The Genealogist's Guide to Fraktur for Genealogists Researching German-American Families

Book Reveiws The Genealogist's Guide to Fraktur for Genealogists Researching GermanAmerican Families. By Corinne Pattie Earnest and Beverly Repass Floch. Russell D. Earnest Associates, Publisher, Albuquerque, N.M., 1990. 56 pp., index, paperback. $12.95 plus $2.00 shipping and handling. Fraktur are wonderfully decorated manuscripts by and for the early German and Swiss settlers of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and other areas. The most important franktur documents, and the most numerous, are birth and baptismal certificates, which contain the names of the parents, including the mother's maiden name, the date of birth, and the date of baptism, as well as the location of the event. These documents may be difficult to read as they are usually in the old German script. The term fraktur refers to the German alphabet. Although admittedly limited in its scope, this book was compiled as a "self-help" or primer and should be helpful in assisting descendants of these early Swiss and German immigrants not only to find the fraktur but to decipher the contents. Included in this guide is an explanation of fraktur; German names on fraktur; locations mentioned; dates; how to read fraktur; recognizing important differences in fraktur; care of fraktur; and fraktur as folk art. A comprehensive bibliography and 20 illustrations, as well as translations of the fraktur shown and a glossary, are included. The index includes more than 250 surnames and 50 locations. Found in the index will be some of the great descriptive names given to some of the unknown artists, such as "the Wild Turkey Artist," "the Crazy H Scrivener," and the "Failed to Cross His Ts Scrivener." Jane Adams Clarke American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796. By Hurtle June Clark. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Md., 1990. viii plus 299 pp., index. $30.00. A militia force was authorized by Congress in 1790 to supplement the small standing army in its fight to protect the frontier from the 353 354 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Indians and quell insurrections. The material in this book gives the names of men in the militia troops who were paid for their services by the federal government from 1790 to 1796. The states covered are predominantly Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and the Southwest Territory, which became Tennessee. There are also names of some of the militia troops who were called out to quell the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794. An interesting chronological listing of events is given from January 1783, when the peace treaty with Great Britain began, to 1795, when General Anthony Wayne signed the Treaty of Greenville with 12 Ohio Indian tribes. The bibliography suggests books and journals to continue the study of this period in United States history. Caroline M. Sparks Documentary History ofDunmore's War, 1774. Edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D., and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph.D. Heritage Books, Bowie, Md., 1989 (orig. publ. 1905). 439 pp., index, paperback, $25.00. The first word in this book's title provides the format for a lively account of the eighteenthercentury conflict between Scots-Irish and German settlers and Ottawa and Shawnee Indians along the Ohio River shortly before the Arnerican Revolution. Contemporary letters and other documents including newspaper extracts, official reports, and personal journals tell the story of this frontier fight between European immigrants seeking a new life and the native Americans who resisted the thrust of a new culture with a rampage of "plunderings, burnings, captures, and massacres." Most of the letters are short, but many are amplified with biographical footnotes. Most of the letters are from one colonial officer to another and describe ambushes, raids, and skirmishes in the land of river canoes and woodland moccasins. Although forts were built to protect farms and families, the settlers did not wait for Indian attacks. They took the fight to the enemy. Lord Dunmore (governor of Virginia) wrote to the earl of Dartmouth (the British secretary of state for the colonies): "They do not believe the government has any right to forbid their taking possession of a vast tract of country which serves only as shelter to a few tribes of Indians." Book Reveiws 355 Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, who was defeated at the conclusive Point Pleasant battle, 14 October 1774, brings human personality to this tale ofwigwams and tomahawks as cries of "Who goes there?" ring through the forest nights. The reader also hears about such national heroes as George Washington, Anthony Wayne, and George Rogers Clark in this well-organized, detailed account of our ancestors' trials and triumphs beyond the comprehension of most armchair genealogists today. Troop muster rolls and militia returns round out this comprehensive and absorbing record. John A. Baird, jr. Compendium of Early Mohawk Valley Families. By Maryly B. Penrose. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1990. 2 vols., 1146 pp., 2 appendices, cross-index of names, map. Cloth. $75.00 plus $3.50 postage and handling. The compiler continues her exhaustive study of Mohawk Valley records. (Previous works include prize-winning Baumann-Bowman Family of the Mohawk, Mohawk Valley in the Revolution, Mohawk Valley Land Records, Abstracts, 1738-1788 and Mohawk Valley Revolutionary War Pension Abstracts.) This two-volume work is arranged alphabetically by surname, with across-index of collateral names found in the various documents. This, unfortunately, does not include the names of witnesses to the documents, who are usually of some importance to the family, if only that of proximity. The major portion of the work is given to abstracts of data from marriage, birth/baptism, death, probate, military, pension, land, and census records. The families, many of whom are interrelated by marriage, are primarily based on the Dutch, English, and a large Palatine population dating from the early eighteenth century. The Mohawk Valley, initially part of Albany County, later was absorbed into Tryon and then Montgomery County. This included five districts, Canajoharie, German Flats, Kingsland, Mohawk, and Palatine, and comprised the teritory now included in the counties of Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Madison, Oswego, Otsego, and St. Lawrence, with portions of Schoharie, Oneida, and Delaware. There are included two appendices, the first of members of the Tryon County Militia (17764 from New York in the Revolution, As Colony and State, Vol. 1, by James A. Roberts. Appendix B is a copy of the 1790 Federal Census for Montgomery County, New York. While it may be convenient to gather these data in relation to the main body 356 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine of the work, one questions whether the reader might not have been as readily served, at less expense, by bibliographic references to readily available information. Such mild criticism cannot diminish the very real value of this welhdocumented and thorough addition to the genealogical study of Mohawk Valley families, by an obviously dedicated researcher. Mary Fallon Richards History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. By I. Daniel Rupp. Heritage Books, Bowie, Md., 1990 (orig. publ. 1844). 568 pp., index, paperback, $27.50. Memorable descriptions such as William Penn as "the Quaker King"; eighteenth century spelling including "Omish" for "Amish"; and colonial artifact detail (such as the making of wampum) punctuate this recent reprint of an 1844 book and help hold the contemporary reader's interest in these happenings of long ago. The book consists of three parts. There is a short first section about the initial settlement of the Delaware Bay and Delaware River area. Then come two lengthy segments (the second of which occupies half the volume) that take the reader through the period from 1710 to 1729 and from that date to the early 1800s, respectively. There are copious footnotes with some comprising all but a few lines of an entire page. Less than harmonious relationships between the settlers and the Indians flavor the text to the mid-1770s, with the former introduciing the natives to rum and the latter terrorizing the colonial population. We learn also, however, of intro-Indian hostilities and German-Irish tensions in the new land. Lancaster County was established in 1729 with 16 townships defined to better serve the increasing population. Laying out roads and building bridges were among the important tasks, but the first order of business for the new governmental entity involved the immediate creation of a criminal justice system. Eight men were made justices of the peace, and others were appointed sheriff, coroner, and commissioners. Concerns about local crime were more than matched by countrywide conflict through the French and Indian wars and the American Revolution. Lancaster County saw no actual battles but provided regiments for the militia and the Continental Army. Book Reveiws 357 The book personalizes the broad events of those times with mention of many individual persons who held land, built churches, donned uniforms, and held public office. Author Rupp closes his account with a similar emphasis in the realm of nature by providing a catalogue of the birds, bugs, and plants found in the region. John A. Baird, Jr. A New Index, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Before the Federal Census. Volume 5: Index to the 1770 Tax Records. By Gary T. Hawbaker and Clyde L. Groff. By the authors, 1989. 224 pp., maps, paperback. $15.00 plus $1.50 shipping; Pa. residents add 6% sales tax. Since 1981 when Messrs. Hawbaker and Groff published volume I. of their indices to Lancaster County tax records, family researchers have had an indispensable reference guide to Lancaster ancestors. Tracing lineages in Pennsylvania is at best a time-consuming effort, and in few areas of the commonwealth is the task more difficult than in Lancaster because of the ethnic and religious diversity of the county. The present index is based on tax returns and tax assessments for the years 1769, 1770, and 1771 by township collectors and assessors in the various townships. The authors in their excellent preface explain the documents used in each county division, the names of the agents, the scope of the information that can be expected from the returns, and, most importantly, directions spotting unusual spellings of names Clyde Groff, in his preface, cites as an example the family name of Herr, which is pronounced like "hare" and appears most often as Hair in the tax records of 1770. This reviewer looked up a few ancestors in Lancaster and found many variants for Bauman (Bowman), Grosh (Grush), and Hershey; the Scottish Bertram Galbraith was anglicized to Bartram Galbreth, but others offered little or no change. Follow the authors' caution: "We have retained the original spelling of names to maintain authenticity. Thus it is very important to check all known variations of a name as well as any other possible spellings you can think of." The present volume has 11,376 entries (including cross-references). Aubrey H. Baldwin, III 358 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine A Biographical History of Lancaster County. By Alex Harris. Heritage Books, Bowie, Md., 1989 (orig. publ. 1872). 638 pp., paperback, $32.50 This important book carries a 24-word sub-title, "Being a History of Early Settlers and Eminent Men of the County; as also much other unpublished Historical Information Chiefly of a Local Character." The body of the text presents a list of more than 650 names alphabetically arranged from Agnew to Zimmerman with biographical facts attached. Most of the "much other" data is found in footnotes which vary in length from a few lines to several pages. The roster does not claim a census-like inclusiveness, but, rather emphasizes "personages whose lives, acts and doings were worthy of being recorded for the interest of the present and future generations." The lives of these men cover the period from the beginning of the community to about 1870. The reader meets James Buchanan, fifteenth President of the United States, as well as Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat. Only a rank below such luminaries are Pennsylvania Governor John Andrew Shultz and Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, U.S.A., who was killed at Gettysburg. Prominent men in the professions and other fields make up a diverse portrait gallery of clergy, educators, legal luminaries, and government officials. Author Harris not only describes their achievements but also reveals their genealogical orientation with information about their forebears as well as their descendants. John A. Baird, jr. Early Quaker Records in Virginia. Compiled by Miles White, Jr., repr. with a new index by Anita Comtois. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 64 pp., paperback. $6.00 plus $2.50 postage and handling. This is another in the series of genealogical books that roll off the Genealogical Publishing Company presses in an effort to keep up with the demand for reprints of older genealogical works of enduring value. It is designed to meet the needs of libraries whose aging stock needs replacement and of newer repositories and genealogists eager to secure copies of out-of-print books. First excerpted from the so-called Chuckatuck Record, believed to be the oldest Quaker records in Virginia and presently held among manuscripts of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, the records first Book Reveiws 359 appeared in Publications of the Southern History Association, 6 (1902) and 7 (1903). The Genealogical Publishing Company has previously reprinted the work in 1977, 1979, and 1985. The records date from about 1673 to 1710. White has meticulously transcribed the marriage records, found largely on pages 3-35; and the births and deaths on pages 36-54. The eight-page index lists all names and variant spellings. Aubrey H. Baldwin, III Coroners' Reports, New York City, 1823-1842. By Kenneth Scott. Collections of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Volume 12, New York, 1989. 259 pp., cloth. $24.95. Alphabetically arranged by surname, with an index of incidental names mentioned in the text, this listing by coroners of the reports of deaths is a poignant one. (When a group of Delaware volunteers worked on a similar listing some time ago, one of its members remarked, "I never knew there were so many ways to die!") Whatever the cause of death, this may prove to be the only place where it is recorded, so Dr. Scott's work continues to be of great service to genealogists. The final pages contain a list of 50 books by Kenneth Scott which, with his many articles, form a monumental body of genealogical data. We must all be grateful, whether for its content if it falls in our areas of interest or, failing that, for his shining example. Mary Fallon Richards Sandyvale Cemetery, Johnstown, Pennsylvania: A Recreation of Burials, 1850-4906. Compiled by Phylis M. Oyler. Closson Press, Apollo, Pa., 1986. 362 pp., map, source code, paperback. $30.00. Phylis Oyler has provided Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with "a Spoon River Anthology" of sorts and reveals in her anthology of Sandyvale Cemetery that truth can be stranger than fiction. It begins on her cover with an appropriate drawing entitled "Rest Old Pioneer," by W. P. Smyser, opens with an historical account of the Homer family, many of whose members and friends were laid to rest on an area of their farm, and continues with Jacob Homer's plans to convert a portion of his land to a public cemetery. A portion of the cemetery had a section set aside for burials of parishioners of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Franklin borough. The first recorded plot deed was granted Thomas Doran on 18 August 1856. Other purchases of plots soon followed, and a special section was set aside for veterans who died in the Civil War. Looking 360 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine today at the long-neglected grassy area bordering Stonycreek River, it is difficult to imagine the original size of the cemetery, where 5,516 persons found a final resting place before the cemetery's closing in 1906. Tyler's records provide startling details of the great Johnstown Flood of 1889, which washed down tombstones and tons of earth as well as corpses from the graves of Sandyvale. Many flood victims and later flood survivors were interred in the cemetery. Repeated flooding doomed the project, and the great flood of 1936 destroyed many monuments. In 1951 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attempted to restore the long neglected area, but the floods returned in 1977. But the author is primarily interested in the vital records of those interred in Sandyvale, and she has endeavored to stress the humanistic element in the vast array of facts she has assembled. The result is an alphabetical list of burials giving name, death/burial date, source of information, additional data such as birth, parentage or adoption, military service, age at and often cause of death, residence, and morgue information on physical description and items of clothing, etc, from military/morgue records. She provides a cross index of maiden names, early lot owners, remaining tombstones, present lots held by owners or the city of Johnstown, and also a map showing lots and layouts of Sandyvale. She provides short genealogies for about thirty of the large families who buried members in the cemetery. Would that every old cemetery had a devoted researcher of the caliber of Phylis Oyler! Aubrey H. Baldwin, III How to Locate Anyone Anywhere Without Leaving Home. By Ted L. Gunderson, with Roger McGovern. E. P. Dutton, New York, 1989. Appendixes, index. $8.95. This little book should be in the library of every serious genealogist as both a guide and reference. The author, Ted L. Gunderson, was an FBI agent and is currently a well-known private investigator. He was commended by President Gerald Ford as an outstanding FBI agent and executive with an illustrious 18-year tenure. Gunderson leads both the novice and professional through the steps to locate missing persons, but he is stretching things a little to state it can be done "without leaving home." Most of the technique he advocates is by use of mail and telephone, using well-known strategies and seriously-thought-out plans. He stresses persistence with the admonition never to give up. The missing person profile Book Reveiws 361 given on page nine displays an outline of 22 items to build up a fact sheet before attempting the search. The profile alone is well worth the price of the book. However, this reviewer has developed a similar profile which includes several points overlooked by Gunderson. The reader with some imagination can do likewise. Sample guide letters and procedures are very helpful as tools for the search. Public records, libraries, and various archives and repositories are explained. While Gunderson advocates consulting reference librarians by telephone, researchers generally will probably have to make many trips to repositories to gain the evidence and clues required. This is one incidence where the author exaggerates in claiming the search can be done "without leaving home." This is one of the few books that stress the usefulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through its Family History Library in Salt Lake City and its many branches world-wide. A directory of the addresses of the branches is provided in Appendix 5. In Appendix 6 there is a list of professional genealogists accredited by the Family History Library. The author's most serious omission is his failure to mention a larger group of professional genealogists approved by the Board for Certification of Genealogists in Washington, D.C. This board publishes annually a Roster of Persons Certified which is available for a nominal fee, or it usually can be found at larger libraries. These professional genealogists have passed difficult examinations and must be recertified every five years through elaborate requirements as to their capabilities. Gunderson's title statement How to Locate Anyone Anywhere should be understood to mean mostly in the United States. Some searches require looking farther afield. For example, Germaine Greer's recent book Daddy, We Hardly Knew You concerns her search on three continents beginning in Australia. (Greer's book is not strictly a missing persons's search but an investigation into her father's family history.) Gunderson could have mentioned this book in Appendix 5, where he limits his research to "Current Adoption Literature," citing 24 works by several authors, mostly published during the last decade. Gunderson's book is probably the best written to date on the subject of how to find missing persons, even though as a specialist in locating the missing, this reviewer has never been able to accomplish the task without leaving home. Robert C. Fraunberger 362 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Mayflower Marriages. By Susan E. Roser. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Md., 1990. xi plus 415 pp., index. $29.95 plus $2.50 postage and handling. The complete title of this book describes accurately its scope: Mayflower Marriages From the Files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. George E. Bowman, founder of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, spent a half-century collecting some 20,500 pages of documented records. These records became known as the Bowman Files, "...the largest documented manuscript resource on Mayflower genealogy." Mrs. Roser extracted the marriage records from the microfiche cards of the Bowman Files. These marriage records span several centuries and contain names, usually with dates and sources, as they appear on the microfiche cards. They are arranged by Mayflower family, and within the family the line of descent is indicated. There is also a chapter showing Mayflower inter-marriages down to the single entry in the eleventh generation. The full name index includes all names mentioned, both male and female. At the end of her introduction Mrs. Roser reminds the reader, "As with any undertaking of such immense proportions, the Bowman Files are not without error....For this reason, the Files, as well as this book, cannot be cited for documentation to gain acceptance into the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. However, sources cited within each may be used." The author's statement in no way detracts from the usefulness of this valuable tool for Mayflower research. Mrs. Roser is to be commended for the excellent job that she has done in bringing these marriage records to the researcher. Douglas A. Weeny Books in Brief Compiled by Thomas Jay Kemp The Espy-Espey Genealogy Book. By Rita Espy Kuhbander and William G. Espy. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1987. 3 vols., index. Each volume of this family history traces the descendants of a different son of Josiah (1693—?) and Priscilla (Mitchell) Espy, who were born in Northern Ireland, likely County Antrim. Each volume is separately indexed and gives acne- or two-page list of sources consulted. Book Reveiws 363 Mae Brittain-Keesee from Webster County, Missouri. By Bette June Nelson. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1987. 227 pp. $35.00. This narrative genealogy also includes the Cain, Goss, and Bodenhamer families from Missouri, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Many photographs, reproductions of original documents, and abstracts of letters and diaries. Swanton Family History Worldwide. From 1242 in England to 1988 in Australia, Barbados, Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, United States. By Louise May Swanton. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1989. 458 pp., index, chart. $30.00 plus postage). This world-wide tour of the Swanton family includes extensive references to the International Genealogical Index (Family History Library, Salt Lake City), with brief entries for each Swanton named throughout the book. There are separate indexes for each country covered. The Affinity and Consanguinity of My 'Swans.' By L. P. Fauskee. By the Author, 1988. 397 pp., index. Full of facsimile documents, photographs, and maps, this genealogy traces the Swan family from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on West. It is presented in a narrative style but includes family group sheets to assist the reader in following along with the relationships. Kennard, King, Knight, Hardin, Goodin. Their Ancestors and Descendants. Brummett, Haley, Harrison, McCubbin, Patterson, Stone, Williams, Whitfield and Many More. By Alta Kennard Patterson and Virginia Fern Mitchell. BookCrafters, Chelsea, Mich., 1988. 331 pp., errata, index. This family moves from Maryland through the South to Texas. The handdrawn and handwritten family trees are remarkably easy to follow. The title sums up the many families that are included in this family record. The authors carefully give citations for their material throughout the book. Kitchell Family History. By Debris Kitchel Clem and Dwain L. Kitchel. Gregath Co., Cullman, Ala., 1989. 881 pp. This is a well-laid-out, easy-to-use genealogy. This Connecticut family is well served by modern computer technology which the authors have skillfully used to blend photographs, documents, and data. This arrangement should be considered as strongly as the 364 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine standard Register format by other genealogists about to publish their family histories. Our Family Heritage, the Perdues of the Eastern Shore of Maryland 1563 to Present. By Edward M. Perdue. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1988. Index. $55.00 plus $2.00 postage. Frank Perdue and all of the other Perdues are covered in this book. With plenty of pictures of Perdue chicken farmers in Maryland and footnotes for every section of the book, this book is easy to use. The Rotz Family. By Richard L. Miller and Richard L. Arnold. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1989. Index. $35.00. This genealogy traces the family from Germany to Pennsylvania and on throughout the country. Two May Families of Hollow Square, Greene County, Alabama. Including Some May-Windham-Harrison-Dargan Ancestors and Descendants. By Berenice May Fuller. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1988. 396 pp., index. $35.00. With news clippings, documents, maps, and photographs throughout, this book will be welcomed by the May family. The title gives the scope of this work. Genealogy of Hammers Relating to North Carolina. By Ruth Hammer Swearington Winkler. By the Author, Summerfield, N.C., 1987. 197 pp., index. The author traces this family from Germany to North Carolina and beyond with those branches who have moved on. With many photographs and a two-page list of sources consulted, the author clearly spent considerable time on this book. Ostrander Family Vital Records. By Barbara Dahl and Emmett Ostrander. Anundsen Publ. Co., Decorah, Iowa, 1989. 313 pp., index, bibliography. $21.00. This is a compilation of carefully-footnoted vital records of the Ostrander family of New York taken from over 500 sources. While not in the usual family history format, we would all benefit from such a work on our families. This is an outstanding example of how to make a real contribution to published genealogical records. The Wolfe Pack: A Directory and Source Book of Wolfe Family Records. By Ralph L. Kersh and V. Lyn Niles-Rouleau. Anundsen Pubs. Co., Decorah, Iowa, 1988. 306 pp., index. $30.00. This Pennsylvania Moravian family is chronicled in a genealogy that is full of photographs and documents. There are apparently no footnotes. Book Reveiws 365 Genealogy of the Chew Family. By Robert L. Chew. Gloucester County Historical Society, Woodbury, NJ., 1982. 488 pp., index, bibliography. $17.50 plus $1.50 postage. With footnotes, few illustrations, and a lot of pages, the author covers the Chew family of New Jersey in great detail. The style is original, but once the reader becomes familiar with it there is no trouble in locating an individual. The Lookout Mountain Mortons and Their Descendants, Ancestors and Relatives from York County, PA; Mecklenburg County, NC,. Blount County, TN and Walker County, GA. By Donna Morton Morgan. Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1989. 265 pp., index, bibliography. $25.00 plus $2.50 postage. Set up in the Register style, this genealogy covers the Morton family in the South. The author has taken care to footnote the data given on each page. It is a pleasure to see such a well-documented genealogy. Byrams in America. By John Arnold Byram, Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1988. 260 pp., index, bibliography. $15.00. This Colonial Massachusetts family is covered in this original layout that uses approximate footnotes to cite its sources. It would have been more helpful to the reader if the exact citation rather than simply the name of the source had been given. Geitgey in America 1762-1985. By Frances Harrsen Geitgey. Shumway Family History Services, Anaheim, Calif. 1985. 325 pp., index. This Pennsylvania and Ohio family is covered with many photographs and references to specific documents in the narrative. It would have been helpful to have more footnotes to the data given.