read all the words, even if the picture is sharp
but I think 1 page from time to time we could write down here

begin page 1
Januar 1880
.... Frost am Morgen ein sehr schöner milder Tag ich und die Kinder sind nach Adrian in Kirche Johni Sch.
.... Schnee geschmoltzen böse Schlittenbahn

[OlliL]

You need to get either a decent scanner, or make a good photo of each page. You most likley have a very thin scanner which is a CIS scanner then. CIS scanner do not have any depth of focus. So you need to put the page to scan completely on your scanners surface without any air between the surface and the document. This is in most scenarios not possible with a binded document/book. So you either need to get a CCD scanner which has depth of focus and is able to scan documents in a sharp manner even if they are not 100% on the scanners surface, or a good digital camera.....
It makes not much sense to start any transcritption and later translation when the document contains unsharp and therefore unreadable areas.

Just my two cents... I won't be able to help much anyway as my reading skills are not that high.....

[AKocur]

Hi,

I think the best course of action is, as already been mentioned, that you find a way to get clear images of the pages that are actually readable. Maybe you ask around if someone has a better scanner, or see if there's a shop nearby where you live where you can have it scanned.

The actual script, from what I can see, isn't too bad, I could read snippets on the clearer side of the pages relatively well actually. People here are usually very helpful when transcribing, so even if you have lots of pages, it should be manageable.

But I think a translation should come afterwards, as not everyone who is able to transcribe well is able to translate as well, and vice versa. I'd be happy to help with both, though, but certainly not alone, as this is quite a lot to do.

Greetings,
Antje

[aschaub]

Thank you all. I'm looking into a better scanner. My local library can copy, but not scan to digital form, so it may be a while before I can find or buy something. I'm glad there are people willing to help with transcribing/translating here

[Karla Hari]

you can try a digital camera on a tripod with self-timer or remote control or a second person if you dont have 3 hands
hold the book so, that the page you want to photograph is flat and well illuminated