Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

GRANDMA 5.04 Available in Mennonite History Centres Near You

GRANDMA 5 – you all know who “she” is – the Mennonite matriarch who holds so many Mennonites bound together in a relational database that can be viewed, edited and added to by Brothers’ Keeper 6.2  (software developed by John Steed).   The MHSA bookstore  www.mennonitehistory.org/publications/index.html  is one of the few sources for the CD ($45 + S/H).  GRANDMA

Well, post-publication GRANDMA (version 5.04) now has over a million in her kinship charts;   1,009,320 to be precise.  Jay Huebert, the magician who takes submissions from Mennonites around the globe and weaves them together for GRANDMA has just released this unpublished update to Mennonite historical societies for access in their reference rooms. 

It is available for use at the MHSA.  There is no word yet on when GRANDMA 6 will be available for sale, but I’d guess it will be a year or two.

MHSA will be open 10-4 on the following Saturdays in December: Dec 1, 8, 15, and 22. 

We’ll be closed December 29 and then reopen on January 5.

In Kinship,

Judii Rempel

Keeping Your Eye on GRANDMA

Bob Walde keeps his family history right up front when he's around other Mennonites.  Doing so, he learned that GRANDMA isn't always accurate (nor are her sources).  As he shows, there is something we can do about it if we keep our wits about us.

"Oh, I got quite a laugh the other day, went up and slaughtered a buffalo at Lester Thiessen's farm, for fun I printed his genealogy from GRANDMA 5 but there was not any history on his wife, Ruth Penner. While we were outside she phoned her parents in Alabama and got a few names and dates for me, started looking for her but found Ralph Aeleh Penner #624616 with the same birthdate as hers but not her so called her to see if she was a twin, she laughed and said that mistake was from an old PENNER book and she always got teased about being Ralph in school.

"... sent the info to Kevin Enns-Rempel he also had a chuckle."

Kevin Enns-Rempel, if you don't all know, is the point person in California where GRANDMA corrections should go.  Check the your GRANDMA manual and you'll find instructions on how to update the GRANDMA database on p. 10.

In kinship,
Judii