ROOTS & BRANCHES

For the last half century, the Palatines to America Genealogy Group has been a major force in helping people research their German-speaking ancestors. The organization’s name stems from the designation of immigrants from the German states by British authorities in colonial times as “Palatines,” whether they actually came from the states known as the Palatinate …

I did a “lunch and learn” webinar last month on behalf of the State Library of Pennsylvania about online German genealogy basics and as is often case, I received some interesting inquiries in response. Among those emailing me was Tim Scheidler, who had a question about the origins of his surname line’s immigrant. His great-great-grandfather …

There’s truly been a run on the market when it comes to making new Beidler connections, and possibly some others in my personal genealogy. At the 45th reunion of my Schuylkill Valley High School class a couple of years ago, another member of the “class of ’78” Teresa Schultz Mohler told me that her daughter …