If you do genealogy, sooner or later, you're going to need to do some translation. The most obvious example is something like this postcard, sent to my great-great-grandmother in California by her daughter in Detroit:
I'll be honest, we still don't know what it says. It's in a poorly-spelled and horrendously-written mix of German and English. We've got "Dear brother, here is a picture of me and ..the little … write back soon. Be well." The front does feature a picture of a woman and child, who we think is Freda Feltz Kraft and her daughter, Loretta, born in 1905. My great-grandfather, Alfred, died at the home of his parents in 1914; he may be the ill brother referenced. The thing is, when you dash off a note on a scrap of paper, it doesn't occur to you that, 100 years later, someone may someday be poring over it. I don't have diaries, dang it, but I do have some dry cleaning receipts...
While foreign languages are one thing, translating English into English seems to be a bigger issue lately. Someone once told me that I have a Facility With Language, which may be why I'm perennially surprised to learn a researcher is puzzled to find their ancestor an "inmate" in a boarding house or hospital, or that another was labelled "dumb" or "imbecile" or "spinster." Language is a fluid and living thing; the easiest way to learn to translate "other era" English is to read a book that was written (or at least set) in that timeframe. Sometimes, I want to huff "these people never saved all their paper route money to use at the Scholastic Book Fair and it shows." But if they'd just read "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" or "Cress Delahanty" or even most of Dickens, they'd have an easier time of it. I'm just sayin'.
My favorite form of translation, however, is "reading between the lines." It's absolutely not Best Practice in genealogy; research should be fact-based. However, that's not nearly as much fun as applying intuition to the available facts to try to better understand your subject and the world in which they lived, and that seems like a pretty valuable goal, too.
My great-great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Calder, was born in Ireland in 1869. She was 28 years old when she married Richard Higeson Thomas, a 41-year-old native of Shropshire, England. In 1802, with their two young children, they sailed from Dublin to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, they had another six children, with the eldest, Rebecca, being born in 1817. They then accepted the open invitation of the British government to move about 500 miles northwest to Brant County, Ontario. By swearing that they were loyal to the Crown, the two eldest sons were able to apply for free grants of land, and Richard was able to purchase a significant chunk at a very good price. Richard died in 1824, leaving Elizabeth to negotiate the delivery of the land for which he had contracted. In 1836, at age 67, she wrote the following letter:
Unto the Right Honorable Sir Francis M Head, Governor of Upper Canada
Petition of Elisabeth Thomas the Widow of the late Richard Thomas residing on the Indian land
Humbly herewith
That the land Richard Thomas did in his life time purchase of M. Augustus Jones Fifty One and one quarter acres of land out of a tract of land Leased said Jones by the Six Nations of Indians for 999 years in a survey lately made by Lewis Burnwell Esq. Your Excellincies’ petitioner has been left deficient of seventeen and one quarter acres of her land bought and payd for from said Jones and as she has been put to great Trouble and Expence. In Particular no less than five pounds That she mite git her compliment of land On said tract of 1200 acres but as A dispute was then between J. A. Wilkes And said Jones the Trustees awarded her The sum of two pounds seventeen schillings Per acre to be payd by said Wilkes but as M. Wilkes did not pay it M. Hepburn One of the trustees employed M. Burwell to survey her the complement justly called for of Seventeen and one Quarter acre but all of this Has not been done she supplicates your Excelency To cause the said seventeen and one quarter acres to be given or the sum of five pounds ten shilling of fair coin and your petitioner prays that she may git her deed for the same according to other purchaser on this Tract and your petitioner will ever pray
Address
Elizabeth Thomas, Brantford
While I definitely still have some "English to English" translation to do, don't you get the distinct impression that this land deal was on Elizabeth's last nerve? It uses all the proper honoraries and respect, but this is the letter of a woman who has had it up to here. At a time when it was quite unusual for a woman to own property at all, Elizabeth was willing to take on the man in charge of all of Canada in order to right the wrong done to her. She did sign the letter, herself, no "mark" was used, although the signature is subtly different from the main text. Whether or not she physically wrote out the letter, however, it sure sounds to me like the language of a person with passion for the message, not something drawn up by a disinterested party.
The government heeded her plea; Elizabeth got the land in question.
Elizabeth lived to be 102 years old, dying of cholera on 12 September 1841. I have the feeling that really pissed her off. Seven of her eight children had "Calder" as their middle name, as did some of their children, including my great grandfather, George Calder Thomas. You won't read about Elizabeth in history books but she obviously made a big impact on the lives of many people.
Elizabeth's funeral notice in the newspaper named her "Elizabeth Calder, relict of the late Richard Thomas." The definition of 'relict' is "someone left over." Although it technically could mean a widow or a widower, it was in practical use only as a term for women. This is a great example of a word that was widely used and acceptable almost 200 years ago, but not so much now, certainly a step in the right direction.
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