This information is presented here so you can tell what new information has been added since you previously looked at this website.

Most recent items are shown first.

June 27, 2012: I revised the link to the translation of the Biography of Friedrich Heppenheimer from pages 3-8 of the Memorial Book for Friedrich Heppenheimer to now link to a PDF version of the translation instead of a Microsoft Word document.

November 10, 2011: After getting assistance in reading the German text of the title page of the 1707 book from my German reading group, I created a copy of the title page in Microsoft Word as well as a html page and a pdf copy, that can be used for editing and translating. I also made some notes on the book, then uploaded these materials in the section on Documents > 1707 book.

November 1, 2011: I added a prelminary set of photographs of an antique book that seems to be dated 1707. It is in the Documents section of this website. Also updated the main index page of genealogical charts and family trees to add a link to these photos and to the photo I took of the von Heppenheim vom Saal family tree contained in that book. Also added information on the sizes of the red and blue velvet photograph albums in the photograph album section of this website.

October 28, 2009: I updated the spreadsheet that contains information about photos in the red and blue velvet albums. The update includes a few revisions and corrections, plus many additions of further information about the people in the photos that were made by Steve Stumpp.

September 30, 2009: I posted translations of 10 documents (25 pages) of material from the set of "documents to be translated" in the documents section of the website. This included figuring out what pages in the translation document referred to which of the original documents. These translations had been received some time ago but not yet posted to the website.

September 29, 2009: I posted 7 new family tree documents from Steve Stumpp. Thanks to Steve for creating these documents. They replace earlier documents, and now show no information about living individuals. Each is listed, along with some descriptive information, on the home page of the Charts and Family Trees section of the website.

August 25, 2009: WvS master vom Saal genealogy info document (located under genealogy charts) updated with WvS family info including partner, children, grandchildren, dates. Parallel info for others of that generation needs to be obtained and entered.

August 21, 2009: I organized and uploaded 7 different family tree documents from Steve Stumpp, created a summary table with information about each document, included links to each document, and posted that as the main page for "genealogy charts and family trees." This is the first time there have been entries on that page. I made some updates to a Microsoft Word file on which I have been keeping a summary of much of the vom Saal family history information, and posted it also under "genealogy charts and family trees." [NOTE: these were soon removed because they contained information about living individuals. See 9/29/2009 above.] I also located two old genealogical charts from Germany, with dates from 1019 to 1688 and 1560 to 1672, and added them to that section of the website as well.

August 21, 2009: I corrected Red Velvet photo album photo #30D to be Mr. William Armbruster, not Mrs. William Armbruster. This involved several links; I hope I didn't break any of the links. It takes about 15 minutes to correct all the copies and check that all links also have been corrected. Far better not to make mistakes in the first place!

August 21, 200: I reviewed old email from Steve Stumpp, containing both information and copies of documents. He and I will discuss further how best to make this information available. One way is to try adding it to the website. As an experiment in how that might be done, I added a page of information from Steve on the People section of the website. That page may be searched for information by name or topic. Also, I can put links from the information there to photos elsewhere on the website, and links back from the photos to the information. I have not done that yet, except for a few test cases to see how it works. It turns out to be quite time consuming. I may have made a mistake in putting the red velvet album photos up in three separate albums, because that means there are three copies of everything! [Note to myself: the albums are photos only, complete album, and complete album with file names and annotations. I probably should do it over and remove the file names, since they can be determined other ways and just clog up the notes.]

June 26, 2009: I completed photographing all pages in the red velvet and blue velvet photo albums, and also carefully removed, scanned, and replaced each of the 218 individual photos in the red album. I also scanned the backs of some photos when there was written information (especially written information I could not fully read) and made note of information printed on the backs of some photos that showed where they were printed (many of the photos were printed in Germany). I adjusted the filename of every photo to include names of the people shown in the photo, and added annotations to the photos with this information and additional information available on some photos. I created several web albums: one for the blue album, several for the red album (showing full pages only, individual photos only, notes on the pages only, or the entire album), and an index page for each album that includes filenames and annotations to facilitate searching for photos by name. I also created a spreadsheet of all photos that includes all available information about each photo, again to facilitate looking for any one photo. I also included links to the original high-resolution files of every photograph. All of this material may be seen in the "Photograph Albums" section of the website by clicking the icon at the top of this page.

(In the process of doing all this I had fun learning some new things related to technical aspects of creating these albums. These included learning how to:
- Use Dreamweaver to modify the html code of an existing web album template for use in ThumbsPlus (the program I use to organize photos and make web albums);
- Use Photoshop Actions and Droplets to automatically modify of all photos by adding copyright information and making automatic Levels adjustments to improve the photos;
- Open the ThumbsPlus database in Microsoft Access, and modify or add information using Find and Replace.
- Use Find and Replace with Dreamweaver to modify html code in groups of web pages, including figuring out how to use "regular expressions" to search for strings with wildcards. )

May 18, 2009. I have been scanning and photographing old family photos. Today I posted the complete sef of photos from the smaller blue velvet photo album that was discovered at Sharon Springs. I also posted a preview of the larger red velvet photo album, but it will be a while longer before I complete photographing and scanning that album.

March 15, 2009:
- I removed all earlier versions of materials that had been on the initial website and removed all links. All materials are now available in the revised organization that was started January 2009.
- I replaced the high resolution photo Friedrich Heppenheimer from the frontspiece of the Friedrich Heppenheimer Memorial Book with a photo that has the same resolution but slightly lower jpg quality. This reduced the file size significantly with no noticeable change in quality.
- I added a second album of additional family crests, coats of arms, and wax seals. This album includes photos of some wax seals showing the "three diamonds" coat of arms, photos of what seems to be a copy of a page in an old German book showing a family tree and the coat of arms, a drawing on tissue paper showing the "three diamonds" coat of arms with the notation "Herman von Heppenheim genannt vom Sale," and photos of several samples of notepaper embossed with the "three diamonds" coat of arms at the top.
- I added a few photos of family ancestors in a starter album. More will be added some time in the future.
- I added a few photos of some physical artifacts and family heirlooms that we have.
- I put a link from the ring with the family crest to the wax seal that was probably made with that crest, and vice versa.
- I posted the translation of the Church Records from Germany by Esther Bauer that was obtained by Steve Stumpp. I put a link to it from the main documents page and from the Church Records index page.
- I posted some observations and conclusions made by Steve Stumpp based on the translation, with links from the same two places.

March 8, 2009: I re-scanned the document "Church record from Pfungstadt dated 1688 and replaced the initial scan in the Church Records album and the Church Records gallery with links to half-size high-resolution files. The original document was cut off at the bottom; the new one was scanned in two passes and stitched together in Photoshop.

March 5 , 2009:
- Three items in the Documents > Certificates album were noted as also being in the Documents > Medical Records of FCvHvS album.
- Eight items in the old photos-not-yet-sorted album, had previously been replaced by higher quality scans and moved to the Medical Records of FCvHvS album, and I added notes to that effect on those thumbnails in the old album.
- I posted the translation made by Anja Schiel in November 2008 of the Biography of Friedrich Heppenheim that appears on pages 3-8 of the Memorial Book for Friedrich Heppenheim. I used the Word document of the translation that was sent by Anja, with minor adjustments to credit her as the translator and make some adjustments in font and paragraph spacing.
- I posted 48 new items that are miscellaneous documents in German, selected unsystematically, in order to have them translated and see what they are. Several of them were chosen based on my conversations with Steve Stumpp when he visited in fall 2008. These replace and expand the previous miscellaneous documents album described as "preliminary set of photographed documents not yet sorted." The old album had 29 files; some of them were moved to medical documents or other albums, and some are replaced by this new album. The new album has 48 files (30 scans and 12 photos taken with my Nikon D300 on my copy stand).
- I posted the one translation we have of these documents ("list of 7 items," translated by Anja November 2008).

I am now ready to remove the original set of "old documents being retained." I will wait a while, then remove all remaining remnants of the documents that had been on this website when I originally created it some time ago and before the major revision begun in January 2009. Whoopee!

March 2 , 2009: Repair of albums containing church records. I added a note to the second to last document indicating that it may be from Eberstaat (I can't quite read the stamp). On the index page of the album with links to full-size high resolution files, I added this information to the name at the top of the album, corrected the contents of the second paragraph describing file sizes, and to fixed the link to the companion album in the second paragraph. On the index page of the album with links to half-size high resolution files, I made parallel changes. I added album information (dates created and updated, and number of photos) to each index page.

February 18, 2009: In the Documents section of this website, I posted a set of materials that appear to be medical records of Dr. Frederick Charles von Heppenheim vom Saal. They are mostly in German, and I am not sure all of these are medical records, so some may need to be moved elsewhere after someone looks at them who really understands them.

February 18, 2009: I posted a revised album of the kneeling knight and removed the preliminary albums that had been posted previously. The new kneeling knight album includes links to high resolution files of four of the photos.

February 18, 2009: I posted a revised album of family crests and seals.

February 17, 2009: I realized there was no place on this website for family stories, and they are often the most interesting part of a family's history. I added a new major section for family stories and more detailed information about family members.

February 17, 2009: I made several changes that were cosmetic improvements and preparation for later uploading new or revised albums:

- reviewed all photos on the previous "genealogy materials" page that will soon be replaced, to see what photos need to be replaced or moved.
- moved some photos and replaced some others with improved versions.
- added notes on other photos regarding where they will later be moved.
- changed this page to list most recent entries first.
- created and inserted new icons for major site areas that appear at the tops of major pages.
- revised icon sizes to make them smaller (80 x 80 pixels).

January 30, 2009: I moved the links to the Friedrich Heppenheimer Memorial Book from the page of links to old files to the main Documents page. I also added a very brief description of the book on the main documents page, and a high resolution photo of the frontspiece picture of Friedrich Heppenheimer from this book.

January 23, 2009: I revised the Friedrich Heppenheimer Memorial Book from the original huge file (43.55 MB) to a smaller (but still very large) file (8.17 MB). I also corrected a problem with the link to this file. It can be reached from the page of links to old files available at the bottom of the Documents section.

January 23, 2009: I moved the old material that had been left temporarily on the home page out to the correct main pages of the website. This was a complex process and the site may have some broken links during the day while changes are being uploaded to the site. If you discover broken links after this date, please let me know.

- The preliminary set of photos of family crests and coats of arms went to the Family Crests section.
- The two preliminary sets of photos of the kneeling knight went to the Kneeling Knight section.
- Old photo albums of historic Sharon Springs, a few shots of Meta and Fred, and a few old family photos went to the Photos section.
- Links to other family member websites and to two external websites of Sharon Springs went to the Resources section.
- Three old albums of documents that are being retained until they are revised have been moved to a new location with a link to them from the bottom of the Documents section. [These were later removed.].

January 22, 2009: I revised all of the high-resolution photos in the three albums described immediately above (old church records from Germany, old church records from Germany #2, and formal certificates) to use photos saved in Photoshop CS2 as JPEG Quality = 8. The original high resolution photos had been saved as JPEG Quality = 10. This change does not change the resolution (pixel dimensions) of the photos, but does reduce file size by up to half and therefore will speed up downloading time, without noticeable reduction in quality. [The decision to use JPEG Quality = 8 in Photoshop CS2 was made after I made comparisons with a test set of photos that I saved in all possible Photoshop JPEG Quality settings from 1 to 12. I also examined some information about JPEG compression algorithms, as well as some unique features of Photoshop JPEG compression, found in articles such as this one.]

January 16, 2009: I posted an album containing 12 baptismal certificates and marriage certificates in the Documents section. Includes high resolution files of each document.

January 16, 2009: I posted a second album of the same church records ("church records from Germany #2"), with the high-resolution files reduced in size to allow faster downloading. Each file is linked to the other and notes about file sizes are on the Documents index page.

January 15, 2009: I posted an album of church records from Germany in theDocuments section. This album shows 29 documents that all have church seals and appear to be certified copies of church records gathered in the late 1800s. Dates on the documents are in the 1700's and 1800's. High resolution files of each document also were posted.

January 15, 2009: I made a major site revision dividing the site into seven main categories of material, with icons linking to these categories at the tops of main pages as shown at the top of this page.

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Prior to January, 2009, material was added sporadically and unsystematically. Beginning in January 2009 I attempted to organize the material better and improve some of the technical aspects of the presentation.

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