GSP NEWSLETTER Finding Your Pennsylvania Ancestors

September 2020 Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania Newsletter GSP NEWSLETTER Finding Your Pennsylvania Ancestors

Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania Newsletter

In this issue MESSAGE FROM GSP’S PRESIDENT

• Library update.…..…………2 Working Hard Behind the Scenes • Did You Know? …………….2 The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GSP) is currently • First Families Corner………3 working on the Sharla Solt Kistler Collection, which was • County Spotlight: donated to GSP by Mrs. Sharla Solt Kistler. Mrs. Kistler was an Columbia……………………4 avid genealogist with a vast collection of books and records reflecting her years of research. She donated her collection to • GSP members’ Civil War GSP so that her work and passion could be shared. ancestors…………….….…..5 • Q&A: DNA ..…………………9 The collection represents Mrs. Kistler’s many years of research • Tell Us About It………….…10 on her ancestors, largely in the Lehigh Valley area of Eastern Pennsylvania. It includes her personal research and • PGM Excerpt: Identifying correspondence. Available are numerous transcriptions of 19th-century photographs church and cemetery records from Berks, Schuylkill, Lehigh, ………………………………11 and Northampton counties, as well as numerous books. Pennsylvanians of German ancestry are well represented in Update about GSP this collection. Volunteers are cataloging the collection and hoping to create Although our office is not yet finding aids for researchers to use both on site and online. open to visitors, staff is here on Monday, Tuesday, and Even though GSP’s library is still closed to visitors because of Thursday from 10 am to 3 pm the pandemic, volunteers are hard at work on this, as well as and can respond to your other projects. We have been staggering the days and times phone calls to 267.686.2297. our volunteers come into the office, in adherence with social Our website is open 24/7 at distancing guidelines. We will keep you updated as we make genpa.org. The GSP team is progress with these new and exciting collections! monitoring emails and membership status (expirations, renewals, etc.) —Nancy Janyszeski, President and will be updating members about plans for reopening as soon as possible. The GSP newsletters can be printed for those who like Some of us have participated a print publication. in virtual meetings using different software options. See GSP Store for publications and specials. GSP has signed up with Previous Newsletters Zoom to host meetings, and we are excited about the prospect of virtual events.

Did You Know? Library Update Death certificates were instituted in Pennsylvania in January 1906. We’ve been busy at GSP’s library, reviewing and updating our General compliance was reached catalog, adding new books (thanks to several donors), and in 1915. getting things ready for when the office opens. What’s pending: Carol Sheaffer left her 250+ genealogy books to the society, 1969-Present: Order death and we’re anticipating adding them to our collection shortly. certificates at Vitalcheck. https:// There are some wonderful gems, so we’ll be letting you know www.vitalchek.com/ about them in an upcoming newsletter. order_main.aspx? eventtype=DEATH Also available at Vitalcheck, 1906- Additions to the GSP Library present certified copies We’ve just added some books to the library. Many were donated by our members, which we greatly appreciate. 1906-1969 • Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793 My Heritage (1906-1964) • Marriages and Deaths of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Ancestry (1906-1967) 1685-1800 PA Archives (1906-1969) • Bernese Anabaptists • They Came in Ships, 2nd ed. 1893-1905: Deaths were recorded • Thirty Thousand Names of Germans, Swiss, Dutch, French in county courthouses by the and Other Immigrants in Orphans Court • Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776 http://www.pacourts.us/courts/ • Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Vol. 1 courts-of-common-pleas/orphans- • Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Vol. 2 court-clerks • Early Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages in Southeastern Pennsylvania: The Records of Rev. John Casper Stoever from Pennsylvania Mortality 1730 to 1779 Schedules 1850-1880 • Lehigh County Tombstone Abstracts of Persons Born Prior to https://www.familysearch.org/ 1800 from 64 Cemeteries within the Limits of Lehigh County, search/collection/3512181 Pennsylvania • Old Goshenhoppen Cemetery, Upper Salford Township, Pennsylvania, U.S., Deaths, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 1852-1854 • A History of the Goshenhoppen Reformed Charge, https://www.ancestry.com/search/ Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (1727-1819) collections/2487/ • Denizations and Naturalizations in the British Colonies in Database of death records and America, 1607-1775 index for 49 counties: Adams, • Philadelphia: Patricians and Philistines, 1900-1950 Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, • St. Stephen's Catholic Cemetery in the Nicetown Section of Bedford, Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Philadelphia, PA, 2nd ed. Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Columbia, Family history books Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, • A History of the Markey Family, 1750-1961 Elk, Franklin, Greene, Huntingdon, • A History of the Markey Family, 1961-1979 (supplement) Indiana, Juniata, Lancaster, Law- • Fergus Moorhead (1742-1822), Pioneer: Documentary History rence, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, • The Oberholtzer Story McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, • Ortner: The History of Genealogy of the Immigrant Casimir Montgomery, Montour, Northamp- Ortner ton, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Somerset, Susque- hanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, York

Where else can you look? Family bibles, burial records, church records, newspapers (obituaries), probate records (wills), tax records

FIRST FAMILIES CORNER Many of us have seen old family Bibles and wedding belong to? Who made the copy in the new Bible? photos in antique stores and thrift shops. We wonder Did the transcriber do any editing, or add anything? why there was no one who wanted to keep them. For example, I can’t see someone writing “children There are even online sites that attempt to reunite of the above” at the birth of the first child, but I these items with family members. suppose it’s possible. Not long ago, someone emailed scans of a marriage Since Joel & Elizabeth’s son Edward was the only certificate from 1846 to my cousin John, along with child who married, it is possible that the new Bible birth, marriage, and death pages from a Bible that was copied from the old family Bible and given to seemed to belong to that same couple. The bride’s him. The only pieces of evidence for this theory are name was Elizabeth Ann Nelson. John had posted the entries for Joel’s death and Edward’s marriage. tombstone photos for this family at findagrave.com. Another possibility is that the original Bible was re- He no longer has the email that accompanied the copied sometime before Edward’s marriage and the scans, but he remembers that the man said these new one kept by Elizabeth, who then added her were “loose papers” that he had found while son’s marriage and her own husband’s death date. cleaning out his aunt’s belongings. The aunt’s Elizabeth herself died in 1908; this death is not identity is unknown. Whoever this man was, recorded in the Bible. obviously working overtime to clean out a house or clean up an estate, we are so grateful that he took Edward himself had no children who survived the time to send copies to someone who just might infancy. His wife had a son Charles Willard be interested in them. Matthews by an earlier marriage. Willard often went by the surname Allen, as did his children, seemingly Elizabeth Ann Nelson Allen was the daughter of my alternating the two surnames almost at will. Willard third great grandparents, Elisha Nelson and Janet had two daughters but only one of them married. He Errickson. The information on these Bible pages also had a son Charles Willard Allen Jr. Willard Sr included middle names, birth places, and some died in 1940. We have very little information for exact birth and death dates that we had not Willard Jr. previously discovered. Carefully written out were the names of Joel Roger Allen and Elizabeth Ann The point of this story is that Bibles, full of Nelson, along with their birth places and dates. Then genealogical information, are often sold off or was written “children of the above” with five names. discarded because the family line that they are Again, there were first, middle, last names with exact tracing has faded out. The people who are cleaning birth places and dates. This was all in the same out the house, or downsizing, have no interest in handwriting and ink, which led me to believe that this them and often have no real idea how they was not the original family Bible, but rather a copy. themselves acquired the Bible. Distant relatives The death page was in the same handwriting, three would cherish them but don’t know that they exist. of the children and then in a different hand, the What an unexpected blessing it is when a total death of Joel himself in 1898. We already knew that stranger takes the time to send the Bible, or at least most of the children had died unmarried. The scans of the important information, to someone who marriage page had the marriage of Joel and will cherish it. If you find yourself in this position, Elizabeth in that familiar handwriting; the only other may I add one piece of advice: if the Bible has a marriage listed was for their oldest son Edward, in dedication page containing the name of the owner, 1887. The handwriting for that marriage seems to or a publication date page, a scan of that information match that of Joel’s death entry. could help the recipient to attribute the information correctly. —Nancy Cassada Nelson, GSP Board I know from my own family that people used to read Member & First Families Chair their Bibles until they were literally worn out. They would then copy the information into a new Bible. Sometimes those all-important birth, marriage, and To learn more about First Families and how death pages would be kept from the original Bible. to apply, visit https://genpa.org/first- The trick in either case becomes: who did the bible families-of-pennsylvania/

COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: COLUMBIA

Pennsylvania became a state 12 December 1787. There are 67 counties and 2561 municipalities. Columbia County was formed on 22 March 1813 from parts of Northumberland and Luzerne counties. The county seat is Bloomsburg.

Prominent People: Krysten Ritter, Benjamin Franklin Rittenhouse, Lacy J. Dalton, Michael Souchak, Jimmy Spencer, Carl Risch, Joseph M. Torsella, William Hartman Woodin, and Douglas R. Major

Microfilm copies of county records along with the tools to help research county records are available at the Pennsylvania State Archives - PHMC > Archives > Research Online > Research Guides > County and Municipal Records (under Genealogy)

Finding Family and Historical Records in Columbia County

I. Register and Recorder's Office in Columbia County: http://www.columbiapa.org/registerrecorder/ online.php

II. Prothonotary in Columbia County: http://columbiapa.org/prothonotary/

III. Family Search Wiki on Columbia County: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/ Columbia_County,_Pennsylvania_Genealogy

IV. Columbia County Historical and Genealogical Society: https://colcohist-gensoc.org/

V. Find A Grave Columbia County Cemetery List: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery-browse/USA/ Pennsylvania/Columbia-County?id=county_2259

VI. Cummings' Map of Columbia and Montour Counties from actual surveys: https://www.loc.gov/ resource/g3823c.la000730/?r=0.226,0.385,0.381,0.158,0

VII. A History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. From the Earliest Times by John Gosse Freeze 1825-1913: https://archive.org/details/historyofcolumbi00infree/mode/2up

VIII. History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Columbia County Historical Society and Commissioners of Columbia County by Edwin Michelet Barton: https://archive.org/details/ historyofcolum00bart/page/n7/mode/2up

IX. Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties Pennsylvania: https:// archive.org/details/historicalbiogra01chic

X. Pennsylvania Resource Guides: https://genpa.org/public-%20collections/pennsylvania-%20resources/

Share Your Research or Family History Story

Briefly share amusing, touching, unusual, interesting or tragic stories you have unearthed in your family research. Submit your story in plain text to [email protected].

GSP Members' Civil War Ancestors At the end of the newsletter article entitled, “Tracing Your Civil War Era Ancestor” (June 2020), a call went out to readers to send in a story about their Civil War ancestor. Below are more submissions from our readers and members. Thank you to all who submitted stories!

Debbie Whiteley I submitted an application for membership to My great-grand-uncle the National Society Daughters of the Union Charles Voigt, who was 1861-1865, and it was verified in April 2020. an older brother of my The society accepts applications under great-grandmother collateral lines and in my case, a sibling of a served in the Civil War. direct ancestor. To verify military service and Charles was born in sibling relationship, I provided copies of Philadelphia on 2 April numerous documents. Among the service 1843 and served in documents included in my application were the Company I, 23rd regimental muster rolls obtained from the Pennsylvania Volunteer National Archives. Infantry Regiment, from 1 Sept 1861 to 6 Sept Thomas Rightmyer 1864. He achieved the rank of corporal. The photo was taken during the war. After the war, Charles lived with one relative after another I have four members in and was able to find work in the family my family tree who business, a glass warehouse at 321 Branch St fought for the Union in Philadelphia. He died at age 50 of cirrhosis during the Civil War. of the liver but I don't blame his service for that. Benjamin B. Welser At the age of 11 his father got him a passport, (1812–1887), served in and sent him to Germany to live, so one might the 2nd Pennsylvania assume Charles had problems as a child. Heavy Artillery as a private. He was my Sondra Stevenson Rothe great-great-grandfather. Although my direct ancestor and great- Benjamin B. Welser was born in Philadelphia grandfather, Lewis Benson Stevenson, was too on 2 Sept 1812, the son of Godfrey Welser young to enlist in the Civil War, his oldest (1755–1840) and Ruth Burgess (abt 1765-?). brother, John M. Stephenson, enlisted on 11 Godfrey was a barber and doctor with an office Aug 1862. John was born ca.1843 in on Dock Street. Pennsylvania and was a resident of Mercer County, PA when he enlisted at age 19. He Benjamin married Elizabeth Chase (1817– was a private in Company G, 145th 1904) on 27 Oct 1833. He was baptized as an Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. adult on 14 Apr 1840 at the Episcopal Church John was not married, nor did he have of the Evangelists at 711 Catherine Street, children. He was killed on the third, and final Philadelphia. day of the Battle of Gettysburg on 3 Jul 1863. Benjamin enlisted in the 2nd Pennsylvania My great-great-grandfather, James Findley Heavy Artillery on 26 Feb 1864. By spring, Stevenson, the father of Lewis and John, was 1864, the regiment numbered over 3,300 an abolitionist and participated in the officers and enlisted men, making it the largest underground railroad before the war. James regiment to serve in the Union Army. In May and his wife Elizabeth Waters Stevenson are 1864, the 2nd PA Heavy Artillery was assigned listed in The Underground Railroad: An to the Army of the Potomac and arrived at Cold Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Harbor on 4 Jun 1864. On 15 Jul 1864, the Operations, Vol.2. by Mary Ellen Snodgrass. I regiment began to participate in the Siege of am sure that their son, John, was eager to Petersburg. In his 1880 application for a enlist based on the pre-Civil War activities of veterans’ pension, Benjamin said he had fallen his parents. and was trampled in night maneuvers on

30 Jul 1864 in preparation for what would later typhoid fever. He be known as the Battle of the Crater. He was sent to suffered partial paralysis of his legs and was McClellan Army treated at Lowell Army Hospital in Portsmouth Hospital in the Grove, Rhode Island. He was medically Nicetown section discharged there on 2 Feb 1865. of Philadelphia. William was After the war, Benjamin settled in Chester as a discharged on 14 shoemaker. On 30 Nov 1867, he organized a Oct 1864. He meeting in his workshop at Third and Franklin was a carpenter Streets, where he was asked to organize the and moved to his fire company and he active in the company for wife’s home in years. He became the first President of the Chester. After he Franklin Volunteer Fire Company No.1. I took a left his regiment photo of the photograph I have of him in his in 1862, the 8th fireman’s uniform. Illinois Cavalry My father told me that he had heard that the was one of the Franklin Company had bought a new engine first units engaged at the Battle of Gettysburg with polished wooden wheels. They were very in 1863. proud of it and took it to a fireman's convention William was a carpenter and later a shipwright. competition for best looking unit only to be told He and his wife, Frances, had 6 children: by the judges from more rural companies, Elizabeth (1864–1946), Clara (1867–1936), "That's not a real fire engine; it doesn't have William Nelson (1870–1896) (for whom my red wheels!" father was named), Helen B. (1874–1946) (my He was also active in the Republican Party and grandmother), Florence (1876–1935), and served as an alderman in the city of Chester. Fannie. William died 25 Apr 1894 and is buried He died 8 Apr 1887 and is buried at Chester at Chester Rural Cemetery. Rural Cemetery in Section SC Row 1, grave My third Civil War Union veteran is a collateral 107. His wife Elizabeth died 17 Sept 1904 and relative. Aaron Rightmyer (1815–1874) was my is buried at Chester Rural Cemetery Section O, great-great-uncle. He was born 17 Mar 1815 in Lot 205, grave 1. Their daughter Caroline died Reading, Pennsylvania. He was the son of 27 Mar 1890 and is buried at the same William Rightmyer (1784–1826) and Anna cemetery in Section O, lot 205, grave 2. Margaretha Schell (1790–1873). I descend William Bruce Waite (1838–1894) was my from his brother William (1822–1875) and great-grandfather, and Benjamin B. Welser’s William’s son George William (1849–1934). son-in-law. William was born in 1838 near Aaron married Catherine Bartlet on 22 Sept Rochester in Monroe County, New York. I 1839. They had four children: William Aaron believe his parents were Elihu Waite (1797– (see below), John, Sarah Ann, and Lewis 1863) and Lydia Fuller (1805–1866). Elihu was Bartlett. born in Massachusetts and Lydia in New York. At age 46 on 6 Aug 1862, Aaron enlisted in In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census the family Company K of the 128th Pennsylvania lived in Penfield, Monroe County, New York, Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He fought at the however in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Battle of Antietam in 1862 and was mustered William was listed as living in Bellville, out 28 Feb 1863. He re-enlisted 28 Feb 1864 Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. When he married in the 46th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Frances Welser on 7 Feb 1864, he gave his Infantry and fought with Sherman’s army address as Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. through Georgia and the Carolinas. The William enlisted in the 8th Illinois Cavalry, regiment marched in the Grand Review in Company M, on 18 Sept 1861. The regiment Washington, D.C. on 24 May 1865 and was was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. In discharged on 16 Jul 1865. He died 15 Apr his 1888 application for an invalid veterans’ 1874 and is buried at Charles Evans Cemetery pension, he said that around the time of the in Reading. Battle of Antietam in Sept 1862, he contracted

William Aaron Rightmyer (1841–1918) was In 1863, Lynch was born 4 Aug 1841 and died 27 Dec 1918. He promoted to captain was Aaron Rightmyer’s son. He enlisted on 30 and served at the Jul 1861 in Company L of the First battle of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania Reserve Calvary. William Aaron He was involved in a fought with that regiment at Antietam and touching story, Gettysburg before he was discharged on 9 according to page Sept 1864. He lived in Reading after the war. 194 of Joseph R.C. Ward’s History of the His households included his wives (he had at One Hundred and Sixth Regiment, least two during his lifetime), his children, and Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2d Brigade, 2d his mother Catherine lived with the family at Division, 2d Corps, 1861-1865: one point. Catherine died in 1905 and mother and son are buried with the Berlet family at A large number of officers and men were Aulenbach’s Cemetery in Mount Penn, Berks also found in the cellar of Codori’s large barn County, Pennsylvania. that had been destroyed by our artillery fire, and they were also made prisoners. Among them was Colonel B.D. Fry, (afterward General) of the Thirteenth Alabama Robert D. Lynch Regiment, and his sword was received by Captain John W. Lynch of Company C, who, My great- after the war, returned it to the General’s grandfather, John family, and received a very complimentary Wheaton Lynch letter from J.W. Johnson, the Governor of (1839–1907), was the State. a captain in the There is a Gettysburg monument dedicated to the Union Army who 106th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. As fought during the described in the History of the One Hundred and Civil War. Sixth Regiment… : John Wheaton The monument is Lynch was born in made of Goat Hill Baltimore in 1839, granite from near later moving to St. Lambertville, New Louis and Jersey; it is very Philadelphia. hard and When the Civil War susceptible of high broke out on April polish and is over 14, 1861, he was 10 feet high and among the first volunteers called upon by 3 feet square at President Lincoln to join the state militias. He base. The inscription contains over 1,500 letters, joined the Pennsylvania Commonwealth cut in the polished surface of the four sides. Independent Battery, Heavy Artillery on May 2, 1861, and was stationed at Ft. Delaware When the monument furnished by the State of (www.fortdelaware.org). By law, enlistments in Pennsylvania was placed in position near the the militia were limited to 90 days, so in August spot where this monument stood it was decided 1861, he returned to Philadelphia. While there, best to remove it, and through the liberality of he helped recruit for the 106th Pennsylvania Captain John W. Lynch a lot of ground was Volunteer Infantry Regiment and received an purchased by the Association at the Codori appointment as a first lieutenant. His regiment House on the Emmitsburg Road, and this was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. He monument was moved and placed there, where was active in all of the battles and skirmishes the Regiment captured so many prisoners on the in which the regiment participated, including afternoon of July 2, 1863 (p.392). the Peninsula Campaign around Richmond We are fortunate to be able to read about and especially Fredericksburg under Major Lynch’s experiences during the war as well as General Ambrose Burnside, when, under the his deep religious faith and love for his wife, most galling rebel fire, he helped to rally some Bessie, in his letters, 100 of which were new troops who had somewhat faltered. transcribed and are now housed at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania https:// During the arduous marches of the Army of the hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/ Potomac, Lynch incurred serious heart findingaid1609lynch.pdf). In one letter, he problems and was granted a medical discharge wrote to Bessie on 5 July 1863, following the in September 1863. He and Bessie married in 3 July battle at Gettysburg, he recounts his 1865 and had four sons. He died in 1907 and experience: was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd. With what gratitude I feel towards Almighty God for his marvelous protecting care which A one-of-its-kind open-book marble pedestal he has showen toward me in this last marks his grave, but all inscriptions have been engagement none can tell. O it seems eroded away. In the spring of 2011, almost incredible after going through with arrangements were completed for a bronze what I have in the last two days that I am marker, obtained from the Veteran’s spared-not a scratch excepting the left side Administration, which has been placed at the of my face which is well splattered with burial site and stands there today in testament powder, making quite a number of dirty to this soldier. spots. We have lost very heavily. One officer killed & seven wounded & a large number of men. On the evening of the 3rd it even all looked as all was lost our men coming in panic stricken with the Rebs charging after them. Our little Regiment with three others on the third line of battle rose up & with one mighty cheer determining to sacrifice ourselves to save the day resisted the charge & drove the rebels before us capturing between four & five hundred of the Rebels, twice the number of our own little Regt. One of our officers got an arm full of swords captured from the Rebel Officers. We also recaptured one of our battery which they had got possession of.”

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Q&A: DNA Q. I’ve taken an AncestryDNA test. What are Below is a link to an overview of chromosome some other tests, and why might I want to browsers with an illustration of a chromosome take another one? browser: A. 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA, and MyHeritage https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/ are testing companies with which many of us 2019/8/12/using-chromosome-browsers-for- are familiar. LivingDNA is another similar genetic-genealogy service. All of these testing companies offer an autosomal test, which tests DNA from all lines Where can I learn more about DNA? of your ancestry, and provide matches with Some useful videos, websites, and books: • others who share DNA with you. Ancestry Academy - Understanding DNA: https:// The main benefit of testing your autosomal www.ancestryacademy.com/ DNA with additional companies is that you will understanding-dna • find additional matches. Many people test only Blaine Bettinger - The Genetic with one service, and if you haven’t been Genealogist • tested there, you will miss those matches. Website: https:// Additional matches increase the chance of thegeneticgenealogist.com/ • finding matches with cousins who share the The Family Tree Guide to DNA same ancestors, which might help you break Testing and Genetic down a “brick wall” in your research. Your DNA Genealogy: https:// matches might have photographs, letters, or www.familytreemagazine.co documents of your common ancestors or even m/ft-guide-dna/ • your branch of the family. Sharing digital Genetic Genealogy in Practice: images of family photos and documents can https:// help you to identify people, as some of you www.ngsgenealogy.org/ may have identified photos that others don’t genetic-genealogy-in- have. practice/ • CeCe Moore - Your Genetic Genealogist • 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA, and MyHeritage all Current website: https:// have chromosome browsers, which Ancestry www.cecemoore.com/ • does not provide. Chromosome browsers give Previous website (no longer you a visual representation of the DNA updated, but has good segments that you share with your DNA resources): http:// matches. www.yourgeneticgenealogist .com/ Chromosome browsers can give you a greater • FamilyTreeDNA webinars: https:// level of certainty in how you’re related to your learn.familytreedna.com/ftdna/ matches. That's the best way to determine webinars/ whether matches that you and another person • Institute for Genetic Genealogy: https:// share are really on the same ancestral line. For i4gg.org/ example, if Person A and Person B have a • International Society of Genetic shared match with Person C, you can Genealogy: https://isogg.org/wiki/ determine whether they are matching on the Wiki_Welcome_Page same chromosome(s) and are therefore, • MyHeritage DNA videos: https:// probably related on the same family line. Or, www.youtube.com/playlist? you could match Person A and B on one of list=PLZt_Mk4_rOvOZQFDKvCFs5w7l your mother’s maternal lines and person C on 6Bo-22Mo one of her paternal lines, but all three could be • 23andMe videos: https:// related to each other on a family line that they www.youtube.com/user/23andMe don’t share with you. Only with a chromosome – Valerie-Anne Lutz, GSP Board browser can you prove that you match on Member specific chromosome segments indicating that you’re related through a specific common Do you have DNA questions for the GSP ancestor. staff? Send your questions to [email protected].

TELL US ABOUT IT In our July/August issue, we posed the question: Do you have any famous ancestors? Here is a reply from one of our board members.

Famous (and not so famous) Ancestors Esther Stevenson, my second great-grandmother, was the wife of a farmer. When a Google search for Nancy Mellon, her mother, returned results for Judge Thomas Mellon, founder of the Mellon Bank and wealthy entrepreneur, I noted a correlation in the naming patterns between the two families, which led to the surprising discovery that Thomas Mellon, born in 1813 in Northern Ireland, was Nancy Mellon’s first cousin, and my first cousin, five times removed.

In family history research, a famous figure in one’s family tree is a huge bonus, as they are well documented. News articles and biographies were written about them. Personal papers are held in manuscript collections. They may have written an autobiography. Descendants may have commissioned books and plaques, and if you’re lucky, a museum. The Mellon branch of my family tree has all of the above and reaches back to a farm in Northern Ireland that is now the site of the Ulster American Folk Museum, repurposed for telling the stories of emigration from Ulster to America. Happily, our own family’s emigration stories are also recounted in the autobiography, Thomas Mellon and His Times.

My favorite story is that of my fourth great-grandparents, Armour Mellon and Sarah White. They had plans to marry, but Armour’s parents preferred that he marry someone else. They went ahead with the marriage and emigrated to America soon after the wedding, with Armour’s younger brother in tow. En route to Philadelphia, the British boarded their ship to round up all single men for mandatory conscription into the British military. Sarah came to the rescue, providing her new brother-in-law with a gown and cap from her trunk. The British were deceived by his masquerade as a young woman engrossed in her knitting, and he was the only bachelor who set foot in Philadelphia at the end of the journey. This close call was important to Thomas Mellon because the rescued teenager was his beloved uncle Thomas, who later became his mentor and supported his decision to leave the family farm to pursue an education. For me, the story something else. It is a testimony to the independence and resourcefulness of my direct ancestors, Armour and Sarah, and I’m so grateful that it was recorded.

By the time I visited the graves of my Mellon ancestors in Westmoreland County, I knew the intimate details of their separations and reunions in waves of serial migration. Although branches of the family migrated to other parts of the country, my third, fourth and fifth great-grandparents are buried in the family plot, known as the “Mellon Patch,” in Unity Presbyterian Church Cemetery, near their farms in Latrobe. The tombstones are wearing away, but the graves are marked with Mellon family plaques that will withstand the weather for many years.

In a strange twist of fate, a chapter of Thomas Mellon and His Times, entitled “Neighbors” details the friends, associates, and neighbors of my Hötten ancestors, who farmed in Franklin Township, also in Westmoreland County. Thomas Mellon’s father’s farm was adjacent to the Denmark Manor Lutheran and Reformed Church and young Thomas was particularly interested in his neighbors’ Pennsylvania Dutch superstitions, their farming practices (which followed the phases of the moon), and their skills in the practice of herbal medicine. He also had opinions on their piety, or lack of it, finding his own Presbyterian community to be superior in matters of faith and morality. My second great-grandfather, David S. Hutton, whose baptismal record appears in the Denmark Manor Lutheran Church records during this time period, would grow up to be the farmer, in Allegheny County, who married Esther Stevenson, daughter of Nancy Mellon.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be a fly on the wall in the annuls of my family history. An opportunity born of the good fortune of a first cousin, five times removed, who was so inspired by the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, that he left the family farm to pursue education and prosperity. – Kathryn Hutton Donahue, GSP Board Member

NEXT ISSUE: TELL US ABOUT IT What genealogist hasn’t hit the proverbial brick wall? Tell us about yours! Email your stories to [email protected].

Identifying 19th-Century Photographs Marcy Silver*

HEN WAS THAT TINTYPE of Great-grandmother taken? W For that matter, is it really a "tintype"? This year marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the birth of photography. After 150 years, photographs play an integral role in illustrating the past visually. They can highlight research in a variety of fields, including genealogy, history, and historic preservation. A general understanding of the chronological development of photographic techniques and formats can provide clues to the date of an otherwise unidentified photograph and perhaps to the identity of its subject as well. The photographic technique is the process used to create the image, while the format is the style in which it is packaged. Below, the most widely used nineteenth-century photographic pro- cesses and formats are described by their physical composition and general characteristics. The date spans provided for their periods of use are approximations based on their popularity in the United States.

Direct Image Photographs

Daguerreotypes (1839-1860) Daguerreotypes are made by exposing a chemically treated silver coated copper plate to light. The resulting image is an original, one of a kind piece; no negative is used to make the positive image. Daguerreotypes are generally housed in small cases made of leather or molded thermoplastic. They are most easily recognized by their

*Editor's Note: The author is Mellon Graphics Project curator at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She received an M.A. degree in American Civilization from George Washington University in 1983 and was previously the Prints and Photographs Librarian at the Maryland Historical Society.

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