Learn about Pennsylvania Germans of York County
Pennsylvania German birth/baptismal certificate (Taufschein) for Catharina Stambach, born 1835, by Adam Wuertz
Only a few days left to sign up for the Saturday June 5 Pennsylvania Germans in York County seminar sponsored by the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society and York County Heritage Trust. Registration deadline is this Saturday, May 15. To register or for more information call Lila Fourhman-Shaull, YCHT Librarian/Archivist at 717-848-1587 x 223 or email lfourhman-shaull@yorkheritage.org. The $40 registration covers the full day including morning coffee and donuts and a Pennsylvania German buffet lunch. See below for the jam-packed schedule of the day’s activities.
Here is your chance to learn about the Pennsylvania Germans (also know as Pennsylvania Dutch), by far the largest group of settlers of York County and most of southeastern Pennsylvania. There is a good possibility that you might have Pennsylvania German Roots yourself and not know it.
For example, I used to think I was half Pennsylvania German. Wrong–make that close to 100 percent. My grandmothers’ maiden names were Haugh and Eveler, so that is where I got the German part. My maiden name was Burk, which seemed Irish to me. If you go back a few generations it was Berk or even possibly Barrick, almost certainly Germanic. Similarly, my mother’s maiden name was Shelley, like the British poet. Only thing is, our immigrant was Schelli, and they also hail from the German/Swiss area. By the way, spelling is pretty irrelevant when pursuing Pennsylvania German family history. Spelling wasn’t standardized, and then English-speaking clerks wrote down the German-speaking immigrants’ names. See the problem? Always keep an open mind.
The schedule for the seminar is:
8:30 Registration, coffee and donuts
9:00 Pennsylvania Germans of York County, who they were, how they got here, from where, their religion, etc. by Richard Konkel, SCPGS and YCHT board member
10:15 Pennsylvania German tombstones in York County by Barry Rauhauser, Stauffer Curator at LancasterHistory.org
11:15 Art of Lewis Miller by Cindy Brown, YCHT Collections Manager
11:45 Pennsylvania German lunch
1:00 Pennsylvania German Fraktur of the York County area by June Lloyd, YCHT Librarian Emerita
2:00 Pennsylvania German Architecture of York County by Barbara Raid, Historic York, Inc. Architectural Historian
3:00 Pennsylvania German Dialect in York County by Ken Stough or other representative of the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group.
