Universal York

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1770s Archives

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

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

I became interested in Meyer and other York County printers because several also printed Taufscheine, the birth and baptismal certificates that I have been researching for years.  Most of them were also very interesting individuals, especially as they used their newspapers as a political platform.  One good example is Solomon

We sometimes seem to have a love/hate relationship with old buildings.  We act like we would love to save them for their historical ties or architectural significance.  On the other hand we often seem to hate committing funds to preserve them.  This isn’t a new problem. There have always been

It is almost time for the Fifth Annual York County History Storytellers Night at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, December 10 at the Appell Center’s Capitol Theater, a beautiful historic site in its own right.  We have had great turnouts in the past and expect the same this year, so we

Some of you might be lucky enough to have Pennsylvania German birth and baptismal certificates that were done for family members well over 100 years ago.  Or you just might be intrigued by the art and design of these unique folk art documents and perhaps collect them.  I have written

Hanover Lutheran pastor Frederick Valentine Melsheimer has been called the father of American entomology (insects). He was also a “Hessian,” who came to America with troops fighting on the British side during the Revolutionary War. If you have Melsheimers in your ancestry, there is a good chance that you descend