This is a family repository website. It is dedicated to those that have passed for the benefit of those that are still living. Essentially, families have historically kept boxes, bins, wooden chest and the like with pictures, tapes, CDs, rings, baby teeth, locks of hair, birth and death certificates, and so forth. I saw this with my parents belongings when they died. Mom (Blanche) even wrote little notes and taped them onto various artifacts she charished. For example, I now have my grandma Gladys' eyeglasses and case with one such note.
Both Gladys, then my mother worked on collecting family historical information of which I inherited a box full of documents, hand scribed notes, ancestry charts, and many various loose ends I cannot even start to describe. We are now in a digital world that allows us to store much of the family things on computers. So here is my value added. I have scanned documents and old photos, converted tapes to movies, and even put push-pins on a map to explore by.
The following should help you dig as deep as you want. There is ALOT of content here on the Stermer Cloud. It contains several family tree lines, so please enjoy the parts that are intended for you. Note also, that this information is intended to be shared. I DO NOT CLAIM the information in the website is 100% truthful so please help me to add, verify, and refine it for the benefit of others.
I can forsee that you may want to create your own family website repository or spawn a new family tree from mine. Let me know if you want to do that. I have some info on how to go about it.
Please visit https://stermercloud.hopto.org:55455 website to browse for Stermer Cloud files like family pictures, family tree, music, videos, recipes, vacations, etc. To obtain login credentials, send me a request by email and I will send you a new username and password. PLEASE be patient because this file sharing website can be SLOW at times and has some glitchy behaviors that are at times frustrating. Overall, it usually works. Let Me Know... by email if you are having problems. Hopefully, I can get it fixed.
If you are more knowledgeable about computers, you may be interested in doing any of the following supported activities on the Stermer Cloud Debian Linux server using your login credentials;
1. SSH - secure shell remote login
2. FTP - file transfer protocol
3. RDP - remote desktop connection
4. SMB - Samba file sharing
Your /home/yourname directory will have the typical user desktop folders like Documents, Pictures, etc. where you may utilize this server in other ways. Please note that your user belongs to a 'cloud' group and therefore is subject to the file and app access limitations of your user privs and that cloud group only.
As with any other services you use, you are not permitted to store any illegal content.
There is one core family tree that is maintained for the Stermer Cloud. It is called
PercySmith family tree. It does have many branches which includes Stermers, Smiths,
and some Krzyznieski, some branches of which stretch back to the 1100's AD. This family tree
can be accessed currently in 4 different ways. There are 2 ways to access the tree
using web-browsers. The other 2 ways involve downloading and running a family tree
application that you must install to use. Instructions are provided for each at:
Pictures/_Family/_FamilyTree/Instructions.
1. Internet browser https://stermercloud.hopto.org/webtrees
This website is most easiest to use. If you don't request a sign-in, then the family tree only shows dead people. Individual pictures are watermarked with a 'W' and live people are listed as 'private'. To be able to add to or edit this webtree, remove the watermark, and see the live people info, you need to click the sign-in link in the upper right and then click on the 'Request a new user account' link. You need to provide your real name, a chosen username and email address so that I may send you a verification email. A comment field is provided that can be used supply info about you and your relation to this website and how you wish to use or update it. You will get an email that grants you privileges to sign-in and may have some enhanced instructions on using the Webtrees website.
This tree actually is centered on my parents Don and Blanche Stermer and reflects all their known siblings up and down the tree including both the Stermer (father's) side and the Smith (mother's) side. The tree goes back to the 1100's AD on an England branch. I am off and on again adding and maintaining it at my whelm. I currently have not performed a review of the tree content to cross-check its accuracy. Any help you give me will improve it in that reguard.
2. MyHeritage Website: https://www.myheritage.com/site-476457601/smith
Read the Welcome to Smith Web Site section. If you wish to see only dead people in this tree, click the 'View family tree' button. If you wish to see everyone both dead and alive, click the 'Request membership' button. Sending a request for Smith Website or even requesting your own MyHeritage Account to create and manage your own tree is free with a basic tree size limit.
If you wish to create your own tree, you can do so. Let me know by email and I will send to you some instructions and show you how to reuse the tree I already have.
3. MyHeritage Family Tree Builder app
The latest version of this app can only be installed on Windows or MacOS and can be downloaded at:
Clicking that link should have downloaded a new installer file to your 'Downloads' folder and taken you to a 'Thank you for downloading' page with a 1,2,3 step process to install the software.
Once you are installed, run this app and at the menu bar select File->Open Project...
At the popup 'Load Geneology Project' dialog box, click on 'Browse' button then browse to your
downloaded Pictures/_Family/_FamilyTree/_MyHeritage/PercySmith/Database/
Once you are installed, run this app and at the menu bar select File->Import GEDCOM...
At the popup 'Import Geneology File' dialog box, click on 'Browse' button then browse to your
downloaded Pictures/_Family/_FamilyTree/_MyHeritage/PercySmith/Database/
The following list of known open issues will eventually be reviewed and possibly fixed;
1. Some browsers do not support rendering some file types depending on the installed apps on
the users computer.
2. Some browsers will not invoke user actions (ie. clicks or dbl-clks) on items on the
FileBrowser website. This may prevent opening subfolders for example.
3. Some browsers may gray the page to post a dialog for the user to perform a selected
action but after completed, the page does not restore the page to normal. The page still
works.
4. File download privileges are managed but some rules must still be implemented.
Date: 2025/02/09
Author: Bill Stermer
Email: wfstermer@gmail.com.
cell: 607-765-1361