ROOTS & BRANCHES

It seems like I’ve written this column before. And truth be known, in my more than a quarter century of writing “Roots & Branches,” I’ve returned to the topic of the value of historical newspapers several times. I guess that happens when your “Roots & Branches” columnist is both: a) the author of the only …

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” noted that after many years of off-and-on effort I had pinpointed exactly where my immigrant surname ancestor Johannes Beydeler’s land was in what’s now Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County. But I ran out of space in the column to say why this was particularly important to me, given that nothing …

Some years ago I first was contacted by “another” Jim Beidler, this one who lives in Ohio, and eventually we became Facebook Friends. As a matter of fact, one time I ham-fistedly “tagged” him in a picture of myself while on vacation at Bryce Canyon in Utah. We’ve talked electronically now and again over the …