1907 Photo of My 2x Great Grandfather and Other County Ofificals

My great, great grandfather, A. L. Merrill, was county commissioner of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, in the early 1900s. This summer, I found the first photo I've seen of him. But, it was in a 1958 newspaper clipping, so it was under copyright laws. I recently emailed the publisher of the newspaper, The Express, who quickly responded with permission to use the photo.

Used with Permission: The Express/www.lockhaven.com
A. L. Merrill is on the far left of the front row
Pictures from the Past, The Express, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 22 December 1958, page 10,
columns 5-8, digital image, newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com), accessed 7 July 2016. 

This photo was under a section titled "Pictures from the Past" and was described as follows: This group of Court House office holders 51 years ago, was augmented by the mail carrier, who happened to be passing as the photographer went to work. He is William Kinley, top row, left. The others in the top row are Alex Flanigan, county commissioner; George T. Michaels, deputy register and recorder; William A. Snyder, register and recorder; T. B. Bridgens, county treasurer; William B. Hanna, commissioner; Isaac Rumberger, deputy prothonotary, and J. Harris Mussina, sheriff. Front row, A. L. Merrill, commissioner; James A. Wensel, commissioners' clerk; W. H. Kleper, deputy sheriff; and James R. Kinley, prothonotary.

Business Card of A. L. Merrill found at Ross Library, Clinton County, Pennsylvania

Though the 1907 photo lists him as commissioner, I know he was county commissioner at some point. I'm assuming that is a "step up," though I don't know for sure. This summer I also found one of his business cards at a library in Clinton County, which I blogged about earlier. I hope to see if the court house or an archive has more photos of early county officials in which more photos of A. L. Merrill might be found.

My Line:

• Augustus Lippencott "A. L." Merrill (1848-1920) married Sarah Jane Eastwood (1848-1923)
• Bessie Waldron Merrill (1879-1959) married Andrew "Andy" McClintock Stewart (1882-1954)
• James Edward Stewart (1910-1972) married Hazel Lucille Peters (1910-1975), my grandparents

Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net with any comments or questions.

My Top 10 Genealogy Finds in 2016

As I did in 2014, I'd like to share my "top 10 genealogy find" for 2016...

Number 10: Finding myself in several newspaper articles as a young child was lots of fun! One article was about a city-wide contest where I won 3rd place in jumping rope. Another article was about a trip I took as a Campfire Girl where I fell off a statue and got a nasty bump on my forehead. (I think this picture is pretty pathetic, but it's the only one I could find with this injury!)

St. Joseph (German) Catholic Church,
Detroit, Michigan (Wikipedia image)

Number 9: Years ago, I received a copy of a torn 1895 wedding photo of my great grandparents, Frank & Anna (Adam) Kaechle. With some help from a Facebook group, I was able to locate the church where they were married. I also hired someone to look up their church marriage record!

Marriage record for Frank & Francisca (Holthoefer) Adam (Ancestry)

Number 8: Just a few weeks ago, I discovered the 1858 church marriage record for Anna (Adam) Kaechle's parents. Anna's parents, Frank & Francisca (Holthoefer) Adam, were married at St. Mary's Church in Detroit.

Henry W Wingert & others on a bandwagon

Number 7: Although the person in the photo isn't a direct ancestor, I absolutely loved receiving a copy of this photo of Henry W. Wingert who was a band leader on a bandwagon! What an incredible photo!

Me in Clinton County with a business card of A. L. Merrill (June 2016)

Number 6: On a trip to Pennsylvania this past summer, I was thrilled to find an actual business card for my great, great grandfather, A. L. Merrill, who was a candidate for County Commissioner! And, yes, he did actually serve as county commissioner. I also found a photo of him as commissioner, but I still need to get permission to post it.

Papers received from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
in regards to the Michael Kline family

Number 5: I "discovered" I had Mennonite ancestors, only to find out they weren't Mennonites after all! But, the information I received from Pennsylvania's Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society provided me with a lot of information about Michael Kline and his 14 children.

Number 4: Through work I did in Melinde Lutz Byrne's "Practicum in Genealogical Research," I determined that John M Boyers was likely the father of Eliza Ann (Boyers) Dickson. More research is still needed, but I made a lot of progress!

Me and two cousins at the tombstone of Robert & Frances (Quigley) Stewart
Clinton County, Pennsylvania (June 2016)

Number 3: One of the "genealogy" highlights of my year was meeting quite a few of my dad's Pennsylvania cousins that I had never met. Three of them went with me to Clinton County, Pennsylvania, where we spent a day visiting several cemeteries and the library. This is a photo of me with two of them standing next to the headstone of Robert and Frances (Quigley) Stewart's massive headstone. Robert and Frances are my 4th great grandparents and represent the furthest we've been able to trace our Stewart line.

Birth certificate showing my Werther family came from Berka

Number 2: Although I didn't know it, I actually had digital copies of the paperwork which showed where my Werther family had emigrated from in Germany! My Great Aunt Beulah, who got me interested in genealogy in 1998, had these papers in her files and I had copied them a couple of years ago while visiting an aunt and uncle.

Map made by JRS showing the immigration voyage of my Peters' family

Number 1: And, the top find for 2016 was locating the origins of my Peters family who emigrated from Germany in 1859. Though I wrote quite a few posts as I shared the steps to this discovery almost in real time on my blog, a summary can be found on my post titled "How I Traced My Immigrant Family to Germany."

Photo of Joachim Peters that belongs to my family, alongside a painting
of the photo that got handed down in a cousin's family.

BONUS: I can't believe I left this out of my "top 10" list! This year, I discovered my dad has hundreds of photos that I had never seen before! He has been emailing them to me, and we are working together to fill in the details. I have also received photos from other cousins. It's always exciting to find photos of the people we are researching! So, this is definitely one of my "top 10 genealogy finds" of 2016!

A. L. Merrill: County Commissioner (Clinton Co, PA Trip, Part 1)

Two weeks ago, I visited Clinton County, Pennsylvania with three of my dad's first cousins. We spent some time at the Ross Library in Lock Haven briefly researching our Stewart, Merrill, McClintock/McClintick, and Close families.

Entering Ross Library, Lock Haven, Clinton Co, PA

Ross Library has a wonderful card catalog. Each card indexes a specific person and record. The records I saw included the Clinton County marriage license docket 1894-1897, the library's "local history/memorabilia" albums and photograph collection, and various newspapers including: the Clinton County Times, the Clinton Republican, the Clinton Democrat, and the Lock Haven Express. I believe the library has all of these newspapers on microfilm, but they are not digitized.

A card from the card catalog at Ross Library, Lock Haven, Clinton Co, PA.

We looked through the card catalog and were eager to see what was in this "memorabilia album" about my great, great grandfather (their great grandfather), A. L. Merrill (aka Augustus Lippencott Merrill). We showed the librarian the card, and he left to retrieve the item. He came back with a scrapbook page which included this...

Card located at Ross Library, Lock Haven, Clinton Co., PA.

This is A. L. Merrill's business card from when he ran for County Commissioner! I believe he was commissioner from about 1905 until 1915. I loved seeing this card and was able to actually hold it in my hands!

Photo of me at Ross Library.

Behind me, you can see the incredible card catalogs. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time, but I spent mine going through the Merrill cards. There were dozens of cards, so I used my cellphone to take photos of the cards that interested me. When I returned home, I discovered one which hadn't registered when I took the photo. It's for an A. L. Merrill, but it is not my great, great grandfather...

Another card at Ross Library.

Instead, it is one of his two "missing" babies that I have listed on my ancestry tree! So, now I have a name and date of death for one of these little ones.

Besides this card catalog, they also had a traditional file cabinet that held files by surnames. There wasn't a lot in the surnames I was looking for, but I wish I would have taken a photo of something I did find. It was my own request from about 1999 asking for obituaries of various family members from Clinton County! And, behind it, they had stapled copies of all of those obituaries. I should have written a note and updated my email address in case someone else discovers this file at a later date.

Lastly, while writing this article, I uncovered another item: I found a photo of A. L. Merrill from 1907, just a few years after he became commissioner! We are in the process of trying to track down the original of this photo in the hopes that I can get a better copy and permission to share it.

Finding Two "Missing" Children from the 1910 Census

The 1910 census lists Elizabeth C Merrill, wife of Norman B Merrill, as a mother of 6 with 4 still living. I'm sure we all have families like this on our trees. We'd love to tell the stories of these "missing" children who both were born and died between census years. But, how can we locate them?

One solution? Newspapers. 

What a wonderful source! And, it was newspapers that helped me locate the two "missing" children of Elizabeth and Norman B Merrill.

The first newspaper article I found was dated November 25, 1902. It simply stated: The infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Merrill died Sunday night, aged seven months. The funeral will be held this afternoon; interment at Dunnstown.

I looked for two additional records for this baby: a death certificate and a grave record at Find A Grave. Neither record was found. So, sadly, I don't know the name or even sex of this little baby, but I do know an approximate birth and death date.

I was able to find out a lot more about the second missing child. The newspaper article about her death provided a lot of information.

Three-Year-Old Child is Fatally Scalded, Lock Haven Express, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 3 Dec 1906,
page 5, column 2, digital image newspaperarchives.com, (http://newspaperarchives.com), accessed 10 May 2016

Dated December 3rd, 1906, this horrific story explains that Caroline's mother was preparing to give 3-year-old Caroline a bath. The hot water was sitting on the floor next to the stove. Little Caroline was sitting on a chair near the water while eating an apple. She fell into the hot water in which she was badly burned. She lost consciousness several times and died from her burns the following night.

What a horrific story! My heart aches for this mother (and the family) as she watched her little one suffer! I can just imagine how she must have blamed herself. I know I blamed myself when my daughter fell out of our car onto her head once. (Thankfully, she was fine.)

Portion of  Death Certificate of Caroline Viola Merrill, died 1 Dec 1906,
Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania (image on Ancestry)

On Ancestry, I was able to find Caroline's death certificate. "Little Caroline" was not 3, but actually only 2 years, 4 months, and 5 days old. The cause of death is listed as "accidentally scalded." It also stated that she would be buried in Dunnstown Cemetery, the same cemetery where her parents are interred, though she is not listed with them on Find-A-Grave.

The informant for this death certificate was not the mother or the father who were possibly too grief-stricken to answer the questions. The informant was the father's brother, A. L. Merrill, who was my great, great grandfather.

3 Sources for locating these "missing" children:

• newspapers 
• death certificates - which can often be found by using the parents names
• cemetery records - these little ones will often be buried by their parent, siblings, or other family members

Bessie Merrill: Child Silk Mill Weaver (#7 of 52 Ancestors)

For centuries children have worked to help their families. They have helped their parents farm, run stores, and do other businesses. But, during the American Industrial Revolution, many children went to work in the mills and mines. They would often work up to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, at dangerous and even deadly jobs.

In Pennsylvania, in the later 1800's, both mindsets and laws were changing to protect children. Work hours were decreased and children were required to attend school for a certain number of months a year. Minimum ages were set in place for certain types of work, though many worked anyway.

In Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where my ancestors lived, a silk mill opened in 1899. Three hundred people were to be employed, including many women who would work as weavers. By September of 1900, 220 looms were in operation.

Lock Haven Silk Mill, The Scranton Republic, Scranton, Pennsylvania, 02 Jun 1889,
page 2, column 3, digital image newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com), accessed 13 Feb 2015

My great grandmother, Bessie Merrill, was one of the first employees. Twelve months after the mill opened, in June of 1900, the census listed Bessie's occupation as a weaver in the silk mill. At the age of 21, she was still single and living at home. She had been unemployed "0" of the past 12 months.

Her sister, Dollie, was also a weaver at the silk mill. But, she was only 15 years old... an age when most of the girls in Lock Haven were still in school. At the age of 15, she would have been considered a "child laborer."

Bessie and Dollie's father, Augustus, was a shoemaker at this time. He and his wife, Sarah Jane, had six children: two boys and then four girls. One son was off fighting in the Philippine-American War and the other son was grown. That left four daughters in the house with ages from six to twenty-one.

What kind of hours did Bessie and Dollie work at the mill? What were the conditions like? Did Dollie miss school? Did the girls have friends at the mill? And, did they need to work to help their father support their family? 

Bessie married my great grandfather, Andrew McClintock Stewart, less than a year after the census was taken so she probably didn't work at the mill very long. Dollie was still single and living at home when the next census was taken and was no longer working at the silk mill. She was working as a dressmaker.

Dollie made good use of her skills. A newspaper article from 1901 shows Dollie, then 17, working with the Ladies Aid Society of Lock Haven Hospital. She was a member of the sewing committee which had donated sheets, gowns, pajamas, and aprons for the nurses and surgeons. Dollie's contribution was 5 nightgowns "made free of charge by Miss Dollie Merrill."

Dollie would eventually marry not once, but three times. She died at the age of 83 in Williamsport leaving behind her two daughters, three grandchildren, and her oldest brother, James Eastwood Merrill.

(Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow at "No Story Too Small" for creating "52 Ancestors" where we can share our ancestors stories, one week at a time.)

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

What Did It Take to Become a Census Enumerator?

My great, great grandfather, Augustus L Merrill (or A. L. Merrill), was a census taker in 1900. In 1910, he was a census supervisor overseeing 4 counties and 180 enumerators in north central Pennsylvania.

1900 Census for Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania
Augustus L. Merrill, Enumerator (image from Ancestry)

What did it take to be an enumerator?

A. L. Merrill Opens Office, Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 16 Nov 1909,
page 4, column 6, digital image newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com), accessed 12 Feb 2015

I found a fairly lengthy article that describes the application process. These applications would be wonderful genealogy finds... if they still exist. Does anyone know?

Here's the article which is also from the newspaper, Williamsport Sun-Gazette. This one is dated 14 Jan 1910 on page 8 in column 3. It can also be found on newspapers.com.

CENSUS TAKERS [3 UNREADABLE WORDS]

Blank Applications May Be Obtained from Supervisor A. L. Merrill, Lock Haven – Tests Are Not to Be Difficult - What Is Expected of Enumerators

Census Supervisor A. L. Merrill's office is at Lock Haven, has received from the Census Bureau a supply of blank applications for persons applying for positions as census enumerators. These will be forwarded to his list of applicants as soon as possible.

The applications, properly filled out, supervisor Merrill writes to the Gazette and Bulletin, must be returned to the Supervisor not later than January 31, the Census Director having extended the time for filing from January 25, which was the date first set for closing the consideration applications. The test will occur February 5, as previously announced.

The instructions printed on the application form states that a definite answer is required to each of the questions, which are:

“Are you a citizen of United States? If naturalized citizen, when and where were you naturalized?

“Of what State or Territory are you a legal resident? How long have you been a legal resident thereof? Of what county and of what town or city or ward are you a resident? How long have you been a resident thereof?

“What is your sex and color? What was your age at last birthday? Where were you born?

“What is your education? (Give the principal facts.)

“What is your professional or business experience? (Give the principal facts and, if at present an officeholder, name the office you hold.

“Have you ever been employed on census work, either national or state? If so, in what capacity and for how long a period? If an enumerator, for what territory or desk district? (Described as accurately as possible.)

“Are you physically capable of a full discharge of the duties of the Census enumerator? Have you any defect of either sight, hearing, speech, or limb? If so, state nature of defect.

“Do you speak English? Do you understand and speak any language other than English? If so, what language? (Specify languages spoken, as Bohemian, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Luthianian, Magyar, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slavic, Spanish, Yiddish, etc.)

“Are you a member of a political committee of any party? (Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ but do not indicate what party.

“In view of the fact that you may be required to take a test before postmaster, state what post office would be most convenient to you for this purpose. (This test is a practical character, consisting chiefly or holding a filling out a sample schedule of population from information furnished regarding typical families, and in the case of enumerators whose work will be in rural districts, the filling out of a sample schedule of agriculture.)

“Are the answers to each of the foregoing questions true to the best of your knowledge and believes? Are they in your own handwriting?

Indorsements [sic] of each applicant must be secured from two representative citizens of the community in which the applicant resides. They must be at least 21 years of age and acquainted with the applicant not less than one year. Indorsements [sic] will not be accepted from any person who is in any way related to an applicant. The indorsement [sic] certifies that the applicant is a thoroughly trustworthy and honest person, of good habits, and, in my opinion, is fully capable of discharging the duties of a census and numerator, if appointed.

Too quiet any qualms relative to the “test” of the qualifications of applicants, to be made February 5, the supervisor has obtained some information from the census director concerning the test of twelfth census enumerators. It has been officially stated that the 1910 “test” will be very similar to the one in the preceding census and will consist in requiring applicants to fill sample schedules from printed narratives concerning census facts. As the rural enumerators are to carry both the population and agricultural schedule, they will be “tested” with samples of both, but the city enumerators, who carry a population schedule alone, will only be required to prove their ability by filling a sample of that schedule.

My Great, Great Grandmother Threw Up WHAT?!?

My great, great grandmother, Sarah Jane (Eastwood) Merrill, had evidently been ill for five years when a "marked change in her condition" took place. What was her very strange ailment? And, what occurred to make her feel better? Here's the brief article I found:

50 Years Ago, The Express, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 20 Jul 1967,
page 1, column 4, digital image newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com), accessed 12 Feb 2015

After five years' illness, Mrs. A. L. Merrill was making good progress towards recovery. A marked change in her condition being after an attack of nausea, when she emitted an object which it was believed was a lizard...

A lizard? I don't think so.

What about a snake? No, probably not. But, I shared another story from 1885 where a man supposedly threw up 'snakes' several times. They thought it was because he accidentally swallowed snake eggs while drinking from a spring.

Snakes? I don't think so.

In this case, it was probably some kind of parasite, right? Perhaps a tape worm?

But, what about my great, great grandmother and the lizard?

I found another story about a woman vomiting up a lizard. And, this article at "Unexplained Research" describes the lizard: The lizard, if it is such, is light brown in appearance and is somewhat translucent. It is the opinion of Mrs. Sieger that her mother accidentally swallowed the lizard in some water when it was very small, and that it had grown in her stomach to its present length of six inches.

I'm pretty sure both of these "lizards" had to be some kind of parasite. I did some research trying to determine what kind of parasite might be mistaken for a lizard. So far, I haven't found anything.

This event must have been traumatic for my great, great grandmother who was almost 70 at the time. And disturbing those around her. As for me? I'm hoping I don't have nightmares tonight... not only from her story but from looking at photos of parasites. Gross!

Do we have ancestors in common? If so, I'd love to talk! Please email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

What Can a Surname Used as a Middle Name Tell Us?

In my research, I've found three situations when a surname is used as a middle name.

1. HONORING A FAMOUS PERSON (usually political)

Examples from my tree:
George Washington Young, Thomas Jefferson Decker, Ulysess Grant Burton & James Madison Randolph

2. HONORING SURNAMES OF THE PAST

Examples from my tree:
My father's middle name is his great, great grandmother's last name. My brother was given the same middle name. My sister-in-law gave her son our beloved grandparent's last name (though in this instance it's his first, not middle, name)

3. HONORING THE MOTHER OR A GRANDPARENT

Examples of mothers' surnames from my tree:
James Eastwood Merrill's mother was Sarah Jane Eastwood
Andrew McClintock Stewart's mother was Catharine Jane McClintock
John Quiggle Stewart's mother was Frances Quigley
Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger's mother was Mary "Polly" Randolph

Examples of grandmothers' surnames from my tree:
Bessie Waldron Merrill's paternal grandmother was Nancy Waldron
Charles Close McClintock's paternal grandmother was Julia Ann "July" Close

And, this leads me to my current research challenge. I've struggled to determine my great, great grandfather's middle name for more than 10 years. He usually goes by Augustus L Merrill (1848-1920 in PA). I only had one document, his Social Security application, that actually showed his name. But, I wasn't sure what it said. The best I could come up with was Lippendst.. which isn't even a name!

Augustus' full name from Social Security application which for years I'd read as Lippensdt

But, when I went to my aunt & uncle's house in October, I saw my father's baby book. In it, my grandmother had filled in a family tree! And, there is his middle name! Once again I'm having some trouble with it. It looks like Lippencott or Lippensott.

Augustus full name from my father's baby book - probably written by his mother

Looking in Pennsylvania, where this family lived, I see that there is a surname of Lippencott! I already have Augustus' paternal grandmother, Eleanor Smith. And, his mother was Nancy Waldron. But, I don't have any information on her parents. Was her mother a Lippencott? I think I need to seriously consider this possibility.

One other question... when you are looking at these older generations (at least before the 1900's), have you ever found a surname as a middle name and there was not a connection? Could it just have been a family friend's name? I'm hoping this is truly  another surname in my family, but for now I'll just use it as a clue.

Another tip: This is a good reason to track the siblings of your ancestor, too! You never know where you might find a middle name that turns out to be the clue you need!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Two Degrees of Separation

Randy has posted his latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge on GeneaMusings. This week's challenge is titled "Two Degrees of Separation." Here's the assignment:

1. Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation? That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor." When was that second ancestor born?
2. Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus.

Randy broke his down by line, so I thought I would, too.

1. My STEWART line: I met my grandfather, James Edward STEWART (1910-1972). He would've known his grandparents Augustus L MERRILL (1848-1920) & Sarah Jane (EASTWOOD) MERRILL (1848-1923) as they all lived in Pennsylvania.
2. My PETERS line: I knew my grandmother, Hazel Lucille (PETERS) STEWART (1910-1975). She lived in the same small town as her grandfather, Josiah Randolph COPPENBARGER (1844-1934).
3. My KAECHLE line: I knew my grandfather, Sherman Joseph KAECHLE (1907-1987). His great grandmother, Marya "Mary Ann" (REUTER) KARBACK (1825-1914) lived until he was about 7 years old. He lived in Detroit, Michigan while she lived in Huron, Ohio. They are only 120 miles apart so I am pretty sure they would have met.
4. My DICKSON line: I knew my grandmother, Ethel Evelyn (DICKSON) KAECHLE (1915-2004). She was raised by her grandmother, Sallie Harriet (DICKSON) WARD (1860-1960) who lived to be 99 years old. 

Mary Ann (Reuter) Koerbach/Karbach's death certificate from FamilySearch

So, my 'oldest' family member that I can connect to by two degrees of separation is: Marya "Mary Ann" (Reuter) Karback/Koerback who was born on the 4th of May 4th 1825 in Germany in about 1850. I wrote about Mary Ann in a post titled "Aged Woman Answers Summons."

What I find most interesting about this challenge is this: my grandmother only died in 2004 and probably at least knew about her great grandmother if she didn't actually know her. What could she have told me that I didn't know to ask? It's a great reminder to talk to the oldest living members of our families!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Genealogy Fun - 16 Great-Great-Grands

Carrie at Under the Nut Tree Genealogy participated in an 'old' Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posted at Genea-Musings by Randy. The title is "Your 16 Great-Great-Grands." I thought it sounded like a great activity, so I'm going to participate, too.

Here are the steps:

1. List your 16 great-great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
2. Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
3. Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).
4. If you don't know all 16 of your great-great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.
5. Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

My results:

1. Alexander STEWART (1852-1922) born in Pennsylvania - mixture of German/Irish/French
2. Catharine Jane McCLINTOCK/McCLINTICK (1852-1929) born in Pennsylvania - some German
3. Augustus L MERRILL (1848-1920) born in Pennsylvania - unknown
4. Sarah Jane EASTWOOD (1848-1923) born in England - English
5. Charles PETERS (1847-1910) born in Germany - German
6. Guntherine Fredericka WERTHER (1847-1888) born in Germany - German
7. Josiah Randolph COPPENBARGER (1844-1934) born in Illinois - primarily German
8. Elizabeth BENNETT (1849-1914) born in Missouri - unknown
9. Rheinhard KAECHLE (1844-1900) born in Germany - German
10. Mary Magdalena "Lena" KARBACH/KOERBACH (1848-1938) born in Germany - German
11. Francis "Frank" ADAM (1826-1902) born in Germany - German
12. Francesca "Frances" HOLTHOEFER (1833-1907) born in Germany - German
13. James B DICKSON (1840-1902) born in Tennessee - unknown
14. Elizabeth Ann BOYERS (1842-1882) born in Mississippi - unknown
15. Reuben Houston WARD (1859-1906) born in Tennessee - unknown
16. Sallie Harried DICKSON (1860-1960) born in Tennessee - unknown

My "nationalities" from my great-great-grandparent are:
7 German
1 English
8 unknown (with a little more German, Irish & French thrown in).

My calculated percentages are:
44% German
6% English
50 % unknown (with a small portion of that being Irish & French)

Strangely, my DNA results show:
35% Scandinavian (which could include German)
30% Irish (which could include French & English)
20% Western European (which could include German & English)
10% Italy/Greece (which could include French)

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net