June 1999

The Fehmarn Cousins Newsletter

Issue #6 June 1999

We have moved the web site to a new URL at
http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com

This new site will give us much more room to grow and many new features, which I will be able to take advantage of, Please take the time to bookmark this new URL address.

Family Search

This month I would like to talk about a new web site. It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints new genealogy website at http://www.FamilySearch.org. On Monday, May 24, church officials inaugurated the Web site that contains information on 400 million names. In the next two years, the church expects to add another 600 million names from 110 countries. The collection of names is an awesome accomplishment in itself, but the treasure of information it opens to genealogical researchers is priceless.

The FamilySearch site is a genealogy search portal, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was slammed with an average of 500 hits per second in the first two days after it's official launch. In response to the overwhelming demand for access to the genealogy website sponsored by the Church, a temporary measure was implemented which limited visitors to only 15 minutes access time. Technicians estimated that as many as 100 million "hits" were being registered at the site each day. FamilySearch.org was consistently seeing seven million hits per day during the public test period that preceded Monday's formal launch by LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. The site was designed to handle 25 million hits per day and has been reconfigured, after being swamped and taken offline for several hours Monday afternoon, to accommodate 40 million.

Attempts to log in to the site Thursday were met with a message saying users are temporarily being given access on a rotation basis for 15 minutes at a time. Outside your 15 minutes, you get a message like this:

"FamilySearch Internet is receiving so many visits that users are temporarily being given access on a rotation basis for 15 minutes at a time. They apologize for this inconvenience. Please look at the message below to determine when you should be able to access the site. Thank you for using FamilySearch.org. Access in: 44:59."

Limiting visits to 15 minutes gives more people access to the site considering people have been staying from one to six hours, according to IBM, which supplies computer hardware for the site. The collection of names is an awesome accomplishment in itself, but the treasure of information it opens to genealogical researchers is priceless.

Tressie Hughes
Your Newsletter Editor

A trip to Fehmarn

On May 25th, my sister, Judy and I took our first trip to Fehmarn, the home of some of our ancestors. While we were there, my sister kept a daily journal of each day's happenings. From our genealogy research to our wanderings through the shops and restaurants, she tells it all! I've added some of our photos from the week long trip so you see a little of the sites on this beautiful island. Judy has also added some travel tips of some of the things we learned along the way, to help you, if you plan to take a similar adventure. I have placed this Daily Journal of our trip to Fehmarn on the web site under "A trip to Fehmarn" at http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/atripto.htm

I am very proud of the great job my sister did writing about this trip and hope that everyone will take the time a read her report of our trip.

I would like to thank the following people on Fehmarn for making my trip a spectacular success. Dorothee Gossel for her help with my planning my trip. Karl Gossel and his gracious wife for being such a great host and hostess and serving us a wonderful meal in their home. Mrs. Melittle Mull-Ehler at the archive in Neustadt for her assistance in my genealogical research and her sharing of information. Ruth Mackeprang and her sons Peter & Michael Mackeprang for sharing the Mackeprang database with us at the web site. Mrs Anne Claussen-Mackeprang for renting us a lovely room in her charming home. Fritz Mackeprang and his daughter Benigna for giving us a tour of the old Mackeprang estate in Meeschendorf. And special thanks to all those locals who helped me lift my rental car out of the ditch I drove into.

Your web host
John Kostick

My Home Song

by Peter Wiepert, Bisdorf/Fehmarn
English Translation by: E B�gge-Wood

My home lies on the Baltic banks
My Fehmarn-Isle, my fatherland.
We live here peaceful and alone,-
this cozy paradise, - my home.
And when some day I'm far apart,
I'll think of you, deep in my heart.
If I should ever sail away,-
I'll praise my home in Fehmarn Bay.

On beaches sea gulls feed and rest,
near dikes the lapwing builds it's nest.
Water birds rock on waves, so gay,
wild geese and ducks fly northern way.
Gravel and seaweed’s wash ashore,
lighthouses guide the shippers lore.
Where fisher cod and flounders catch,-
there is my home, on Fehmarn's edge.

The wheat, like yellow gold so bright
is shining in the sun so light.
Along the ponds, the willow trees,
in meadows bloom the margareets.-
On Fehmarn's meadows, in long rows-
tied-up, the grazing "Holstein cows."
With four-horse team, the farmer’s hand-
he plows the rich and fertile land.

Where old traditions and home grace-
have kept their culture well in place,
there each one has their pride and toil,-
are glad to be on Fehmarn soil.
Those honest folk and trusting friends,
our island home still reverend.
Where love for home, a friendly smile,-
there is my best, my Fehmarn Isle.

Our cousins here, or far off lands,
our home it keeps as all in band.
Even when our fate is cross and bleak,
the love for home we can't forget.
This bond is like a well-stocked store,
gives hope and strength forever more.
Sometimes, when we are sad at heart,
at home we get a brand new start.

Someday,- when I am old and gray,
and when my God says: "Stop this day!"
You have worked hard enough and brave,
then dig in Fehmarn's soil my grave.
Then let me rest with folks, my own,
and write these words on my tombstone:
"Here found a Fehmarn island man -
his resting place, his fatherland."

Help!

I hope you enjoy our newsletter. Now I would like to ask all of our readers to participate in the newsletter. By asking for submissions of family histories, old family recipes, knowledge of island life, stories of trips to the island and anything that you have of interest concerning Fehmarn and it's people.

Newsletter submissions
by E-mail: kc7bal@juno.com
or mail to:
Tressie Hughes
PO Box 770
Puyallup WA 98371

The FEHMARN COUSINS Newsletter
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Editor - Tressie Hughes, 9312 147th Street E., Puyallup, WA. 98375