Tribal Quest is a fascinating pro bono project for documenting the family trees and stories of remote tribal communities that face a risk of cultural extinction. This webinar will feature the highlights from our Tribal Quest expeditions to Namibia, Papua New Guinea, and Siberia.

Join us and MyHeritage's Golan Levi for the live webinar Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at 2pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. Before joining, please visit www.java.com to ensure you have the latest version of Java which our webinar software requires. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

Or register for multiple webinars at once by clicking here.

Not sure if you already registered?

Login to view your registration status for this webinar (available for annual or monthly webinar subscribers).

Test Your Webinar Connection

To ensure that your webinar connection is ready to go, click here.

Can't make it to the live event?

No worries. Its recording will be available for a limited time. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

About the presenter

With our Google Calendar button, you will never forget our upcoming webinars. Simply click the button to add it to your calendar. You can then optionally embed the webinar events (and even turn them on and off) into your own personal calendar. If you have already added the calendar, you do not have to do it again - the new webinar events will automatically appear.

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at:

• 2pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 1pm Central
• 12pm Mountain
• 11am Pacific

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email both 1 day and 1 hour prior to the live webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer. Check at www.java.com.
6. Check your GoToWebinar connection here.
7. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
8. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Tuesday's Tips provide brief how-to's to help you learn to use the Legacy Family Tree software with new tricks and techniques.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Beginner)

Keyboard shortcuts can save you time when executing the most common tasks in Legacy. There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts but some only work on certain screens. Here is a complete list. These are also in the Help File under Keyboard Shortcuts.

All tab names on the Ribbon bar have an underlined letter.  You can select a tab by holding down the ALT key and pressing the underlined letter.  Once a tab is displayed, you can select a menu option by pressing the underlined letter in the option name.

• ALT + F File Tab  
• ALT + E Edit Tab  
• ALT + A Add Tab  
• ALT + V View Tab  
• ALT + R Report Tab  
• ALT + L Tools Tab  
• ALT + C Search Tab  
• ALT + I Internet Tab  
• ALT + O Options Tab  
• ALT + P Help Tab  

Shortcut Keys for Main Views

• ALT + F1 Legacy Home Tab  
• ALT + F2 Family Tab  
• ALT + F3 Pedigree Tab  
• ALT + F4 Descendant Tab  
• ALT + F5 Chronology Tab  
• ALT + F6 Index Tab  

Shortcut Keys to Bypass Menus on the Main Views

Many menu options have shortcut keys listed next to them.  You can choose a menu command by holding down the CTRL key and pressing the other key.  The shortcut keys listed below are meant to be used only from the main views in Legacy (Legacy Home, Family, Pedigree, Descendant, Chronology, and Index).  On other forms, some of these shortcut keys have other functions.  

• CTRL + A Displays the Ages dialog box.  (On the Legacy Home tab, this shortcut key highlights the entire page contents.)
• CTRL + B Backup a Family File
• CTRL + E Export a GEDCOM File
• CTRL + N Add a New, Unlinked Person.  (On the Legacy Home tab, this shortcut key opens the Home contents in a separate browser window.)
• CTRL + O Open a Family File.  (Not available while on the Legacy Home tab.)
• CTRL + P Opens the Picture Center.  (On the Legacy Home tab, this shortcut key opens the Print window for printing the Legacy Home page contents.)
• CTRL + Q GEDCOM Import
• CTRL + S Display Preferred Startup Family.  (Not available while on the Legacy Home tab.)
• CTRL + T Advanced Tagging
• CTRL + W Web Page Creation
• CTRL + Z Opens the Customize window (ALT + Z also opens the window)

Shortcut Keys in Dialog Boxes

Most command buttons shown in dialog boxes have an underlined letter in their description.  You can click a button by holding down the ALT key and pressing the underlined letter.  This is equivalent to clicking on the button with the mouse cursor.

Other Shortcut Keys

From the Information, Marriage, and Notes windows, you can press F4 to display the Sources window.  From the Information and Marriage windows, you can press F5 to display the Notes window.  From any Note field, you can press F7 to start the spell checker.  From the Information, Marriage and LDS windows, F8 can be used to duplicate field contents from the previously saved record.  You can also press Ctrl-F9 to memorize any location field and F9 to play the memorized field back to any other location field.  (Shift-F10 / F10, Shift-F11 / F11 and Shift F12 / F12 also work the same way to memorize and play back field entries.)

Shortcut Keys for the Source Clipboard

• Alt-1  Opens the source clipboard. 
• Alt-2  Assigns to the current field.  
• Alt-3  Assigns to all non-blank fields.  
• Alt-4  Assigns to the Unspecified area.  

Family and Pedigree View

The following single shortcut keys are available while working in the Family or Pedigree View.  To use the shortcuts, simple type the one-character command.  The commands are executed immediately when you press the letter. 

Single key commands:

• ? Help (help on shortcut keys)  
• F Find (displays Search window)  
• G Go (to RIN #)  
• I Index (displays Name List)  
• M Marriage (displays Marriage List)  
• X Exit (prompts for confirmation to exit Legacy)  

Shortcut Keys on Family View

The following shortcut key combinations are available while working in the Family View.  To use the shortcuts, simple type the two-character command.  The commands are executed immediately after you press the second letter.

Two-Key Commands

• AD Add Daughter  
• AH Add Husband  
• AS Add Son  
• AW Add Wife  
• C1-C9 and CA-CF   Child 1 - Child 9 and Child 10 - Child 15  
• (moves the child to the Husb-Wife level)  
• E1-E9 and EA-EF    Edit Child 1 - Child 9 and Child 10 - Child 15  
• EH Edit Husband  
• EM Edit Marriage  
• EW Edit Wife  
• HP Husband's Parents  
• LD Link Daughter  
• LH Link Husband  
• LS Link Son  
• LW Link Wife  
• ND New Daughter  
• NH New Husband  
• NS New Son  
• NW New Wife  
• WP Wife's Parents  

Shortcut Keys on Other Forms

The following shortcut keys are available while working in various forms in Legacy.  Not all of these are available on all forms.

While in a Note-type field:

• Ctrl-B  Bolds the selected characters or words if some have been highlighted by dragging the mouse over them.  If nothing is currently selected, pressing Alt-B turns on bold mode so that successive text is bolded as you type it.
• Ctrl-I  Italicizes the selected characters or words if some have been highlighted by dragging the mouse over them.  If nothing is currently selected, pressing Alt-I turns on italicize mode so that successive text is italicized as you type it.
• Ctrl-U  Underlines the selected characters or words if some have been highlighted by dragging the mouse over them.  If nothing is currently selected, pressing Alt-U turns on underline mode so that successive text is underlined as you type it.
• Ctrl-S  Superscripts the selected characters or words if some have been highlighted by dragging the mouse over them.  If nothing is currently selected, pressing Alt-S turns on superscript mode so that successive text is superscripted as you type it.
• Ctrl-F  Opens the Find dialog box where you can search for text within the note.
• Ctrl-C  Copies highlighted text to the Windows clipboard.
• Ctrl-X  Cuts highlighted text from the notes field and places it on the Windows clipboard.
• Ctrl-V  Pastes any text currently on the Windows clipboard to the current position in the note field.
• Ctrl-Tab  Inserts a tab character into the note.  (Using tab characters to try to line up columns of information may not result in the desired format when printed on reports.)
• F3   Continues the search to find the next match after starting a search with Ctrl-F.
• Ctrl-Z  Removes any text entered since the last time the note was changed.  (This is a Windows function.  If you are entering text, anytime you exit a field, or do some other function, like spell checking or searching, the undo feature is reset.)
• F6   Pops up the Character Map where you can select one or more special character to insert into the note.  This can be used to select copywrite symbols or other characters not shown on your keyboard.
• F7   Starts spell checking.
• Ctrl-P  Privatizes highlighted text by enclosing it in [[ and ]]
• Ctrl-Space  Removes all formatting from the note including bolding, italicizing, underlining, and superscripting.
• Ctrl-R, Alt-R, F8 Pressing any of these keys works the same as clicking the Repeat button which repeats the field contents previously saved on the same type of form.

 
Isn't this fun! I don't use all of the shortcuts but I do have quite a few that I use all of the time. I like anything that will save me time.

Find tech tips every day in the Facebook Legacy User Group. The group is free and is available to anyone with a Facebook account.

For video tech tips check out the Legacy Quick Tips page.  These short videos will make it easy for you to learn all sort of fun and interesting ways to look at your genealogy research.

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.

One of the golden rules of genealogy is that the original document is always best but what happens if there is no original? I have two examples for you.  

Here is what I had written in my marriage notes for Eli Meredith and Martha McMichael:

Jane Doe* at the Pike County, AL Circuit Court Clerk's Office states that Eli and Martha show up in their marriage index but when she went to the marriage book itself to make a copy the page was missing. [*name changed]

I made that note probably 25 years ago. Back then I wasn't smart enough to try and find microfilm. I recently revisited this couple. FamilySearch now has the Alabama county marriage books online.  Look what I found.

(click image to enlarge)

 Pike County, Alabama, Marriage Book B: 229, Meredith-McMichal, 1856; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 22 December 2017).

[Page 229 also includes the solemnization but I cropped it out because of the space constraints of the blog]

The Genealogical Society of Utah microfilmed this book on 29 October 1979 (before the records were lost) and in this case the microfilm is better than the original. I do want to add that as a general rule microfilm is as good as the original (and is considered an original for sourcing purposes) as long as you have no suspicions that the film was altered or doesn't represent the original faithfully. In many cases you will go to microfilm first. My second example is more dramatic.

I found the marriage of David McMichael and Sarah Cimbro [Kimbrough] in an index. I contacted the Greene County, Georgia Probate Court and they advised me that their earliest marriage records were lost including the one I needed (Murphy's Law). The marriage did appear in their official index. My next move was to see if the Greene County's marriage books had been microfilmed. They were microfilmed on 20 March 1957 so I thought I was on to something. I pulled up the microfilm on FamilySearch and found something that I didn't want to see. The earliest marriages had been copied into an index but the original book apparently no longer exists. The inscription at the front of the book reads:

"A Record of Persons Names who have obtained Licenses for Marriage — By W^m Phillips — Register of Probates for Greene Co."

The index is all in the same hand (Mr. Phillips). I don't know when the index was created but before the book was lost. As a double check I called the Georgia State Archives. All they have is a copy of the Family History Library film. Here is a snippet:

(click image to enlarge)

Greene County, Georgia, Marriage License Index 1786-1810, McMichael-Cimbro, 1789; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 22 December 2017); The original marriage bonds, licenses, and solemnizations have been lost. At some point the probate clerk created an index of these marriages which now serves as the only official record.

You always want to see the original record yourself (digital image/microfilm considered original as long as you are confident it is a faithful copy) but sometimes it simply isn't possible. There are other scenarios to consider. It might be cost prohibitive to get an image of an original document especially if a repository requires onsite research. Some documents have not been microfilmed and the repository deems them too delicate to be handled. If this is the case, those documents are usually in the queue to be digitized by expert archivists. If I use an index as my source I will explain why as part of my citation so my readers will understand why I used what I did.

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.

Swedish taxation records, a head tax of individuals between the ages of 15 and 63, are some of the oldest extant records of the rural farmer. Genealogists quickly become familiar with the chronological birth/marriage/death parish records (Ministerial), the clerical surveys (Husförhör) and probate records (Bouppteckning). These documents form the bedrock of investigation into our Swedish past.  These records may not, however, answer our more difficult research questions, especially those of the 18th century. This is where Swedish taxation records or mantalslängder may be of help. These little used records, but evidence rich documents, may corroborate or dispute our existing evidence, or may be the only source of evidence. We will learn how to access, read and use these records to answer those questions.

Join us, the Board for Certification of Genealogists and Jill Morelli, CG for the live webinar Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 8pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. Before joining, please visit www.java.com to ensure you have the latest version of Java which our webinar software requires. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

Download the syllabus

In preparation for the webinar, download the supplemental syllabus materials here.  

Or register for multiple webinars at once by clicking here.

Not sure if you already registered?

Login to view your registration status for this webinar (available for annual or monthly webinar subscribers).

Test Your Webinar Connection

To ensure that your webinar connection is ready to go, click here.

Can't make it to the live event?

No worries. Its recording will be available for a limited time. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

About the presenter

With our Google Calendar button, you will never forget our upcoming webinars. Simply click the button to add it to your calendar. You can then optionally embed the webinar events (and even turn them on and off) into your own personal calendar. If you have already added the calendar, you do not have to do it again - the new webinar events will automatically appear.

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at:

• 8pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 7pm Central
• 6pm Mountain
• 5pm Pacific

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email both 1 day and 1 hour prior to the live webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer. Check at www.java.com.
6. Check your GoToWebinar connection here.
7. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
8. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Backing up your file is a must. You should be doing this routinely. Legacy will remind you to backup your file on exit if you have selected this in the Options menu. Options > Customize > Other Settings > Option 12.5 Message Boxes. Click the button that says "Turn on or off Optional Reminder Messages"

(click image to enlarge)

To get to the Backup screen go to File > Backup File

(click image to enlarge)

There are several things that we need to talk about here. When you open the backup screen for the first time you will notice that the default is set to the \Legacy Family Tree\Data folder. That's because Legacy doesn't know where you want your backups to go yet. Many people leave the file path as is. It is okay to backup to this folder but you don't want this to be the only place to you backup to. You want backups somewhere other than your hard drive. Why? If you ever have a hard drive failure you will lose everything, your working data file and all of your backups. To change the file path, click the Change link over on the right. If you change the data location Legacy will ask you if you want the Media backup location to be the same. Normally you will say yes to this. If you notice, in the above screenshot my file path is to my local One Drive folder which automatically syncs to the One Drive cloud. Other popular cloud options are Dropbox and Google Drive. My personal preference is cloud storage but you can always backup to an external hard drive, a flash drive, or a CD. It is probably a good idea to back up to two places. I have been using Legacy since 2005 and I have only had to use a backup twice. The first time I had a hard drive failure. I had my file backed up to two 3 1/2 inch floppies so I breathed a sigh of relief. The second time I had made a global change to my file that I instantly regretted so I restored my most recent backup.

Legacy now has a cloud backup of it's own which is the second option on the screen. This backup is in addition to and not instead of your normal backup routine. There are two things you need to know. This is a data backup only. Your media will not be backed up.  Also, when you backup the previous backup will be overwritten. You will only have your most recent backup available. The regular backup routine (the first option on the screen) does not overwrite your previous backups. They are appended with the date and time. Your data and your media will be two separate zip files that will have the same date and time stamp.

I have already told you that you should do routine backups but there are other times when you should also backup. I mentioned that I made a global change to my file that I instantly regretted. You should always backup your file before you make any global changes. For example, when you are working with any of the Master Lists, Search and Replace or Merging. You can see on the options screen that Legacy has backup reminders for some of these things to help you remember.

 Tech support gets really sad when someone emails that they have had a hard drive failure and they don't have a backup to fall back on. Please don't be that user.

View a Compilation of all Legacy 101 articles. 

Find tech tips every day in the Facebook Legacy User Group. The group is free and is available to anyone with a Facebook account.

For video tech tips check out the Legacy Quick Tips page.  These short videos will make it easy for you to learn all sort of fun and interesting ways to look at your genealogy research.

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.

Every Friday we're pleased to offer Legacy Family Tree Webinar subscribers a new bonus webinar just for them!   This Friday enjoy "Let DNA Tell Your Story" by Diahan Southard. If you're not a member,  remember the webinar previews are always free.

Let DNA Tell Your Story

DNA has the ability to reach beyond generations and across cultural boundaries to unify and strengthen your nuclear and extended family. But how can you explain this science in terms that your family will understand? How can you involve them and share results with them without overwhelming and confusing them? In this short time together we will learn a few tips that will have your family actually interested in family history. 

About the Presenter

The recording of today's webinar "Have Nordic Ancestors? Count Yourself Lucky - Nordic Records are Amazing” by Mike Mansfield is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com for free.

Webinar Description

An overview of available records in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, & Finland) will be presented.

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 29 minute recording of "Have Nordic Ancestors? Count Yourself Lucky - Nordic Records are Amazing” is now available to view in our webinar library for free. Or watch it at your convenience with an annual or monthly webinar membership. 

Webinar Memberships/Subscriptions

Webinar Members get:

• On-demand access to the entire webinar archives (now 658 classes, 883 hours of genealogy education)
• On-demand access to the instructor handouts (now 2,983 pages)
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• 5% off all products at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com (must be logged in at checkout)
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• Access to register for bonus members-only webinars
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Introductory pricing:

• Annual membership: $49.95/year (currently 50% off until August 20, 2017)
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Click here to subscribe.

Register for our upcoming webinars (free)

Print the 2018 webinar brochure here.

See you online!

Tuesday's Tips provide brief how-to's to help you learn to use the Legacy Family Tree software with new tricks and techniques.

An Important Source Citation (Beginner)

One of the most important pieces of evidence you can collect is the proof for a parent-child relationship. You can prove all kinds of things about a person but if you can't prove the link to the next generation you are at a bit of a standstill. The field to attach this all important citation is a bit hidden to new Legacy users. There are two ways to access it.  The way I use is the Assigned Sources screen. From the Family View, click the Source icon (it looks like a book) and that will bring up the Assigned Sources screen. You might have to scroll to see the fields.

(click image to enlarge)

You can see that I have two sources for the relationship between James Elexander Simmons and his parents. I am using James's death certificate as well as James's son's Bible. The way I entered these sources was by using the copy and paste from the Source Clipboard. For more on the Source Clipboard and how you copy and paste please see Geoff's free webinar, "Sources and Citations Made Simple, Standard, and Powerful." 

The other way to do this is by accessing the Edit Children screen. There is more than one way to get to this so please see "Tuesday's Tip - Editing Children's Information" for detailed instructions.  Here is what you will see:

(click image to enlarge)

I have James Elexander Simmons highlighted and down at the bottom you can see that the labels for the Relationship to Father and Mother are in red. This means that I have a citation attached to each field. On this screen I can only see that I have sources attached but I can't see what the sources are. Again, you will use the paste from clipboard command to attach a source to these fields. If attaching a source does not change the color of the label, HERE are step by step instructions on how to tell Legacy to do this.

Notice that I don't have anything in the actual field for the relationship. The default is leaving it blank to indicate that this is a biological relationship. There is a drop down box with other options and you can also add your own. 

Don't forget to add this important source citation so that you can show your line all the way up the chain with confidence.

Find tech tips every day in the Facebook Legacy User Group. The group is free and is available to anyone with a Facebook account.

For video tech tips check out the Legacy Quick Tips page.  These short videos will make it easy for you to learn all sort of fun and interesting ways to look at your genealogy research.

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.

An overview of available records in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, & Finland) will be presented.

Join us and MyHeritage's Mike Mansfield for the live webinar Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 2pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

Or register for multiple webinars at once by clicking here.

Not sure if you already registered?

Login to view your registration status for this webinar (available for annual or monthly webinar subscribers).

Test Your Webinar Connection

To ensure that your webinar connection is ready to go, click here.

Can't make it to the live event?

No worries. Its recording will be available for a limited time. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

About the presenter

With our Google Calendar button, you will never forget our upcoming webinars. Simply click the button to add it to your calendar. You can then optionally embed the webinar events (and even turn them on and off) into your own personal calendar. If you have already added the calendar, you do not have to do it again - the new webinar events will automatically appear.

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at:

• 2pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 1pm Central
• 12pm Mountain
• 11am Pacific

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email both 1 day and 1 hour prior to the live webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer. Check at www.java.com.
6. Check your GoToWebinar connection here.
7. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
8. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

I was researching a German soldier who had been interred in a Russian POW camp during World War II. His family never saw him again and didn't know what happened to him after the War was over. I had very little information about him. The Russians did not release him until 1948 (I found this out later). The soldier was incapacitated in some way but the details were fuzzy. I did know that he died in the town of Göttingen because this was recorded in the family's "Stammbuch." A Stammbuch is an official record book that families keep of their birth, death, and marriage records. It include the civil document numbers which is very helpful to researchers. With this information I was able to obtain his death certificate. The death certificate lists the address where he died as Rosdorferweg 70.

(click image to enlarge)

I plugged that address into Google Maps and this is what I found.  The address belongs to a hospital.

 

So was it a hospital in 1949?  I emailed them and asked. 

 

They told me that yes, they are the same hospital that was in operation in 1949.  I asked them if they had the medical records from that time period. They told me that the old medical records had been turned over to the Stadtarchiv Göttingen. They were kind enough to provide me with a contact person there.

 

The Stadtarchiv told me that the records were now being housed at the Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv in Wolfenbüttel.  I was again given a contact person.

 

I contacted the Landesarchiv and they advised that they would write back when they knew whether or not they had this man's records. I got my answer less than a week later.

“Sie können von der Akte des Landeskrankenhauses Göttingen, die [NAME REDACTED] betrifft (NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Göttingen [FILE NUMBER REDACTED]), Kopien in Auftrag geben. Die Akte umfasst ca. 75 Seiten.”

They found the man's medical file, seventy-five pages worth. They mailed me a CD with crystal clear images. His medical file provided a lot of answers to the questions his family had had for their entire lives. 

This entire process took several months but I was on a mission and wasn't about to give up. I honestly thought that there was no way these medical records still existed but I knew I had to go through all of the steps to find out for sure. 

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.