Some months ago I wrote about the Pennsylvania German Birth and Baptismal certificates (often known as Taufscheine or Fraktur) that were produced in the Hanover print shop of Wilhelm Daniel Lepper and Samuel Endredy Stettinius. These two printers established Hanover’s first newspaper Die Pennsylvanische Wochenschrift, in 1797 and issued their
A friend told me about a recent article by Lower Windsor Township resident Gene Schenck in the Columbia/Hellam/Wrightsville Merchandiser. It detailed how four local men, Jim Anspach of Columbia, Gene Smeltzer of Lower Windsor Township, Bill Dehoff of Windsor and Bruce Herbst of East Prospect have been working for some
What was the connection between the preforming Durang family, who spent some time in York during the early 19th century and our national anthem? I wrote a York Sunday News column on the subject in 2006. I just realized I never posted the column on this blog, which I started
The 2020 Journal of York County Heritage is here! Since this year marks the 100th anniversary of universal Woman Suffrage throughout the entire United States, the majority of articles in this year’s issue center around women. If you haven’t received your own copy of this year’s journal as a benefit
I just learned that there are spaces available for my PowerPoint presentation for OLLI next Wednesday, September 9, on the local fight for Woman Suffrage. It will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the Terrace Room at Wisehaven. Registration is required through OLLI; no walk-ins. Click here for the
Do you ever wish you knew what your ancestors were like? After all, they were living, breathing souls just like you and me. Most of you probably know or knew your parents and all or many of your grandparents. Some even remember a great-grandparent or so. Just multiply those family
This is my favorite time of year. One big reason is the abundance of locally grown fruits and vegetables. My mother was a very active gardener nearly all her life. One on my first memories is awakening at a very young age and going out to find her in the
Take a look at the recently created Trailblazers online exhibit on the York County History Center website. It tells the story, through photographs and transcribed diary entries, of the 1938 cross country journey of four York County women from Brogue, Pennsylvania to California and back. They took the long way
In my April York Sunday News column, which I posted a few weeks ago, I shared my shock at how many children were included in the migrant workers that came to help harvest York County crops in the late 1940s. An August 1948 Gazette and Daily article and accompanying full
I started working on my April York Sunday News column, which you can read below, about two months ago. We were just starting to hear more about COVID-19 then. By the time it was finished and published in the paper a couple of weeks ago, it became even more relevant.