Daily Log for September 4, 2007
I finished finding the initial John Eager Howard leases for all of
William's files except the last few ground rents (the Howard Chancery Court
Case listed them as undated, and I figured it was more important to start
another heir's files instead of spending days scouring the Grantor/Grantee
indices for names). Therefore, I started setting up the ground rent
html pages for James Howard.
Daily Log for August 31, 2007
More adventures in title searching and the Grantor/Grantee indices.
I managed to locate Nicholas Schaun though!
Daily Log for August 30, 2007
Land record searching continues. One glitch: I found Nicholas
Schaun in the Grantor/Grantee Index and the land record listed next to
him was WG LL 232. This record turned out to be incorrect, and none
of my efforts to locate him in an alternative location proved successful.
Daily Log for August 29, 2007
More searching for Howard land records, nothing exciting to report.
Daily Log for August 28, 2007
Continued to look for preliminary land records, which is going well,
if not a little slowly. I am a bit questionable about the records
for Thomas Cook and Captain John Hamilton (who is listed in the actual
land record as Captain John Hambleton, which I understand to be a common
"mis-spelling" of the name at the time).
Daily Log for August 27, 2007
After a morning with Marius spent attempting to fix The Computer, I
started searching the Grantor/Grantee Indices in order to place the first
land records onto William Howard's files. I have not had any huge
problems, but I could not find an entry for Amos Honey.
Daily Log for August 24, 2007
Finished going through the City Directory for William Howard's files.
Entries were missing for Ground Rents 118, 140, 147, 154, 188, 200, 212,
213, 218, 273a, and 281. I also took a very wide berth in my copying
and pasting when it came to names, as I decided that it would be helpful
to see the possibilities, even if they turn out to be incorrect.
However, I have another little question: many of the leases were recorded
in the late 1790s, and they get distributed in the 1829 will and court
case. Is it safe to assume that the lease still applies to the same
people 40 years after the original signing?
Daily Log for August 22, 2007
I finished putting all the images and links up for William Howard's
ground rents' entries in the Howard Chancery Court Case, and I also preceeded
to put up links and images for the City Directory entries. I have
not been able to find some people in the directory, including the lessees
listed in Ground Rents 58, 80, 113, and 115. I have a question regarding
the actually lease-holders- many times, the wording is something like,
"$10 payable by Person X leased to Person Y on Z Street." I don't
know if it is just a coincidence, but I have had more trouble finding the
'Person Y's'. Most of the time, Person X is in the directory listed
as associated with Z Street. Therefore, who actually pays the lease
and inhabits the house/business?
Daily Log for August 21, 2007
I have decided to go about setting up the html pages for the heirs'
ground rents one piece of information at a time, as I was becoming frustrated
with going back and forth between the MDLandRec page, the 1829 City Directory
page, and so on. Therefore, I have spent the day doing image captures
of the original Howard chancery court case and linking the rudimentary
ground rent pages to William's ground rent index. I have run into
a few bumps- some of the lessees are not listed in the grantor/grantee
index, so I will look again with fresher eyes tomorrow.
Daily Log for August 20, 2007
Commenced setting up the ground rent pages and searches for William
Howard. Instead of doing full title searches, I am just finding the
initial lease between John Eager Howard and person X as it was listed in
the Howard Estate. I have not been capturing the images of the deed
itself, but rather I have linked the deed to the page. I feel that
pasting the whole deed onto the page makes a lot of clutter and results
in an enormous file size. Naturally, I can always go back and paste
the deeds later if that is required. Also, we had a meeting with
Ed and Emily about improvements to our html-editing and organizing methods,
and I have decided to not worry about them until I really have to.
Daily Log for August 17, 2007
Finally finished the renaming! Started searching for ground rents
to limited success.
Daily Log for August 16, 2007
Finishing up renaming and relinking.
Daily Log for August 15, 2007
More renaming...sorry this takes me so long, and I don't know why it
does (in my defense, I had to leave earlier today for a dentist appointment).
Daily Log for August 14, 2007
Continued renaming files and fixing links. It was the last day
for most of the interns, so we went out to a long-ish lunch to celebrate.
Daily Log for August 13, 2007
Spent the day renaming the files and redoing my links (a necessity
after renaming the files), which was more of a delicate operation than
one would think.
Daily Log for August 10, 2007
Garrett Powers' presentation on ground rents this morning was both
interesting and clarifying in many respects. I had wished we could
have discussed more of the ideas or history of ground rents during our
"private" meeting-- I felt that the discussion that ensued was a bit unfocused
and disorienting, and I was sure that Dr. (?) Powers could have shared
many insights that would have proven very valuable. Our lunch was
very fun, and I quite enjoyed everyone's project presentations. However,
Erin and I have some questions concerning the need for the Howard indices.
If we each make our own indices, we would just be duplicating the information,
and it just seems like a lot of effort for little payoff.
Daily Log for August 9, 2007
Finished up the transcriptions of the ground rent properties and worked
on our little presentation with Erin.
Daily Log for August 8, 2007
Transcribed, transcribed...and watched the most ridiculous video- the
infamous Thomas Jefferson and Alexander
Hamilton video- courtesy of Ed. Erin and I also wrote our
Bulldog article and worked on our presentation on Friday.
Daily Log for August 7, 2007
Continued to transcribe the ground rents off the chancery court case.
We had a good meeting this afternoon with the Ground Rent Project members,
and now Erin and I must focus on capturing indices and renaming our files,
which should not be too daunting of a task. I also finally got to
touch an old book, hurrah!
Daily Log for August 6, 2007
I kept transcribing the chancery court case ground rent allotments
this afternoon, as I came to understand that this is pretty important.
Should I transcribe all the real property pieces as well? I had skipped
this earlier in the project because I thought that everything else was
a higher priority. Also, when the record states that the ground rent
was payable by Person X but leased by Person Y, what does that mean in
relation to who pays the ground rent/occupies the property?
Daily Log for August 3, 2007
So, today we were told to go back and start again on researching the
ground rent properties. We were also shown Ed's formatting model,
which was quite extensive. I am beginning to feel that the project's
scope is becoming a bit unwieldy. I realize that nothing we are currently
doing is a surprise, but I think that all the confusion and switching of
tasks is what is making the project a little rough. I have also finished
the real property title search for 500 Fayette, which ended kind of oddly.
There were a few missing records, and I took it back to John Eager Howard
without hitting Charles first. I noticed that Ed's model contained
the transcriptions from the chancery court case, so I decided I would work
on transcriptions for the rest of the day.
Daily Log for August 2, 2007
Jean and Joyce both informed us that we were to continue on the title
searches we had been doing before we found out that we had done the ground
rents incorrectly. I looked for William's GR 8 for a little longer
just to see if I could find it (nope), so then I moved back to working
on 500 Fayette. The last deed I found contained two land record entries,
one of which mentioned John Eager Howard and the other pointing to a piece
of property belonging to Charles Howard. However, that Charles lot
does not seem to be the one I am looking for, so that is a bit confusing.
Also, when Charles received his lots from the will and the court case,
were there any deeds written up in the land records?
Daily Log for August 1, 2007
Searched all day for William Howard's Ground Rent 8, still no sign
of it. With my luck, it's probably in the 1842-1843 land index that
was scanned so badly that it was illegible.
Daily Log for July 31, 2007
A little bit of a frustrating day, as I searched through many grantor/grantee
indices for a specific piece of property to no avail. However, I
think I found some little gems of "real life" in the records (1833-1835),
as the clerk occassionally wrote very random phrases in the property description
lines. I can only imagine that the poor clerk was bored, so that
was pretty amusing.
Daily Log for July 30, 2007
I fixed several mistakes on my real property html pages Jean pointed
out this morning: I corrected all the Sanborn links and images ("2" was
supposed to be "12") on the Block 665 properties and changed all the images
and links accordingly for Block 699 (now Block 690). Also got the
very bad news that Erin and I essentially have to start over on the ground
rent part of this project. We had been interpreting Jean's spreadsheets
incorrectly, and she brought it to our attention this morning. Therefore,
I have started doing forward title searches for William's Ground Rent 8,
and I anticipate this method taking longer and being even more hit-and-miss
than what I had been doing previously..
Daily Log for July 27, 2007
Went on a great tour of the Governor's Mansion and the State House
today.
Daily Log for July 26, 2007
Continued title searching, but I ran into a bit of a time gap as I
continued my search on Charles' 500 Fayette. I found a record (AM
329 502, March 7, 1867) that referenced a Daniel Vondersmith as being the
previous deed-holder and had no land record references. There was
no trace of Vondersmith (or Vandersmith) in any of the grantor/grantee
indices in MDlandrec, so I just went on to the record I had for June 6,
1839 (TK 289 343).
Daily Log for July 25, 2007
Intellectual victory paired with stunning (and potentially crippling)
revelation. First, the happy news. Due to Jen giving us her
"Black's Law Dictionary" and a conversation that lasted probably about
an hour, Erin and I think we have actually finally won a grasp on what
ground rents are. Erin had a case that involved a leasehold interest,
a term with which neither of us were familiar. So we looked it up,
and the definition led us down a windy path that eventually ended with-
we think- an understanding of the legal terms and stipulations involved
in ground rents, especially as they contrast to land held/given in fee
simple. We have decided that we will make a sheet tomorrow with the
definitions and our ideas written out so that we can reference them more
easily. Now, the potentially bad news. We realized that we
have been tracking the transfers of property that have ground rents, not
the transfers of the ground rents themselves. Essentially, we have
been researching whether ground rents exist on certain properties, but
we have not been researching who actually owns the ground rents themselves.
Who are the grantees in our deeds paying their ground rents to? We
don't know. This question brings us back to the goal of the project
itself- are we supposed to be finding ground rent owners, or just seeing
if lots come with ground rents? I am thinking this is an important
distinction. In more prosaic news, I kept doing title searches today
and will be going back to fix up my files tomorrow.
Daily Log for July 24, 2007
Had a meeting today with the Ground Rent Project people, which I thought
went well. Found out that I have to go back and add things to the
land records files I have already done, but that should not be inordinately
difficult. Very interesting discovery made about George and Prudence
Howard's lack of wills and the existence of possible illegitimate children.
Also, we found out that Dr. Papenfuse can get us the Thomas Jefferson v.
Alexander Hamilton video, which is pretty much the most exciting thing
ever. Had quite a good chat about Mr. TJ with Ed, so that was also
lovely. Kim and Jen showed Erin and me how to get into probate records,
and then I just continued on title searching for the rest of the day.
Daily Log for July 23, 2007
A bit sad that the one title search going very well (600 Cathedral)
hit a wall when a property was bequethed by a will. At least it was
an interesting will, as it belonged to Royal Phelps' father, Royal Phelps
being the father of Anita Carroll, who obviously married into the Carroll
family. I then started on another property (500 Fayette), which is
going well, although I have a sneaking suspiscion that I have missed a
few records on my way backwards through time.
Daily Log for July 20, 2007
More title searches, but the Adobe suddenly would not allow me to save
images, so will talk to Marius soon.
Daily Log for July 19, 2007
More title searching, better sailing this time.
Daily Log for July 18, 2007
Continued title searches, only to meet with a couple more dead ends.
I get back into the mid-nineteenth century or so, and then references to
prior land references seem to disappear. Is there a secret magic
to this? Also concerning secret magic: maps. I have one piece
of property (title_515_68), and my last deed describes several properties
all in a row with no street addresses, only dimensions. My question
is how to match up descriptions on the deed with the Bromley map images.
How do I determine the target property? The orientation of the map
and the description are consistent with each other, but what about the
scale? The scale on the map is 1600 feet to an inch, but what is
an inch on the original map versus an inch on the computer? Also,
SDAT and Mdlandrec have proven a little shaky. For example, I got
a land reference from SDAT for 714 Saint Pauls (SEB 7396 456), but then
Mdlandrec said the book didn't exist, which is not true! Mdlandrec
says there is no SEB or JB book, but I've found and used them before!
Daily Log for July 17, 2007
I continued title searches today, and I marvel at anyone who can actually
trace back a deed to its origins! I have stopped and started on a
couple of searches, as I keep hitting dead ends. I am still working
on Charles Howard's property, and I worked more on Block 506 (1014 St.
Paul), started a bit on block 515 (809 Park), Block 516 (815 Cathedral,
Emanuel P E Church), and Block 517 (13 Read). Like I said, various
roadblocks have popped up, including wills and court cases. Do I
find these anywhere? I also have encountered deeds that reference
books that don't exist and deed references that skip around through the
years. Also, question: if someone owns a ground rent and the fee
simple property, when did the two deeds coincide? Weren't ground
rents created seperately from the fee simple ownership?
Daily Log for July 16, 2007
I continued title searching 1014 St. Paul Street today with mixed success.
A main concern is where to find wills and other records not contained within
land records. I searched the MSA website for the materials online,
but I either missed it or it does not exist...please advise? Also,
I uncovered two independent ground rent deeds, but the fee simple deeds
all contained references to paying ground rents as well (but never really
specified to whom they were supposed to be paid). The ground rent
was sold in 1965...but the fee simple deeds mentioned it existing all the
way back into the 1940s. I am confused as to where the ground rent
sale actually came from. I suppose this is main problem that inspired
the project, but I am unsure how to get around it. Therefore, I took
a little break from this specific property and began a title search for
13 East Read Street.
Daily Log for July 13, 2007
Today I started title searches! Although I anticipate this to
be a long and, at times, difficult task, I really enjoyed the work today
for the opportunity the searches allowed me to speculate on the lives of
the individuals listed in the deeds. I have already- at least in
my imagination- stumbled upon some exciting human drama. On a more
pragmatic level, however, concerns and questions did arise in the process.
The ground rent blocks of things like railroads and waterfalls have no
street numbers listed on the Bromley Atlas, so I did not know how to proceed
locating those properties in the backward title searches. I also
hit a dead end on Charles Howard's 514_8_19_189, as the property was condemned
and taken over by the city. I await Kim or Joyce's expertise before
proceeding further. I worked on Charles' 506_0_46_190 this afternoon
and managed to trace back quite a few deeds. However, I started with
the address 1023 St. Paul and ended up with the address 1014 St. Paul (in
the same block and in close proximity), but I suspect thus had something
to do with the fact that a corporation bought many lots within the block.
This, I fear, will be a common problem against which I must remain vigilant.
I decided to proceed with 1014 St. Paul (I disovered the problem very early
on in the search), finding no mention of a ground rent until 1966 in a
deed outlining a distinction between the ownership of ground rent and real
property. I have stopped at this point for clarification as to how
to proceed. A technical question: are references to leasehold titles
references to ground rents?
Daily Log for July 12, 2007
I proceeded to fix the image files (hopefully) for my pages as Jen instructed me to. Joyce also came down and showed me how to do a title search, so I will start that endeavor in earnest tomorrow.
Daily Log for July 11, 2007
Today was pretty uneventful, as I finished reviewing all my ground rent files and made appropriate corrections. I changed Charles' 506_8_46_190 and 506_0_46_190. I also attended a really informative meeting with the members of the Ground Rent Project.
Daily Log for July 10, 2007
Today I proceeded to doublecheck all my ground rent files, and thankfully so. I am guessing the corrections I made yesterday between the E and H drives wiped out some of my work, so I spent the day re-doing links and inserting images. Charles Howard's GR file 506_8_45_176 is now 506_0_45_176 and GR 534_7_11_192 is now 534_8_111_192. I am still uncertain about what Bromley and Sanborn images for James's GR file "street_7_95_177." John's GR file 508_8_23_231 is now 508_0_23_231 and 524_7_98_233 is now 524_8_98_233. Essentially all of the images and links for William's ground rent files were erased, and I made a few corrections to the file names as well. 575_6_215_167 is now 575_11_215_167; 514_8_22_163 is now 514_0_22_163; 508_8_28_163 is now 508_0_28_163; 517_8_37_163 is now 517_0_37_163; and 506_8_44_163 is now 506_0_44_163. I am also unclear as to what Bromley and Sanborn images to use on William's GR file "street_8_83_164."
Daily Log for July 9, 2007
Today I finished putting together the Ground Rent pages for all of my individuals, minus a few files. I was not sure what Bromley images to use for the files that begin with "street." I also changed Johm Howard's 524_7_98_233 to 524_0_98_233. I had a few problems with several files, but, with IT and Kim's help, we finally figured out some of my worst html problems. For some reason, several of my files were being saved to the H drive instead of my E. We sorted out the problem, and now I feel much better about all the files being in the correct place. However, I am still a little paranoid, and I figured that at this juncture in the project a thorough "going over" of my work so far would be very beneficial. Therefore, I reviewed every single link contained within the real property files of my four individuals and corrected several small errors I had made. I plan to do the same for my ground rent files tomorrow. Lastly, we had a lecture this morning given by Susan Pearl about properties along the Potomac. Although the lecture contained several points of interest, I was a little bothered by the fact that her talk seemed to contain no argument/thesis. However, I have been thinking about the similarities and the differences between archival historians and more academically-oriented historians, and the lecture was more food for thought.
Daily Log for July 6, 2007
Today has been a rather frustrating day as far as html is concerned. I have finished the Ground Rent property individual pages for all four of my Howard heirs, excepting a scattering of pages I need to go back and correct. However, as I was checking the links I made in the html Ground Rent Index for John, I discovered that most of my links were not working. After an IT intern investigated the problem, we discovered that the html source code for the links had somehow placed John's files in William's folder. This was a bit disconcerting, and my frustration increased over the day as I found that more and more of my files had somehow migrated into incorrect folders (I am not quite sure how or why this happened, as I have attempted to be very careful when I saved files). Even now, John Ground Rent file 524_7_98_233 was incorrectly saved to James's folder. (Fill in images on this indiviual page). I moved the file to John's folder, made an entry for it on John's GR Index page, and made a link as usual in Netscape Composer. However, the entry (much less the link) doesn't show up on the html version of John's GR Index and has now disappeared from John's GR Index in Netscape Composer. Need IT help in this matter, and in figuring out what is wrong with John's 874_14_321_237.
Daily Log for July 5, 2007
Today I continued to make links and attach images to the Ground Rent pages for my Howard individuals, particularly James Howard and John E. Howard. John's 1196_8_7_230 is 1196_0_7_230 and 1196_8_9_231 is now 1196_0_9_231. Also, 575_6_215_167 was corrected to 575_11_215_167. William's 514_8_22_163 is now 514_0_22_163; 508_8_23_163 is now 508_0_23_163; 506_8_44_163 is now 506_0_44_163; and 517_8_37_163 is now 517_0_37_163.
Daily Log for July 4, 2007
I spent today filling the individual Ground Rent pages for James Howard with the map images and links. File 1179_8_12_175 is now 1179_0_12_175; 508_8_27_27_176 is now 508_0_27_176; 506_8_45 is now 506_0_45_176; and James's Real Property file 506_403_8_45 is now 506_403_0_45. However, there is not a Sanborn image for Block 508 on either the ground rent or the real propeerty pages, so I plan to check on that after I finish the entirety of this step in the project. I also corrected James's GR file 18_407_186 to 318_407_186. Also, what images should I use for the block number for James's Ground Rent file street_7_95_177?
Daily Log for July 2, 2007
Today I finished constructing the Ground Rent individual property pages for John Jr. and Charles. I wondered if I labelled the file correctly for John's 18_407_186, as it was a slighly irregular entry in the Excel sheet. I also began placing the Bromley, Sanborn, and Howard e-book links and images onto the correct pieces of property belonging to Charles Howard. During this process, I changed file 1196_8_5_189 to 1196_0_5_189, as the old issue with property locations being off the scope of Sanborn 8 unsurprisingly arose again. Several other files so far required similar action: 1196_8_6_189 is now 1196_0_6_189 and 508_8_26_189 is now 508_0_26_189. I also encountered a small problem that also touched on a question I had concerning the relationship between the real property and ground rent lots. Charles Howard was given a Real Property Howard Distribution lot 46 and a Ground Rent Property Howard Distribution Lot 45. Is this a legitimate lot difference or a typo? The description of Lot 46's boundaries leads me to believe that I am dealing with two seperate pieces of property. Are all the ground rent properties to be found within the real property pieces?
Daily Log for June 29, 2007
I spent the morning just trying to polish up the real property lots. John Howard's 524_383_7_19 was corrected to 524_383_8_19. Also John Howard's 536_379_8_43 Bromley block has the Peabody Institute image in it, but Jean labelled it otherwise on the Sanborn. The street names match the Peabody image perfectly, so I changed the file's Sanborn image. Also, I changed John Howard's 536_379_0_44 to 536_379_8_44 and fixed the Sanborn image accordingly. I also fixed all the Sanborn images for John Howard's Bromley blocks 536. Jean labelled John Howard's Howard Distribution 68 on Sanborn 9, (file 536_379_8_68) but Bromley block is on Sanborn 8- I'm not so sure if this file is correct, but I changed the image accordingly. I am also uncertain about the images and Sanborn page numbers for 524_383_7_6 and 524_383_7_14 for William Howard, but I placed all the correct Sanborn images of the 536 Bromley blocks for William Howard on the individual file pages. Also, a mental note to myself: make sure John Howard's real property 1249 was not deleted. Today I also set up ground rent pages for William and John Jr.
Daily Log for June 28, 2007
Today I completed fixing the links for all the sections (Bromley, Howard Distribution, setc.) of all my Howard real property lots. I also changed James Howard's Bromley block 318 to 918, as the street names make more sense that way, and I could not find Block 318 to save my life.
Daily Log for June 27, 2007
Today I completed correcting the Sanborn map links and fixed several mistakes I caught along the way. Charles Howard: 526_379_0_23 is now 526_379_8_23; 526_379_0_24 is now 526_379_8_24; 526_379_0_25 is now 526_379_8_25; 526_379_0_32 is now 526_379_8_32. I also had a question regarding a piece of property belonging to Charles Howard. How are 526_379_8_10 and 526_379_8_11 supposedly located off of Sanborn 8 when the other Block 526 Howard Distribution properties are all on Sanborn 8? Isn't it all 526? I just left the two pieces of property in question alone and will await further instructions. Also, Charles Howard's 536_379_8_65 and 536_379_8_66 pose a problem: the Bromley block number images match those found on Sanborn 8, but Jean has labelled Howard Distribution lots 65 and 66 on Sanborn 9. I also left these files "as is" until I can speak with Jean or someone. Further Charles Howard corrections: 1196_379_8_5 to 1196_379_0_5; 1196_379_8_6 to 1196_379_0_6; 1179_403_8_11 to 1179_403_0_11; 508_403_8_19 to 508_403_0_19; 506_403_8_46 to 506_403_0_46. As I was correcting the links (Sanborn and Howard Distribution html today) I also made a note to doublecheck the Sanborn images for William and John Howard, Jr., as some seem incorrect.
Daily Log for June 26, 2007
Many of my questions from yesterday got resolved today when Jean came down and helped us clarify outstanding issues. The issues connected to pieces of property located off of Sanborn 8 were resolved. Jean told me to place a link to the Sanborn Key, place an image from the Sanborn Key page, and corrected the file names and links, replacing an 8 with a 0. I also corrected William Howard's 575_383_6_215 to 575_383_11_215. I finished placing Sanborn images and links for all four of my individuals, but I was informed that all the links were supposed to be to the html pages, not the pdf pages. Therefore, I will now have to go back and change every link for every section (Bromley, Howard Distribution, Sanborn) that I have already completed, which is pretty devastating. I am very sorry for this situation- I am still figuring out how to construct these webpages, but I am definitely getting a better hold on it now, so hopefully the corrections will move quickly.
Daily Log for June 25, 2007
I managed to complete a good amount of work today, but I also stumbled into a few important questions. Jean gave me her extremely helpful key to the Sanborn maps detailing the locations of the Howard Distribution numbers, which is great. I completed the Sanborn map links/images for James Howard and Charles Howard, and I nearly completed the links for John E. Howard, Jr. I still can't find Block 318 (belonging to James Howard) on the Bromley Map. I am a little uncertain about the Sanborn blocks I used for the Howard Distribution numbers 200 and 201 for Charles Howard, and I would like Charles Howard's Howard Distribution numbers 10 and 11 double-checked. Also, for Charles Howard's Howard Distribution numbers 23, 24, 25, and 32 (properties located off of page 8 on the Sanborn Map), I deleted the Sanborn image, put a 0 in the Sanborn Map value, and removed the link to Sanborn Map page 8. I also replaced the 8 in the file name with a 0. Also, Charles Howard's file 534_383_7_38 is actually located on Sanborn 8, so I changed the file name and links. However, double-checking the images would be helpful. I am also uncertain about the images on Charles Howard's files 536_379_8_65 and 536_379_8_66, and I will later go back and doublecheck the files I did for Charles Howard prior to receiving Jean's map. Also, I would be grateful if someone would doublecheck Charles Howard's files 576_383_6_200 and 576_383_6_201, as Howard Distribution numbers 200 and 201 are not labelled on Jean's map and I am not confident that the images are correct. My major question centers around changing file names, however. Many properties are located off Sanborn map 8 but are still labelled as appearing on Sanborn 8. Examples thusfar include: Charles Howard's 1179_403_8_11; James Howard's 526_379_8_12; James Howard's 536_379_8_45; James Howard's 508_403_8_27; James Howard's 506_403_8_45; John Howard's 536_379_8_44; and John Howard's 508_403_8_23. Should I replace the 8's in the file names with 0's and change file names and links accordingly? This is my most pressing question. Also, I was uncertain about Charles Howard's 508_403_8_26; James Howard's 1179_403_8_12; James Howard's 552_379_8_149; James Howard's 552_379_8_150; James Howard's 552_379_8_151; James Howard's 665_386_2_281; John Howard's 536_379_6_64; John Howard's 1196_379_8_7; and John Howard's 1196_379_8_9.
Daily Log for June 22, 2007
I finished up fixing the links and images for all four individuals. I did, however, encounter a few small issues in the property lists. I searched for a very long time, and I could not manage to find Block 318 on Bromley Atlas 467 for James Howard, and I could not find Block 699 on the listed Bromley Atlas page, but I did manage to locate it on Bromley Atlas page 459. I changed my links accordingly, is that alright? I also started on the Sanborn map links but am finding navigating them a little challenging. Street names are not consistent, so I am not entirely sure I am locating the correct properties.
Daily Log for June 21, 2007
Today was a little traumatizing, as I learned that I was supposed to have been using the Bromley Atlas from Editonline rather than the ones found on Ecpclio. This makes infinitely more sense, and I realize that I should have voiced my questions/reservations before I had essentially finished that whole portion of the project. Therefore, I spent today editing links and images for the pages of John E. Howard, Jr., William Howard, and a little bit of Charles Howard and anticipate doing the same for some portion of tomorrow. Although I understand that there are a lot of people working on this project, I think directions could be expressed a little more clearly so that breaks in communication and general confusion could be avoided in the future. However, I am very grateful for Jean's clarification and will know to ask right away if I am unsure of how to proceed.
Daily Log for June 20, 2007
I spent the afternoon finishing inserting the block images into William Howard's real lot property index. I also completed the same process for Charles Howard and James Howard, leaving John E. Howard, Jr.'s page for tomorrow. The work went with little problems today, and I feel that I am picking up a little speed.
Daily Log for June 19, 2007
Today I finished the linking of images from the "Howard Estate html" to the real property index for John Eager Howard, Jr. I also transcribed the description of Lot 14 (belonging to George Howard) while Erin and I worked in the Appraisals Department during a meeting in the Electronic Classroom (before I found Netscape Composer on Joyce's computer). A few questions arose from today's work. First, Lots 81, 84, 85, 90, 98 (all of html page 233 of the Howard Estate e-book), and 232 (html page 235) were all missing from the Excel sheet and therefore do not have individual real property index pages. I searches the Excel spreadsheets for these specific lots and could not find them, so am I to assume that they will not be included in this project? Also, html pages 239 and 240 were flipped upside down in the Howard Estate e-book. I used the "View Transcript" option, flipped the pages rightside-up, and copied and pasted onto the individual lot pages that way. However, when I went back to check my links, the pages were still upside down. Is there a way to correct this? I then started pasting block images onto real property index pages belonging to William Howard. I began linking the "Howard Distribution Number" entry back to the Howard Estate e-book- is this correct? Are the "Block" and "Atlas html" entries both supposed to be linked back to the Bromley 1906? Also, when I link anything back to the Bromley Atlas, the link takes me back to the first page of the scanned Atlas. Is there any way to make the link go to where the individual block in question is located? Lastly, there were two pieces of property bequethed to William Howard I didn't know how to locate on the Bromley Atlas, seeing as how one is a rural property without a block number and the other's block number is labelled, "Federal Hill."
Daily Log for June 18, 2007
I finished putting in images and links from the "Howard Estate html" book in the specific real property lots of Charles Howard and James Howard. While I was doing this, I noticed that on html page 177 lots 70, 86, and 95 (all bequethed to Charles Howard) were not accounted for in the Excel spreadsheets and therefore do not have individual html pages. This same problem also occurred on html page 178 (lots 102 and 112) and again on html pages 191 and 192. Were these the lots deleted for the resurveying of Mt. Vernon Square, or am I missing these pieces of property? It seems strange to me that this problem has arisen with every Howard heir thusfar. I wish that I had completed more today, but a lecture, although interesting, cut down on my work time. I also find myself moving very slowly through the demands of the html- doublechecking every file, going back and checking all the links, etc.- but I would rather err on the side of caution than be forced to go back and fix everything later. I am becoming more comfortable with the html, but I still need to move carefully through it.
Daily Log for June 14, 2007
I finished up setting up the html "Real Property Index" pages for each of my four individuals: all the lot pages detailing block numbers, atlases html, etc. are ready. I then started placing the images detailing William Howard's lots from the Howard Estate e-book and managed to finish making links from that e-book to all of his real property index pages. While I was doing that, I noticed that there were some pieces of property (on page 164 specifically) that were missing from my index htmls and are therefore absent from the Excel spreadsheets.
Daily Log for June 13, 2007
I nearly finished the second Excel spreadsheet detailing more real property distribution, so I will work on that tomorrow morning. Also, Erin and I encountered some difficulties and concerns when we discussed how to place the map images on the html pages. Some of the street names do not match the ones given in the spreadsheet, the maps don't seem properly indexed, and so on. We e-mailed Dr. Russo in an effort to clear up some ambiguities, so hopefully things will be more clear by tomorrow.
Daily Log for June 12, 2007
I started constructing the html pages for William, James, Charles, and
John E. Howard's real property. I am moving at a careful pace, especially
since this is my first effort with html. I finished the first of
Jean Russo's wonderful Excel spreadsheets and began on the second (and
considerably more prodigious) one.
I also started transcribing and completed a page (html page 163) of
William Howard's allotments lists. The transcription posed no significant
challenges outside of stumbling into my first experiemces with html coding
and attempting to keep my transcription tactics (punctuation, capitalization,
and so on) consistent with the practices of the other individuals involved
in the project.