We are still here because we hit the motherlode of family history stuff today... enough to make Deb smile from ear-to-ear... actually she has been giggling all night...
When we arrived at the Ephrata Historical Society this morning it looked like the place was closed but Deb had gone to the wrong building...
She entered and said she would like to do some research on the Daniels and Neidermeyers and the lady said she had come to the right place...
She came out to the car to get me (I did not want to get out until I knew it was the right place because I am suffering with a sever case of Gout in my left big toe and it really is excrutiating to walk right now... just my luck)... when she got back into the library, she heard an older woman talking to her husband about the Daniels...
Deb asked her what she knew about them and she said she knew Dora, Alma, and Tobias very well because she has lived here for 75 of her 79 years... Tobias and Claire are my great-grandparents' (Horace Daniels) brother and sister-in-law and Dora and Alma were his daughters (Grandma Tradup's cousins)...
I got out my recorder while she told us information about them... she told where to find their home, which is still there (I will find it tomorrow and take photos).
She left and another man came into the library to do some research and overheard us talking about the Adams' line who are connected to our line through Sarah (Price) Adams, daughter of George and Amanda Price (my great-great-grandparents) who were also the parents of my great-grandmother Mary Ann (Price) Daniels, wife of Horace Daniels... Confused yet?
Anyway, he had his entire genealogy database with him on his laptop (52,000 names), and allowed me to created a GEDCOM file of the data BECAUSE we discovered that he was also related to a branch of the Adams'... I could not believe it... it will save us a ton of typing Joy!
I am not sure he realized he was giving me the entire database because he had never created a GEDCOM... I explained to him how a GEDCOM works and that I was one of the programmers that originally developed the technology back in 1983... anyway, he is having a 112 volume set of books containing all of the data at a cost of $10,000... I think I just got it all for free!
Deb and I am convinced that we are not here at this time by accident...
We found maps and photos showing where many of their houses were in 1899 in a book that was just published... We were able to purchase a book that contains all of the cemetery records for the cemetery where George and Amanda and many Adams' are buried, which was published two months ago!
Pennsylvania did not keep marriage records before the 1900's... but we found a personal diary of a Reverand John Jacob Strine, which listed all of the 4500+ marriages he performed between 1815 and 1870... he died in March of 1870 and he performed the marriage of George and Amanda Price on Jan 25, 1870... one of the very last one he ever performed!
Deb found many newspaper articles and obituaries of many of the family members... In all, it was a very good genealogical research day... Deb is sitting in on the hotel bed just giggling with piles of copies spread all around... Deb said that every item on her list of things she had planned on doing today got checked off PLUS many more things she did not plan on were found!
I have to admit, today was pretty cool and I think I have been bitten by the family history bug!
Tomorrow, we are going to church in Lancaster, then we will go find the houses and the cemetery headstones and take photos... we are also planning on visiting a museum in Ephrata that is putting on a special musical presentation in German to celebrate the 275th anniversary of the founding of Ephrata this weekend.
Monday, we plan on visiting the courthouse in Lancaster, then... we should be on our way to Kentucky.
There was no pictures today because we did not know if photos of old maps would be that interesting... I did get a picture of Alma who was a famous school teacher and principal here... Everyone said she was an amazing teacher, which was verified by another couple who came into the library today... If you want to see her photo, leave me a comment and I will put it up... right now, I am going to go ice my toe!
Scotty
