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Dauphin County Successes |
| This page lists success stories from folks who found a connection,
information, new ancestors, cousins, whatever by using the Dauphin County GenWeb Page.
Please submit your stories to Robert L. Maley.
Thanks! |
 | Dear Mr. Maley: I am
considerably new to genealogy, beginning with only very brief
outlines of different sides of both my and my husband's families.
Although we met, married and live in Arizona, through your site I
have found that we both have Dauphin County backgrounds! I have even
discovered that Rev. John Stoever (Early Lutheran Baptisms and
marriages) performed marriage ceremonies for my Uhler ancestors and
my husband's Rudy ones. Talk about coincidences.
I have especially been excited to find so much
information about my great-great-grandfather, George Bergner. All I
started out with was his name, and his daughter's name and her
husband. In the 1896 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
DAUGHIN COUNTY that has been partially transcribed on your site, I
found a whole mini-history of his life. To learn that he came to
America as a 12-year-old boy in 1830, apprenticed himself as a
typesetter, and end up as the wealthy owner of several newspapers,
an influential political backer, and was appointed by President
Lincoln as Postmaster General and other details was like opening a
treasure chest. Without that biographical sketch, I would have no
personal information on him and his family, nor the wonderful
starting point for more research.
I was also extremely excited to find the two
Harrisburg and Susquehanna atlases. I was able to locate his home
and several family businesses on them! When I present my family
history book I am preparing for my family and other relatives, they
will think I have spent days examining dusty records in a Harrisburg
record office basement, but lo and behold! I found it all in my home
study here in Chandler, Arizona.
Thank you and everyone who has contributed to this
site. It truly is a gem of priceless value. ----Kathryn McCorkle
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| Hello Mr. Maley, I have used the Dauphin County and Lancaster County GenWeb
pages and email, especially several years ago, and I would like to share several
successes with getting new Patriot ancestors for the Society of the Daughters of
the American Revolution through family research carried out in Dauphin and
Lancaster Counties. I have discovered that my ancestor Johann Adam Hacker,
father of Martin Hocker, who is buried in the old graveyard behind the old
Lutheran Church in Hummelstown, signed a loyalty oath during the American
Revolution in Lancaster Co. This is considered patriotic service by the DAR and
SAR. I submitted a supplemental application on this Hacker/Hocker line and it
was accepted by the DAR just about a month ago. The lineage of Johann Adam
Hacker, his son Martin, and the rest of his descendants is included in a book
called a Hacker/ Hocker American Genealogy. The Hummelstown Area Historical
Society has a certain amount of data on the family, as they lived in the area.
If anybody cares to use this Johann Adam Hacker for membership in the DAR or SAR,
they can write to the DAR to obtain the information, or email me for more
details. Likewise, I submitted an application on John Manning, of Manor
Township, Lancaster Co., also because he signed a loyalty oath in Lancaster,
which was approved last year by the DAR. Branches of his family remain in
Lancaster Co., and my branch, his son George Manning moved to Londonderry Twp.
just outside of Middletown, and my research in that township helped toward
solving a couple of family puzzles and linking me back to this John Manning.
Again, anybody who cares to use this John Manning line for DAR or SAR membership
can contact the DAR for the necessary information. Barbara
C Barnes |
| What a gold mine I have found on your site!!! I have found 3
generations of siblings for my Runkle family on your site. I had the pedigree line but
could not find the immediate families. My grandfather was Earl Harper Runkle, my g-g
grandfather was (John)Phillip Runkle, my g-g-g grandfather was Johannes (John) Runkle, my
g-g-g-g grandfather was Jacob Runkle, my g-g-g-g-g grandfather was Nicholas Runkle. I just
found out from another source my g-g-g-g-g-g grandfather was Casper Runkle. I did not have
all the children for these generations I now have 3 complete generations thanks to the
information on your site! A thousand thank yous for your site!!! |
Mary (Runkle) Clayton
| A February query from Diane Etter Smelker about the Lerch family led me to
contacting her and, surprise, we are cousins (although distant ones)!! And not too long
ago we "collected" another cousin, Joan Bretz. All three of us connect through
Christopher LERCH of Dauphin/Lebanon Cos. By pooling our research we hope to get back
another generation or so. We all have connections to Steelton, Harrisburg, Middletown, and
other locations in Dauphin Co., too. In fact, the more we talk the more connections we
find. Thanks so much for all your hard work in making the Dauphin Co page an easy place to
find "lost" cousins! Robin760@aol.com |
| Hi Bob, long time no chat. I do not remember if I told you but I think I
have a success story for you. We are not quite certain how to prove our connections but I
think I found a cousin from the gen web page. Lynn Scott of NY contacted me a while back
and asked if my Peace family included a Henry Peece. Well, Henry Peace was my great
grandfather. We got to chatting back and forth and found that Henry is Lynn's great great
grandfather and her great grandmother Effie is my grandfather Charles Peace sister! We
found that they had been given out to foster homes when they were young and one side of
the family does not know the other side of the family, etc. Except for my mother's notes
on her family, I would not have known to look for Effie Peece. Turns out my mother was
best buddies with Lynn's grandmother! My Mom knows best. She is the only survivor of that
Peace family to be able to authenticate all this but Lynn and I are working on it really
intensely to gain more information. This is just a start on what proves to be a very
interesting family story. Thanks for your time and thanks for the page! If you check my
homepage you will find Lynn's homepage as the link "Carriage House Woodworks". Mary Ann Lindsay http://netdex.com/~malincal
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| Last week, I received e-mail from Vicky Shimp in Tempe, AZ. Her husband,
it turns out, is my distant cousin. She first contacted me for Kennedy information and
almost immediately sent another note when she discovered my Houser query. Joseph Kennedy
and Sarah Houser are our common great-great grandparents.Her subsequent information
confirmed the identity of my great-grandfather which had previously been in doubt. In
doing so, she provided me confirmation of his immigrant parents and a surname for a
3rd-great-grandparent in Germany. John W. Irwin
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| I received a query from Julie
Wollard Trout of MO, about her great-great-grandparents, George Washington Shalenhamer
and Rebecca Lingle. Turns out George was the son of Abraham Shellenhamer and Sarah
Fitting. Julie and I are 6th cousins. I was able to give her 4 generations of George's
Shellenhamer ancestors and 5 generations of Fitting's. She in turn was able to fill me in
on the Westward migration of George and Rebecca. She also had 10 letters from William
Fitting to the Shellenhamer family that he wrote during the Civil War. He was killed at
the battle of Fredericksburg. William is my 1st cousin 4 times removed and Julie's 2nd
cousin 4 times removed. Robert L. Maley |
| Bob: Just thought I would let you know what I have found about the
elusive John McFadden. Visited the Civil War Museum in Phila, found about 15-20 John Mc
who served in the Civil War, narrowed to five from south central Pa. Went to Carlisle and
found the old bugger, wrote to the National Archives and about a week ago received his
pension records. We found that he died in Philadelphia, have a date of death and I am
going to Phila. to get a copy of his death certificate this week. Hopefully it will show
the name of the cemetery in Harrisburg where he was buried, and maybe his wife will be
close by. Getting close, but still have no idea about him prior to his enlisting in the
Civil War. We did find a marriage date and the minister who married them. Have written to
Joe Patterson in Cumberland County to see if they know of a Rev Swartz in
Mechanicsburg..Just wanted to let you know of our little success-you were helpful in our
quest.. Bill Runner... |
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Dauphin County
Genealogy Resource Center |
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