OK, now we have 3 years: 1890, 1897, and 1899. What people are picking out of the records are fantastic. Anyone else want to give the year a try? I'm not saying yet which year it is.
For those new to our reading audience - about the big black areas. When scrolling through microfilm, there are, at times, records that are completely black. Sometimes, there's a line that's black, right where the names are! It's really frustrating. What's there? It that your ancestor? I asked Joao Ventura when I was in Terceira 8 or 9 years ago. Joao is on this list and used to work in the genealogy division of the CCA. He got his degree from Coimbra (if my memory serves me correctly) in what I think American universities would call Library Science. So he would know about this. Some of the records are very light now. The ink is fading. A wash was put on the records to enhance it so someone could read it. This was done back in time. The wash dried and the record went back to its faded state. But when the filming was done in the 1980s, whatever chemical was in the wash is still there. I guess that chemical and the lighting used in taking a picture to put on microfilm don't work together. What is seen by the microfilm camera is a black area. So that is what is filmed. You CAN read the original, just not the microfilm. Joao can speak more on this, but I think when the records were digitized (as we see online) the problem with the wash and digitizing did NOT occur. I think that we'll be able to read the blacked out zones when those records come online. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
