Lancaster County Family Ties

Several years ago, my Aunt Fran (Applebach) Woods asked me if I would be interested in an item she purchased at an auction in Applebachsville, PA many years prior to that.  She thought maybe one of Uncle Varge Applebach's boys would be interested in it as they carry the Applebach name.  None were interested, so I was the next choice. Of course I said "yes" and the item proudly hangs in my dining room. I am unsure exactly how the "Minnie Applebach" written on the back relates to me, but the connection is there if I ever get further on the research for the other family lines of Applebach. Front Back I went back to the book "Six Afflerbach Emigrants Who Came To Pennsylvania and Their Descendants 1750-1930" by Jane K. Thompson. She lists 3 Minnies but I am not familiar enough with any of those lines to even make a reasonable guess as to which one this belonged to. In the meantime, does anyone out there have any ideas?

It seems that this year has just flown by.  It has been a crazy, chaotic year here, but there is still so much to be thankful for: a home, vehicles that run, food, jobs, health, a good church to serve in, family, memories, and the day to day small things that bring a smile to my face and heart. As I was making pumpkin bread to take to the get together of 6 families today for supper, I thought maybe I would share some of Mom's favorite recipes.  She left Lancaster County, PA only knowing that food.  However as she was exposed to other areas of the US and other people, she found many other food items to add to the selection that we ate as I grew up. The recipes are in Mom's handwriting. Most of the recipes were in her mind, or passed on to us that way.  These are the few I was able to get her to actually write out. All of them are good. Pumpkin bread   (I do not add nuts, but do add dried cranberries and chocolate chips): Banana bread (I don't add the aprico

I just returned from vacation and was in Lancaster for a few days.  One of my favorite places is Central Market.  I have wonderful memories of going there with Grandma and Pappy Garner. They were related to a good many of the vendors and it took several hours to go all the way around market getting various items because every stop involved visiting and catching up on the family news. I loved the smell and variety of items at market, and there were so many good food items - my favorite being the shoofly pie, apple dumplings, and certain meats that were always gotten at Weaver's. Now some of the vendors are completely different and there is more variety in the food, but I still love market and try to go at least once whenever I am in Lancaster (this trip I got to go twice). Here are some photos: 09/10/2019 09/10/2019 - sign at Penn Square 09/07/2019 09/07/2019 09/10/2019 09/10/2019 - the roofing structure - I was fascinated with it as a child For

I was recently contacted by a very distant relative stating that I should have put him as the source of a photo which I have put on this blog in a couple different places.  Let me state here that while I am sorry I did not give him credit, I also did not know he was the original source of the photo. For me, this is a good reminder to somehow add a note to items I am given as to where they came from, but I simply don't always do that as well as I should apparently. I don't see me getting around to writing a book about my family, so this is how I am sharing the info and yes, I do want it to be correct. Please give me some credit for being willing to share instead of hoarding it and acting like I am the only person who should have all this information (we all have this kind of person in our families). I was given boxes and boxes of photos from both my mom and grandma - many of them were duplicates, but many were not.  Add to that the many photos over the years that other relat

If you have "Plain" ancestors of Amish, Mennonite, or Brethren roots then I recommend that you check out Masthof Press and "Mennonite Family History" magazine.  The website is:      https://www.masthof.com/ I have subscribed to this magazine for years and have found some great articles on my own family plus  contact info for others looking for the same families.  It is a very well published quarterly resource and usually has 50-60 pages with photos and text. They publish many books including fun kids books, plus genealogies of "Plain" families. Back issues of the magazine are also available. Here is the list of articles from the April 2019 issue:

Lancaster County, PA has a wealth of documents for someone doing genealogy.  The indexes are on line at (  https://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/193/Genealogy-Research-Historical-Indexes  ).  I am in Indiana now and cannot just run to Lancaster anytime I find documents in the index I would like to have so I email the info I would like a copy of. It is helpful to the staff there if you tell them what you want (example: delayed birth certificate), and whatever info is listed in the index for page, volume, or book. I have found the staff to be very helpful and prompt.  How fast you will actually get the documents has to do with how busy they are. In my experience it is usually within a few days to two weeks. The charge is very reasonable - I believe 25 cents a page plus postage, or 25 cents a page and it will be emailed to you if that is your request. There can be a bit of a learning curve as each document type seems to have a bit different set up for the index, but basic research skills

My paternal gr-grandmother was Mary Ida (WOLF) STOVER.  She was born in Lancaster County, PA on Feb. 22, 1864 to Lazarus and Elizabeth (NEWPHER/NEWFER) WOLF. Her first husband was Jacob Hahn - they had one son Irvin. Her second husband (my gr-grandfather) was John J. STOVER - they had 6 known children (one daughter died before her). By family accounts, John and Mary did not have a happy marriage and it is thought by the current living members of my family that they may have spent the last 10 - 15 years of their marriage living separately.  My grandma (Jennie) told her own children that she was in her teens before she remembered meeting her father. Above is Mary's death certificate - she is listed as married, and her youngest daughter filled out the info on the death certificate. Mary STOVER died on Dec. 17, 1924.  Here is her obit in the Lancaster newspaper. She was survived by 6 children and 10 siblings. No husband is listed in the obit, even though he was still livin

I was recently reading an article titled "Running Water" in A Simple Life  (Summer 2019, pages 66-72) The article talks about running water and indoor plumbing in rural America, and some basic facts of when it came about. It reminded me of a couple things to do with my Grandma Reba (RESSLER) GARNER. The first thing was her occasional response to the question of "Did you have running water when you were growing up?" Her response was always, "Yes, it just depended on how fast you ran from the pump with it." The second thing was the indoor bathroom my grandparents had at 1747 Temple Ave. in Lancaster, PA.  When Pappy and Grandma (Ralph & Reba GARNER) bought this house in 1937, I believe the sale price was $4000 because Pappy told me once that with interest it ended up being $6000, which he found shocking for a house.  Anyway, my mom was the oldest kid and she well remembered the inside bathroom being built - she was 14.  It was summer and hot.  The ki

One of the daughters of John and Mary Ida (WOLF) STOVER was Elasta Gustava STOVER who married Ray Y. Grube. So far, I have been unable to locate photos of her. She was born Feb. 1, 1897 and died Feb. 3, 1973. She is memorial #99097373 on Find A Grave. What I have found (for no reason I can figure out) is that she got 2 delayed birth certificates, one in 1942 and one in 1957. 1957 Delayed birth certificate: 1957 pg. 1 1957 pg. 2 The people affirming her birth are Lizzie Mull, Irwin Hahn, and B. Sylvester Stover: Elizabeth "Lizzie" MULL was a maternal aunt (younger sister of Mary Ida Wolf). Irwin (or Irvin) HAHN was the son of Mary Ida Wolf and Jacob Hahn - hence a half brother to Elasta. B(arton) Sylvester STOVER was a full brother of Elasta G. STOVER. The 1942 delayed birth certificate: 1942 page 1 1942 page 2 The people affirming her birth are Mrs. T. APPLEBACH, Mrs. T.J. GEIST, and Mrs. Howard MULL. Mrs. T.

Source: Personal collection MEMORIES OF DEC.7, 1941 Pauline (Garner) Applebach, Hahn was about 4 1/2 yrs old when the attack on Pearl Harbor, HI occurred.  Years later she was able to tell people that while she was too little to really understand what had happened, she knew the radio broadcast was bad.  She remembered sitting beside her mom (Reba Garner) listening to the radio at their home on Temple Ave in Lancaster, that the black out shades were closed, and that while Pappy (Ralph Garner) shook his head in disbelief, and her mom cried. Her memories of the actual war years were vague and mostly what others in the family had told her about that time, but her memories of the radio announcement of Pearl Harbor did not dim over the years. Source: Personal collection Both these photos were taken when Pauline was 4, so 1941-42. This was what she looked like when she heard the Pearl Harbor radio announcement.

OBITS OF DANIEL & MARY RESSLER'S CHILDREN: So far these are the only obits I have personally or have been able to get copies of. New Era (Lancaster, PA) Sept. 17, 1926 Lancaster Examiner-New Era Feb. 23, 1923 New Era (Lancaster, PA) April 13, 1915 New Era (Lancaster, PA) Feb. 9, 1925 New Era (Lancaster, PA) April 1, 1925

In the January 1993 issue of Mennonite Family History Magazine was the below article on the family of Jacob & Susanna Ressler focusing on the line of Samuel Ressler (1804-1876). To be truthful, I am not very familiar with this line as I am descended through the next older boy, Daniel (1802-1901).  However, there are a couple things in the article I would like to correct or add to, so please continue to read below the nice article. 1. The first couple paragraphs is about Johann Heinrich Rossler/Ressler and his immigration.   “He was accompanied on the ship by two other Roesslers: Johann Georg Roessler and Conrad Roessler.”  Per the response to a Nov. 1963 letter of Nina Briedenthall (translated by E. Jaeger) asking about the Roessler roots in Wunsiedel, Germany “I would guess that the 3 brothers Roessler, that came 1750 to America, were descendants of Pastor Christoph Roessler in Kirchenlamits…” I have posted the translated letter in its entirety the blog here:  ( http: