Family history research is so absorbing because you never run out of relatives, and you sometimes find some surprising ones. For example, I am distantly related to President Dwight Eisenhower. We both descend from immigrant Hans Nicholas Eisenhauer, (b. 1691), but our lines split way back. See below for my
Prints of this illustrated map of York County were issued in 1932 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of York City Laundry and Dry Cleaners. It shows townships and some, but not all, of the present-day boroughs located in the county, as well as a close-up of downtown York. Curiously, the
In honor of those brave patriots who put their life on the line signing the Declaration of Independence, my previous York Sunday News column on “our signer,” James Smith, is repeated below: Who Was James Smith? You might know that James Smith was York County’s signer of the Declaration of
The field of folk belief among our Pennsylvania German ancestors is a rich one, replete with words. Certain rituals go along with many practices used for healing known as pow-wow, but the words are also specific for each one. They are readily available in books such as John George Hohman’s
Just out–the brand new 2012 edition of Journal of York County Heritage, a popular periodical published annually by York County Heritage Trust. The new edition offers five well-researched articles on a variety of events from the 19th and 20th centuries. They include: “The Cartridge Box: The Inside-Out Newspaper of the
My recent York Sunday News column (see below for full column) described the five Pennsylvania State Historical Markers in York’s Continental Square and the stories behind them. Over 2,000 or these blue and gold markers have been placed throughout the state since the program’s inception in 1946. Previously, historical sites
This post is the fifth on my series exploring the five blue and gold historical markers placed on the square in York commemorating some of the events that happened there. The marker for the Articles of Confederation, on the northeast quadrant of Continental/Center Square, is the newest of the five.
Camp Security is presently one of my primary research subjects. The importance of preserving the site so that future exploration and interpretation can be done is imperative. It’s not just about us, even though this last undeveloped Revolutionary War prisoner-of-war camp in the United States is right here in York
I started out writing about a little tidbit tacked to an article about the York Imperial apple in the August 13, 1920 York Gazette and Daily. The subject was timothy grass–you know–the plant that is mown, along with clover, for hay, and how timothy came to York County, along with
Welsh’s Store in 1902 With Dollar Bible Sign. I still don’t understand why some people get upset when notices are published or signs posted in English and another language, usually Spanish nowadays. They seem to think that English is the only language all of us should use. If public notices