Genealogical Vacation!

In case you haven't noticed, I tend to post to procrastinate. What better time to procrastinate than during the week when you you go on vacation and your trip is bumped up leaving you less time to clean and pack etc. I was supposed to leave Friday morning 6am.... unfortunately Tropical Storm Irene had other plans. So my mom and I are going to try and leave Thursday morning.

Moving right along... my trip is to Pennsylvania and, whilst enjoying good food, amusement parks, and family, I want to do at least an itty bitty tiny bit of research. Ok mostly cemetery photography. All of these cemeteries are in Northumberland County. Here is a list of the ones I plan/ hope to visit:

Shamokin Cemetery
Saint Stanislaus Cemetery
Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery
Pine Hill Cemetery
All Saints Cemetery
Jacob's Church Cemetery

Two extras are Rush Presbyterian/ Baptist Cemetery and the Lantz Emmanuel Cemetery.

Now, time to do a public service. This is for anyone looking for any of the sixty some people buried at the Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery. If you've googled it, like me, you will find... nothing. at all. except maybe this blog post and findagrave.com which does not help. Fear not! For I have discovered where it is!

After endless google results coming up empty, I got the bright idea... Hey! Why not check ancestry.com's message boards! It seemed so obvious. So here it is.

Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery is located 2.5 miles outside of Elysburg, Pa. It is off of Snydertown Rd. Traveling down the road you pass an industrial park on the left, keep going. There will be a bible church and semi modern home next to it with a driveway and grove of trees between. The cemetery is apparently in that grove. Lambert Pitner, his wife Elida Farley, and their daughter Nancy Pitner Persing are buried in that cemetery. Not sure who else is, but thats all listed on findagrave.com

When I return I will have more blog posts with the cemeteries and pictures of people buried there. Now I'm not just going to take one picture of the sign and then the headstones. No no, that's not how I work. I'm going to do this as if it were... a crime scene. Hey, I have no job offerings so I have to put my degree to use some how. Crime scene photography includes overall photos, or 360 degree shots, as well as progressive shots from far away, to middle ground, and finally close ups. That way if anyone reading would like to visit those cemeteries they can have specifics instead of just wandering blindly. Eventually the photos will go on to findagrave.com but this is quicker for now.

This will probably be my last post until after vacation (unless I find something really REALLY exciting and just cannot help myself. Note, any such post will be very short as I am still debating taking my laptop with me and will only have iphone and nook. le gasp!)

(Side note: is genealogical even a word? Or am I just making stuff up? No red spell check line so I assume I'm ok.)

Happy Festivus! (also Lantz family)

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Festivus! Time to put up that aluminum pole, air grievances, and of course, the feats of strength.
And if you don't know what Festivus is... well... thats just sad.

I'm going to try and make the Lantz family as brief as possible. hah. thats a good one.

Ok so David Hauck married Anna Lantz

Anna was born in 1809 and her parents were Magdalena Martz (Mertz) and Samuel Lantz

Samuel's parents were Margaretha Sigfried and Henry Lantz

Henry's parents were Anna Kraybill and John Lantz.

John's parents were Anna Milch and John Lantz.

John's mother was Christina. She was born in 1673 and died in 1732.
Anna Milch's parents were John (1686-1713) and Anna (1682-1744)

I have more information on the Martz/ Mertz family as well as the Sigfried and Kraybill family. It will take up another entry though. A bunch go back to the 1600s, and some into the 1500s. Crazy right? The Sigfried family is pretty interesting. If I'm not mistaken one was in the Revolutionary War and recieved a letter from George Washington. Which I think is pretty cool.

Remember everyone, when you're sitting down to dinner tonight air the grievances. Let people know how they've disappointed you in the past year. Enjoy this Festivus for the rest of us!

Comming soon....

So the Polish side is done, now onto my grandpa's side. The information on that side is overwhelming and still getting updated. By the end of the year I'd like to cover the following surnames: Persing, Hauck, Ship/Schieb, and Lantz.

Heres how the posts are going to go...

My great grandfather Walter Persing b. 1906 to Jacob Persing b. 1799.

Jacob Persing + Elizabeth Ship, all of the Ship/ Schieb line.

Back to Persing, Jacob's parents all the way back.

Next its on to the Hauck's... my great grandmother and a few generations back to Marion, Wilfred, and Henry.

Hauck + Lantz, and Henry back to Jacob b. 1720

Back to Lantz family

Just a general outline of whats to come. I need to stay semi organized. Maybe a post later this week, maybe not depending on homework.

Also, a new member was added to the tree yesterday. My cousin Rudy Marion Persing was born just before 1am on 11/8/10 8 lbs 8 oz 20 ish inches long. He looks exactly like my pap!