Umlauts, etc.:

     German vowel umlauts (the two dots over an a, o, or u) represent
     a different vowel sound than the un-umlauted letters.  A umlaut
     is pronounced like a long a in English (weigh).  O umlaut makes
     a sound where the lips are pursed as to make a long o (nose), but
     the tongue is forming a long a.  U umlaut has the lips making a
     long o, but the tongue is forming a long e (cheese).  Eszet is
     a regular English s sound.

     Any German should be able to understand the ae, oe, ue, and ss
     equivalents for the umlauts.  For family names and place names,
     however, these equivalents are often not considered identical.

     ASCII     TeX  850  8859  Mac  HTML     Postscript   Name
     _____     ___  ___  ____  ___  ____     __________   ____
     "A,Ae     \"A  142  0196  128  Ä   Adieresis    A umlaut
     "O,Oe     \"O  153  0214  133  Ö   Odieresis    O umlaut
     "U,Ue     \"U  154  0220  134  Ü   Udieresis    U umlaut
     "a,ae     \"a  132  0228  138  ä   adieresis    a umlaut
     "o,oe     \"o  148  0246  154  ö   odieresis    o umlaut
     "u,ue     \"u  129  0252  159  ü   udieresis    u umlaut
     "s,ss,sz  \ss  225  0223  167  ß  germandbls   eszet
     "y,y,ij   \"y  152  0255  216  ÿ   ydieresis    y dieresis
     "e        \"e  137  0235  145  ë   edieresis    e dieresis

     850 refers to the IBM code page.  IBM code page 437 is identical
     for these characters, except it lacks the eszet.  IBM code page
     819 is ISO 8859-1 compliant, while Windows code page 1252 is a
     ISO 8859-1 superset.  All numerical codes shown are decimal.
     The y dieresis is really a keyboard shortcut for an ij ligature.

     To type these characters on a PC, hold down the alt key and
     enter the 850 or 8859 keycode on the numeric keypad.
     On a Mac, for umlauts type option-u and then the letter to be
     umlauted.  For eszet, type option-s.

     Genealogical symbols:

     ASCII  Typeset                          Meaning
     _____  _______                          _______
     *      asterisk                         Born
     (*)    asterisk in parentheses          Born illegitimately
     +*     cross and asterisk               Stillborn
     ~,=3D    single or multiple water waves   Baptized
     Y      communion cup                    Confirmed
     o      ring                             Engaged
     oo,&   linked or touching rings         Married
     o|o    separated rings                  Divorced
     o-o    separated rings                  Illegitimate union
     !!     two exclamation marks            Pastor
     +      cross or vertical dagger         Died
     X      crossed swords                   Died in battle
     +X     cross and crossed swords         Died from battle wounds
     [],=B1,# box                              Buried
     ++     two crosses                      This line extinct

------------------------------

     Suggestions for additions or improvements should be sent to
     the author, Jim Eggert  EggertJ@crosswinds.net.