Recent Books

/ RECENT BOOKS * THE JACOBY FAMILY GENEALOGY, a Record of the Descendants of the Pioneer Peter Jacoby of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. By Henry Sylves¬ ter Jaeoby of Bethlehem. Lancaster, 1930. Quarto, cloth, pp. x -J- 667. Committee on Publication: Clark E. Jaeoby, Chairman, Kansas City, Mo.; Clinton B. Jacoby, Secretary-Treasurer, Bethlehem. The most critical reviewer could give but commendation to this admir¬ able production. It is a model of its kind and as such might well be examined to advantage by those considering the preparation and publica¬ tion of a family history. As an elaborate record of a Pennsylvania Ger¬ man settler and his progeny the book is a real contribution not alone to genealogy, but also to the varied ethnic history of Pennsylvania. The immigrant progenitor of the Family was Peter Jacoby who, with his wife, Maria Elizabeth Heuer, and probably two young children, arrived from Germany at Philadelphia, September 26, 1741, in the Ship St. Mark. They settled in the northern part of Bucks County in Heacock Township, near Tohickon Creek, an affluent of Delaware River, where they died, he in 1761, she in 1790, and were buried in Tohickon Reformed Churchyard. To this couple were born five children. The bulk of the volume comprises the record of thousands of descendants of these child¬ ren with concise particularity and a commendable interweaving of his¬ torical fact and allied family information. Preceding these data, how¬ ever, are interesting and useful chapters on genealogical systems of arrangement, the value of genealogy with citations, dates of eounty organization and like historical explanation, along with accounts of the Pennsylvania Germans and of the Covenanters,' or Seotch-Irish. A bibliography of the Pennsylvania Germans, with comment, also is in¬ cluded. In addition to the full index an unusual feature is the lineage charts, or tables of relationships, covering forty-three pages. The Jacoby Family is fortunate in having as its historian a man of the blood, with scientific training and long experience. A graduate in engineering from Lehigh University; for many years Professor of that subject at Cornell, and the author of engineering works, he has brought to his large task the spirit and method of his profession and has kept at it with unwavering interest for over a half century. The excellence of the result is due to him and he cannot but look with satisfaction upon the culmination of his labors. The book is a credit to all concerned and placed upon the shelves of public and private libraries will be an exemplification of the standing in the community of the Jacoby Family.— Albert Cook Myers. HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OP THE REED FAMILY, JOHANN PHILIB (PHILLIP) REED, AN EARLY SETTLER or SALFORD TOWNSHIP, PHILA¬ DELPHIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, by W. H. Reed, M.D., 1929. Quarto, cloth, illustrated, subject and name index, pp. 529. * By members of, or contributors to the Society, or relating to Pennsylvania. fQO\ Recent Boohs. 93 Johann Phillip Ried (1698-1783) and his wife, Veroniea Berekysin (1702-1792), came from Manheim, Germany to Pennsylvania, in 1727. They settled in Salford, later Marlborough Township, Philadelphia County and both are buried in the new Goshenhoppen Reformed Church¬ yard, at Upper Hanover township, Montgomery County. The descend¬ ants of their eight children are fully given, with intermarriages in the families Arndt, Dickensehied, Eberhard, Kooken, Welker and Wink. The name is indifferently written Reith, Reidt, Ritt, Bit, Riidt, but generally the descendants of the pioneer have used the spelling Reed. This is an excellent compilation, showing much intelligent research. THE HISTORY or MIFFLINBURG, 1792-1927, compiled by Charles Marlyn Steese, Lewisburg, Penna., 1929. 35 pp., Supplemented by appendices A. B. C., pp. 17. Appendix A contains: Baptismal Records of the Elias Church, Mifflinburg, 1796-1826, translated from the German. Appendix B: Oldest Tombstone Inscriptions in the Graveyard of Mifflinburg, 1823, et. seq. Appendix C: Portions of the Marriage Records of Rev. J. G. Amspach. Translated from the German, 1831-1850. To the latter the following note is appended: The compiler, C. M. Steese was unable to translate the entire marriage records because of the faded condition of the handwriting. The foregoing comprises that portion of the records which were legible. LINCOLN, PEARCE, PORTER, AYER AND RELATED FAMILIES.— Printed for By The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1930. Octavo, cloth, pp. 322, ills. 17, por. 34. This well printed memorial volume contains sketches of Some Descend¬ ants of Stephen Lincoln of Wymondham, England ; Edward Larkin from England; Thomas Oliver of Bristol, England; Michael Pearce of London, England ; Robert Wheaton of Swansea, Wales ; George BurriU of Boston, England; John Porter of Dorset, England; John Ayer of Norwich, Eng¬ land, and Notes of Related Families. The many illustrations of homes and personal sketches with portraits of those who lived in them make this collection of genealogical lines a well worth-while and very human document. William Ensign Lincoln, Pittsburgh, Penna. WILSON AND ALLIED FAMILIES. Compiled by Alfred Rudulph Justice, 1929. Octavo, cloth, pp. 179, ills. William Wilson, the progenitor of the Wilson surname herein traced, emigrated from Stewardstown, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1732, when nineteen years of age and settled in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. To him and his wife, Hannah Hart, eleven children were born whose descendants are well traced. The Allied Families include Billew of Normandy; Britton; Dubois; Longshore of Lancashire; Polhemus; Sebring and Stillwell. Numerous copies of old letters, citations to original records, and a good index add intrinsic value to the interesting work. THE FAMILIES OF JOSHUA WILLIAMS OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA., and JOETN MCKEEHAN OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PA., with SOME ALLIED FAMILIES, compiled by Bessie P. Douglas, 1928. Octavo, cloth, boxed, well illustrated and indexed, pp. 476, not including index. 94 Recent Boohs. Joshua Williams was in Chester County as early as 1764. His descend¬ ants are well traced to the present. John McKeehan was in Cumberland County in 1765 and died in 1783. His descendants are also traced to the present. The Allied Families are: Campbell, Cloyd, Dungan, Hud¬ son, Latham, McBride, Patterson and others. This is well arranged, well written and readable, as well as a valuable compilation. A GENEALOGICAL CHART OF THE PENROSE FAMILY, by George H. Pen¬ rose. Octavo, cloth, pp. 19, with large chart in pocket on back cover. The chart gives nine generations of the family; the pages of the book, additions and corrections to the HISTORY OF THE PENROSE FAMILY OF PHILADELPHIA printed in 1903, and compiled by the late J. Granville Leach of Philadelphia. A most excellent supplement. HISTORY OF A DISTINCTIVE FAMILY OF SCRANTON AND LACKAWANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, by S. Fletcher Weyburn, 1929. Octavo, paper, pp. 31, illustrated, por. 7. This is a brief account of the descendants of Rev. George Peck, D.D., one of the five sons of Luther Peck of Middlefield Center, Otsego County, New York, all of whom were ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. To the Rev. George Peck (1797-1876), noted author and outstanding apostle of Methodism, Northeastern Pennsylvania is indebted for much of its early religious development. His first sermon in Wyoming Valley was preached at Forty Fort, in 1818. The work is dedicated to a grandson of the former, William Henry Peck, the widely known banker and horticulturist of Scranton, vicepresident of the Lackawanna Historical Society. THE INSTRUCTION FOR JOHAN PBINTZ, GOVERNOR OF NEW SWEDEN. The First Constitution or Supreme Law of the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. ” Translated from the Swedish with Introduction, Notes and Appendices, Including Letters from Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts, and Minutes of Courts, Sitting in New Sweden. By Amandus Johnson. With a special Introduction by John Frederick Lewis, President of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Phila¬ xvi _|_ i, ills. 20, por. 6, map delphia, 1930. Octavo, cloth, pp. 287 of New Sweden 1638-1655, frontispiece Printz eoat-of-arms. This handsome volume, bound in Sweden's colors, with the armorial ensigns of Governor Printz blazoned in gold on the blue eover, is at once a delight to the bibliophile, a tribute to the knowledge of Dr. Johnson, its author, and an outstanding testimony to the generosity and far¬ sightedness of the Swedish Colonial Society under whose auspices it is published, as well as to the good-fellowship of the scholars who have aided in its preparation. il