Catching Up...

Hello from Pennsylvania -

Been off my keyboard for almost a week so I thought I would take a few minutes & catch everyone up on the progress of my research for the past week!

Our stop in Medina County, Ohio at the library netted us abt 157 obits, some marriage write ups, a wedding photo and more. I don't have the exact numbers with me, I'm not at the hotel right now. But it was a very good day!

We left the library and went in search of some headstone photo's, we found a few that we had been searching for so it wasn't a total wash. I think the highlight of the Medina stop was the full birth, death information on Mark's ancestor Heinrich Augustus Reusch, whose name is on a headstone but no legible dates. Did I mention that this church record also included the name of the village where he was born?

From there we headed over to Centre County, Pennsylvania to research Henry Gates, the founder of Gatesburg, Pennsylvania. I was looking for links between Henry & my George Gates who was born in Pennsylvania in January 1810. Lots of bad info out there, as nothing is panning out YET.

Finally we moved into the area I was most looking forward to - Lancaster County! Paid a visit to the Lancaster County Historical Society - although we found lots of great info we really didn't knock down any walls or make any extreme discoveries. BUT I'll take the tidbits and consider myself blessed that I was able to travel to Lancaster & get the tidbits!

Did find an awesome little English tea room - I'll blog more about that in a later post.

Today (Wednesday) we opted to head over to the Berks County Historical Society . An excellant place to research, and a staff always ready to help! The church records we found there provided so much information I must admit we were sorely tempted to make another trip tomorrow. We've decided not to return tomorrow, but we've barely scratched the surface of this awesome facilty!

The first church records were for The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Rhersburg, Berks County - the traverse into these church records was quickly rewarded with the baptismal record of my fifth great grandfather, Thomas Kreitzer! The record gives his name, birth date, baptism date, and the names of the sponsors! A photo copy was made and will be scanned very soon after we arrive back at home! There were other Kreitzer records found but none that really compare to this one!

The second set of church records we wandered into were from Christ Church in Stouchsburg, Marion Township, Berks County. We were rewarded with entry after entry on the Gebhart family, and more records on the Kreitzer family as well. Nothing as earth shattering (you did feel it didn't you?) as the baptismal record, but still, quite a few maiden names and many dates that were previously missing from my data base!

Its been quite a week here. Now that the rain has stopped we are hoping tomorrow to do some more headstone photography - somehow I enjoy it more when its not pouring rain! I do believe I've talked Mark into a return trip to the tea shop. The scones are just out of this world!

I'll blog more on the tea room & some other goodies when I return home!

Happy Researching!

Karen

Monday Musings

Today the prep continues for the May research trip to Pennsylvania. More digging, more adding to the to do lists for each county & repository. I think today's prep will focus on headstone photographs.

A few years back (2007) we went into the same area's we are going this year. We were with friends and it was more of a "sorta" research trip - more a "hanging out" trip. We did visit quite a few cemeteries & we found lots of stones with the surnames of interest. But we didn't really do any serious research.

With the visiting of two historical societies & a few local libraries this will be more of a research than a "hanging out" trip. So today I will be reviewing the headstone files to see what if any headstones I missed, or if I missed any cemeteries that I wanted to locate & photograph.

The photo above is of Bowmansville Mennonite Cemetery, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Just a wonderful little cemetery nestled in amongst the Mennonite farms of Lancaster County. I photographed many stones in this peaceful place and going back thru them is something I need to do before we return to Lancaster County.

And so the prep work goes on...

Happy Researching!
Karen

Today's Relatively Speaking is over at Carol's place - Reflections From the Fence. Stop by for a read!

Pennsylvania - The Prep Begins

As I am sure many of you noted, I mentioned that our research trip this year changed from Kentucky to Pennsylvania. As the countdown for this trip is in process I'll be blogging at times about my prep and how it is progressing.

In my opinion the best prep you can do for a trip is to research before you go. That's right, you don't need to go back and read the sentance again. I said, "research before you go!".

No, I am not crazy, but I do believe that a good foundation is important when you are taking a research trip. I think just going in blind is a big mistake.

SO a few early steps that I think are esential.

1. Decide which lines you want to focus on
2. Determine what you have & what it is you want
3. Locate "repositories" located in area that can provide resources for research
4. Put together research notebook(s)

A few notes of explanation. #1 & #2 are pretty self explanatory. #3 - I went on line and found two historical & genealogical societies that have holdings that I feel would work very well with the lines I've decided to focus on for this trip.

I am going to Lancaster & Berks County, Pennsylvania - so I've gone into my data base and found my DIRECT lines in those two counties. I have four surnames of interest to me. I've taken those four surnames and did "research notebooks" on them. A descendancy book for four generations - from that families oldest person in that county down for four generations.

I've bound them together and now I can start my pre-trip research.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Comment - I'd love to hear from you!

We'll continue this tomorrow.

Happy Researching!

Karen

Georgia errrr Pennsylvania On My Mind

I know I've mentioned it a couple of times, I'd started my prep for it. And the more I did the less I felt good about it.

Our vacation plans were to go down into Kentucky & do some research on Mark's family in Kentucky - working our way thru some Indiana counties along the way. I wasn't exactly over joyed, although I was happy about being able to go & research.

A few days ago I told Mark we needed to discuss our vacation plans - he was cool with it, just plan it and he'd show up & be there! My kind of man - roll with your indecisive wife!

So now we are planning our trip to Pennsylvania. I'm really excited about researching at the Historical societies in both Lancaster & Berks County, Pennsylvania. Their online sites appear to be very well developed - and I've found tons of great data bases and stuff to show me their holdings. I've got a plan in place - and a research notebook made up. Only 26 days till we leave!

Happy Easter to all!
Karen

Tombstone Tuesday

Cemetery photo of Groffdale Mennonite Cemetery, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A more peaceful place I don't think I've found. Visited in July of 2007. Resting place for many of my ancestors. So simple, yet so lovingly cared for. Impressive in this world of over the top monuments & life styles.

Happy researching!

Karen