Lancaster County Family Ties

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