CD FEED BACK
Updated November 13, 2004
 

1. “You really do put a lot of time and work on this Hunterdon History. You will save some history for the young people to read about and learn about Hunterdon. You’re doing a good job, thanks for doing the job.”
Bud Adams
[Makes my time and efforts worth while, thanks Bud, 10/31/02: WHH]

2 “I purchased the CD as soon as I got the first message about its availability. It is very well done. It has the newspaper text and a copy of the actual paper if you care to view it. In addition to information about your own ancestors and relations, it is also interesting to go through some of the stories and advertisements. I think it gives a better understanding of the time period. Some people may feel otherwise, but I feel that it was well worth the investment and I am looking forward to the next installment (sorry to put the pressure on so soon after the first release). By the way, I don't know how available this newspaper is on microfiche, but I am pretty sure that they do not even have it at the NJ archives for review. So here is an additional reason to support this project.”
John Newman
[Thank you John for the excellent review, Microfilm is available at 4 NJ Libraries, but extremely difficult to read, and of course – IT IS NOT INDEXED! 10/31/02: WHH]

3. “Very nice article in the Hunterdon Democrat today about Mr. Bill Hartman and his Hunterdon Gazette project, including his photo. So who knows, maybe a hundred years from now, Bill himself will appear on a CD! Bill, thank you for all the great work, well done! It is a treasure to all those interested in genealogy and local history. I will be sure to purchase a copy of the CD.”
Beverly G. Kirby-McDonough
[Thank you, Beverly. Article was in the Oct. 31, 2002 Issue of the Hunterdon Democrat published at Flemington, NJ. Anyone want a copy, please email me and I’ll send to you in either .doc or .pdf format – please specify!. (mrbill1033@earthlink.net) 10/31/02: WHH]

4. “I ordered the CD as soon as I knew that it became available. I received it through the mail yesterday and it looks like I will be busy with it for some time. I also can not wait for the next version as one of my most elusive ancestors, William H. Case is mentioned on the 1835 papers (the year that he died). Great Job Bill.
Rich Fisher
[Thank you, Rich, hope we can get the next one out in less than 2 years! 10/31/02: WHH]

5. “The replacement CD arrived yesterday and works great using the .pdf portion. The only problem at all was your overall "readme", which was legible but not in normal paragraphic blocks (if that makes sense) - sort of text slipping and sliding all over the place. Thanks very much for your prompt attention to my problem.”
Tom Johnston
[OK Tom, I’m glad you contacted me about this. This file was a .txt file which I thought all computers could read? I’ll put this file on future CDs in all 3 formats! 11/1/02: WHH. * Tom was one of the first to order the CD. He got the MSWord .doc format and his initial problem (his software could not read .doc files) resulted in the present version of the CD with both file formats!]

6. For all those with questions about reading the files if you have a Mac [MacIntosh] computer:

“A Mac can read .jpg files. A Mac can read .pdf files if the user has downloaded Adobe Reader (free at many online locations). An iMac can read Word .doc files IF the user has Word for windows on the computer. This is not cheap software, and one way around it would be for you to save your Word files to the Rich Text Format (also nown as RTF).”
Jan Reuther
[Jan, Thank you for the information. Since I purchased Adobe just to create these files, I’ll continue to offer the 2 formats: .doc and .pdf. 11/1/02: WHH]

7. Also for Mac computers: “I don't use MAC but I believe they can read PDF files. HOWEVER, they usually cannot read a disk that was written with a PC disk drive. I think there are programs to get around this on the user's end, but you would have to write the disk in MAC format. There are programs that will allow you to write MAC cd's. CDEverywhere is just one, but I have not had any experience with any of them.”
AL Sinclair
[Thank you Al, We must wait to see if any Mac users encounter problems. 11/02/2002: WHH]

8. “I am also using MS Windows XP and MS Word 2002. Since I have 4 Indexes that are OK, I don't think it is my software. When I put my CD in my CD-RW drive, it thinks that the CD is open and I can copy files to it. I think that there is a step when you create the index from the Text18xx file. Then you cut and paste that index into a separate file? I think the first 4 were done and the next 6 were not. [All files were created the same way!] I will let you know about the new CD. I appreciate the quickness in sending a replacement.”
Bob Philhower
[Thank you Bob for your comments, A word of advice to users of the CD: If you have both a Standard CD and a CD/RW Drive, please use the Standard Drive for the CD. Using the CD/RW Drive will cause the “Do you want to Format, etc.” message to appear, and when you close, you will get the closing form-atting message. This can be annoying! Since the CD is “Read Only” I don’t think you can ruin it! 11/02/02: WHH]

9. NOTE TO MAC PLATFORM USERS: All indications are that the CD may not open due to the incompatibilities of the Microsoft platform which has created this current CD. Only one user has responded and indicated that it was impossible to open and read the CD.  I have investigated the software program: “CDEveryWhere” and its ability to transform the structure of the CD so that it can be read on 4 platforms: DOS, MAC, Microsoft, and Unix. The program is expensive and I have only had one request for the CD to be produced in the MAC format. Thus I must give you my regrets and hope that any MAC users out there can find a way to read the .pdf files. WHH 2/10/2003]

10. I have to tell you that it must have taken you "forever" to read and transcribe and copy all you have on your first CD of Hunterdon Gazette! God bless you for having that kind of patience and thank you for you excellent instructions on how to access the world of info you have put on that CD. You are to be commended for all that hard work. I have found many of my ancestors on it and I've only completed looking at 1825 thru 1829 so far. Thank you so much for all your time and patience in doing this work.
Joyce
[And bless you Joyce for your kind words. I started in April 2000, so it hasn’t been forever! Being retired has its advantages! A wonderful volunteer is now assisting on the project and has completed 1837 while I spent valuable time working out the bugs on the CD. See the updated Index, there are 753 new entries for just this one year! 11/23/02: WHH]

Joyce also noted problems if you put the CD in your CD Write Drive. The Drive thinks you want to write to the newly inserted CD. Please work around this by clicking the correct options so that you don’t destroy the contents. I believe you could erase everything if you are not careful! My recommendation is that if you have just a CD Read-Only Drive, then use that instead of the CD Write Drive.

11. Just wanted to express my appreciation for all your hard work getting the Gazette on CD-rom and to let you know how pleased I am with the CD which I purchased today at the HCHS. I am just about as computer illiterate as they come; and yet I have had no trouble thanks to your putting the information in pdf format--- smartest thing you ever did. I am happy as a clam---my husband, less so, because he will have to endure the sight of me sitting in front of the computer for more hours on end. Gratefully,
Kay
[Thank you very much Kay, at least the Microsoft platform is working OK. 11/23/02: WHH]

12. I have just received your disk. All I can say is "well done". I have found some references to some of my ancestors and I know there are many, many more included in these "pages".  I just wanted to thank you for all your time and effort, you have done a great service to those of us with ties to Hunterdon. The added features are a great bonus! Thanks,
Sharon Murray
[Sharon thank you for ordering the CD, I am glad to learn it is of benefit to you and others. WHH 2/10/03]

13. I feel my day wouldn’t be complete without dropping you a line with my heartfelt thanks and admiration for the 1835-1834 Gazette CD, which came in the mail yesterday. What a great piece of work. In spite of my having only Word97, I had absolutely no problem opening both the .doc and .pdf files, and I was amazed and delighted to find that the .pdf files will search and find! So I didn’t actually have to first go to the Excel program (which I agree, is excellent for searching) and then to the yearly indexes. In the end, I just went straight to the year and searched for surnames directly. I found a goodly number of wedding dates, and I have many names yet to go. This is going to be one of the little jobs I do as a reward to myself at the end of a frustrating day of beating my heard against brick walls outside Hunterdon County! I look forward to having the entire runs CDs when you get around to burning them. EXCELLENT job. And Many thanks.
Mary Stewart Kyritsis.
[I certainly was overjoyed with the response from Mary Kyritsis and promptly replied to her email and asked if I could use this in the Feedback page. She replied:

I would be delighted to have you use all or part of any useful section of what I wrote. Yes, I have in mind that you have been faithful to the spelling in the paper itself, which must have bugged you a little when it came time to index; when doing the Stewart Clan Magazine index I gave up and just made everyone a STEWART but that of course was an easier decision as I know that to be the “correct” spelling (at least, the oldest), and it was necessary to make sure I found all references to the same person. Good luck with finishing the project! I look forward to the next installment. Mary

[From the beginning, I have tried to be very careful about the spelling of names. As mentioned in the project description – elsewhere on this Web page – there were many reasons that names had various spellings. The names have been typed in the Text files as noted in the newspaper and they have been proofed at least twice during the production and also at the preparation of the Index. I have tried to list all the various spellings of the names on one line in the Overall Index, but with 26 years left to add, some of the lines are getting a little cumbersome and I may just let each name and variation of the spelling sit on a line by itself. WHH 4/27/03]

14.  “I decided that in order to really study the Gazette and all the interesting things in it, I would have to print it out and study the hard copy. In the process I came to appreciate the tremendous job you and whoever is helping you have done to type out all this material so people like me can make use of it. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it.”
Marfy Goodspeed, May 24, 2003

[Marfy has written many articles which were published regarding the history of Delaware Township. Her comments are greatly appreciated. Richard Williamson and Marshall Lake are now helping with the project. WHH 5/25/03]

15.  "Bill, [The Hunterdon Gazette] is fantastic work! It's a wonderful source of information, I so appreciate you and your assistants for a fine job, we would be lost without it and I am looking forward to the next CD. Thank you again"
Teresa. [email dated: 22 Oct. 2004]

[Thank you for your comments, Teresa. With the 3rd CD nearly ready for distribution in Nov. 2004, I would like you and all those interested researchers out there to know that there have been 240 No. 1, and 135 No. 2, CDs sent out to date. Thank all of you for your interest in this project. WHH 10/22/2004]