ROOTS & BRANCHES

I make no pretension of being objective about Diahan Southard, the genetic genealogy specialist who trades as Your DNA Guide.From the first time I met her—when our exhibit hall tables were next to each other at an Ohio Genealogical Society conference about a decade ago—I found her engaging personality matched by her scientific knowledge and, …

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” column mentioned correspondence from my distant cousin Pernell Staudt, who was seeking information about a Shrader/Shradern/Schroeder family in the western Berks County area and the Lieb family there stemming from a Hans Michael Lieb who died in 1754, leaving a widow named Anna Margaretha who soon after married Johann Mathias …

Some people revel in what appears to be the randomness of life while others flatly opine “There are no coincidences.” Either way you slice it, email conversations I’ve had recently brought up some interesting intersections with both of the people reaching out to me. One was Roger Getz of Lititz in Lancaster County. His grandfather …

Close to two decades ago, I first stopped by the library of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University.The library had a copy of a card file originally compiled by the genealogy institute of the Palatine—showing the origins of thousands of immigrants—and Lucy Kern, the lady in charge of the library at the …

Just about a year ago, I took a contract position as interim executive director for Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. I was both excited and a bit terrified at the prospect. I was humbled by the common interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s rejoinder that “There are no second acts in American life,” which GSP was for …