Nearly a year ago I did a blog post on four dedicated local men, members of Canadochly Lutheran Church, who were diligently working to restore the oldest part of Canadochly cemetery in Lower Windsor Township. Area resident Gene Schenck noticed them at work last year and wrote an article about
Many of you might know that Adams County was created from the western part of York County in 1800. It was named for the sitting United States president at the time, John Adams. If some local state lawmakers would have had their way in the 1830s, then-president Andrew Jackson would
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
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
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
Earlier this year I wrote about Daniel May, printer and newspaper publisher in York from about 1829 to 1843. He was one of several York County printers to produce Taufscheine, or baptismal certificates, also known as Fraktur. These colorful certificates, popular from about 1770 to 1870, recorded the birth and
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
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
Pennsylvania German food is captured in Lewis Miller’s drawing and text on early 20th century York tavern life.