Gloria, thanks for the tips. I asked my bit of a distant cousin who grew-up in Chicago and whose fam. kept-up on teaching the younger generation the German language and he didn't know either.
Maybe after I find out I can teach him something for a change!
BOB--excellent question about our written skills a few generations from now LOL! Even today they don't do much cursive writing at all! My 15 yr. old grandson cannot even read cursive and rarely uses it due to homework, beginning in 4th grade, needing to be turned in as computer generated. True fact! He is not a dummy by any means. He's an "A" student and plays bagpipes (really hard instrument). I was shocked to learn he didn't know cursive. But, hey, maybe that could be a little side-job for some of us very soon--translating cursive into text. Kind of sad, though.
I think I'm going to scan some of those records and see if anyone can figure it out.
Ronnee