Book Reviews

Book Reviews Eighteenth Century Emigrants from the Northern Alsace to America. By Annette Kunselman Burgert, FGSP, FASG. AKB Publications, Myerstovitn, Pa., 1992. 690 pp., index, acid-free paper, clothbound, Smythe sewn. $49.50 plus $4.00 shipping. Pennsylvania residents add 6% sales tax. This volume of European ancestral origins continues a series of publications attempting to locate and identify the village of origin of the many German-speaking settlers who came to the American colonies in the eighteenth century. Although publications have been compiled from information located in European archives, the clandestine emigration was so large that for many who came to America there are no archival records available to document their departure. When Mrs. Burgert locates a familiar name in a German church record, she follows a series of research steps that trace the person's movement and enable her to document additional information: The family name's disapperance from the German records at a certain date. 2. The family name's appearance in Pennsylvania records or in the existing ship passenger lists about the same time. 3. For family names located in the ship lists, arrival with other families from the same village or general area. 4. Supporting evidence from Pennsylvania records, showing association with other families from the same European area, a coinciding date of birth, a corresponding list of children, a wife with the same given name as that found in the German records. Tying this information together is not easy, and it takes a keen, analytical mind, as well as a superb memory, to achieve the results as demonstrated in this work. The format of the book gives the name of the person found in the ship's lists as shown in the Strassburger and Hincke Pennsylvania German Pioneers, the (locum mentation from European Church Books, and the documentation found in Pennsylvania. The area covered in this study comprises the northwestern portion that is today known as Alsace Bossue (in German, Krum 73 74 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine rnes Elsass), located in the northern part of the Departement of Bas-Rhin in France, covering less than one-third of present day Alsace. This book has three appendices, one covering emigrants from Saarwerden County, another a correction to a list originally pubfished in the Pennsylvania Magazine ofHistory and Biography, 33, (no. 4, 1909), reprinted in Emigrants to Pennsylvania, by Michael Tepper. The third lists some possible immigrants for whom sufficient data has not been located to verify their emigration. Two indexes are included, one an index to the ship and the year of arrival, and the other a full name index of every name appearing in the text. There is a preface, list of abbreviations, introduction, short citations, annotations, and glossary. This book has been selected as Volume 26 in its series by the Pennsylvania German Society. With the some 628 families documented in this volume, Annette Kunselinan Burgert has continued her phenomenal job of finding our emigrant ancestors. While some of us are happy to find one or two of our ancestors in German-speaking countries, Mrs. Burgert has located the place of origin of some ten thousand emigrants. All in all a splendid job, and we can't wait for the next book! Jane Adams Clarke Newspaper Abstracts of Frederick County, 1811-1815. Compiled by F. Edward Wright. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md., 1992. 166 pp., index, paper. $14.50 plus $2.00 shipping. This book is based upon the microfilm collection of the Maryland Historical Society and features extracts from six early nineteenth-century newspapers of that state. The reader will find liveliness and variety in the news items mentioned, each of which is personalized with the name of the principal person involved. No births are listed, but the volume contains many marriages and death notices. Property sales and estate settlements can also be found, as well as political appointments for such offices as constable and justice of the peace. There is militia news in the form of troop movements and rewards for finding deserters (during the War of 1812). Also included are notices of missing livestock and pets, as well as stray cows and horses being "taken up" by receptive citizens. Book Reviews 75 Frequent references to the slavery that prevailed in the early nineteenth century strike a somber note. Negroes are listed for sale. Rewards are offered for runaways, with mention of the age and height of the fugitive& There is also news of captured runaways being committed to jail. This book effectively mirrors the lives of these colonial people in Maryland. John A. Baird, jr. German-English Genealogical Dictionary. By Ernest Thode. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1993. 286 pp., paper. $29.95 plus $3.00 shipping. For someone who knows little or no German, this book is indispensable. The words, symbols, and abbreviations noted in church records, civil registration records, family correspondence, ships' passenger lists, and emigration records have been chosen on the basis of their association with genealogy. Included in this book are the German alphabet with script variations, German genealogical terms, genealogical symbols, surnames, occupations, a map of Germany (18714918), and a key to German dialect pronunciations. This volume should, of course, be used in conjunction with a standard German English dictionary, but it is an easy-tomuse book recommended for everyone doing German research. Jane Adams Clarke The Diaries of Margaret Scholl Hood, 1851-1861. Edited by Rose Barquist, Mary Frear Keeler, and Ann Lebherz. Picton Press, Camden, Maine, 1992. 480 pp., paper. $25.00 plus shipping. Born 7 July 1833, Margaret Scholl Hood was the only child of Daniel Scholl and Margaret Thomas Scholl. After completing her education at the Frederick Female Seminary in 1849, she lived with her parents at Manchester Farm in Frederick, marrying only after their death in 1873. During the years 1851 to 1861, Margaret Scholl kept a series of diaries. These diaries were found in 1983 by Judy Proffitt, curator of the Historical Society of Frederick County, Inc. 76 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Margaret Scholl Hood's diary entries let the reader experience the daysto-day life of a young woman of some means in the mid-lffth century---not as the memories of an old woman upon reflection, but as the experiences happened. At times the book drags, as life sometimes does. By 1861 each eniry consists of only a few words. The reader should continue, however, for the insight gained is worth the effort. The final entry makes the reader wish that the diaries had continued. It reads: "July 19, 21st [18613 Battles at Bull's Run." Susan Slitters Koelble Quaker Records of Southern Maryland, 1658 1800. By Henry C. Peden, jr. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md., 1992, vi plus 116 pp., index, paper. $10.00 plus $2.00 shipping. A full generation before Friends were writing minutes and recording vital records in Philadelphia, Quakers in Lord Baltimore's Maryland Colony were doing so in several well-established meetings in southern Maryland. Having earlier written Early Anglican Church Records of Cecil County, Henry C. Peden, Jr., has similarly compiled births, deaths, marriages, and abstracts from the minutes of meetings. The current volume constitutes the Monthly Meetings of West River, Cliffs, and Sandy Spring. This book is another boon to genealogical research. A map showing the location these meetings, an informative foreward, and a large-print index are included in this low-cost paperback. Aubrey H. Baldwin, HI Pennsylvania Line: A Research Guide to Pennsylvania Genealogy and Local History. Compiled by William L. Iscrupe and Shirley G. M. Iscrupe. Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, Laughlintown, Pa., (4th edition) 1990. 376 pp., index, maps, paper. $10.50 postpaid. This collection of historical facts about Pennsylvania is a very helpful book, containing a considerable amount of useful information for genealogical researchers: a chart covering Pennsylvania's sbcty-seven county courthouses, giving formation dates, parent counties, hours of operation, and photocopy costs; a listing of 9,000 villages, towns, and railroad stops (including population Book Reviews 77 figures) in existence at the turn-of-the-century, as well as the county and township in which each was located; an alphabetical listing of Pennsylvania's 1,500 townships, including the county in which each is located, the year formed, and the township from which it was created; maps showing the formation of Pennsylvania's 67 counties in an easytowunderstand format; individual maps of each of the commonwealth's counties, showing locations and township boundaries; and a list of some of Pennsylvania's genealogical and historical societies. This useful little book even provides a list of turn-of-thecentury rivers, creeks, and runs, giving the stream into which each flowed and the county in which each is located. One word of caution: The lists of townships contain only those currently existing in Pennsylvania. That is, there is no reference whatsoever to "lost" townships such as those townships that origiw nally comprised Philadelphia County but no longer exist. This book also includes adverfisements for its publisher, but it is a good buy for the important historical information it contains. Jane Adams Clarke To Every ThingA Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976. By Bruce Kuklick. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ., 1991. 237 pp., illus., index, cloth. $19.95. University of Pennsylvania professor Bruce Kuklick writes a book about a Philadelphia parcel of real estate and the ballpark which occupied it for sixty-seven years. As the sub-title reveals, however, the account goes far beyond the building and the sport to encompass the city surrounding this home of the Athletics and the Phillies baseball teams. The reader meets many people connected with the teams and the changing neighborhood, including grandstand enthusiasts colloquially called "bugs" and "'cranks." Of particular interest, of course, are the two families so closely connected with the place: the Shibes and the Macks. in a sense, the book becomes the story of their interaction over the years of ownership and control of the famous facility. In the beginning, Benjamin Franklin Shibe, a sports equipment manufacturer, bought control of the Philaelphia Athletics, while Connie Mack managed the team and held a 25 percent interest in IL Kuklick reveals how the partnership "satisfied both men," 78 The Pennsylvania Crenfealogical Magazine worked well for the benefit of the fans, players, neighborhood, and the city. Their sons came into the business to carry on the relationship, although Mack bought control in 1940 and, as "Mr. Baseball," dominated the scene in later years. Despite Mack's dream of creating a perpetual "House of Mack," the author's title underscores the transcience of time and its consequences as Shibe Park came into being, met personal and social needs, flourished, then declined, and finally ceased to be. To Every Thing A Season shows how baseball helped ordinary people construct a meaningful present and past for their lives. John A. Baird, jr. A Quaker Family through Six Generations: The Passmares in America. By Robert Houston Smith. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, N.Y., 1992. vi plus 325 pp., maps, index. $79.95. If you are a Passmore or descendant of this well-known Quaker family and would treasure a definitive family history, this is the book for you. Here the records of entrepreneur William Passmore and his issue through six generations are set forth with meticulous care by Mr. Smith, who is chairman of the department of religious studies at the College of Wooster. The price of the book must be considered modest when the quality and wealth of information packed on each page, the useful maps, the notes, and the index are taken into account. Aubrey H. Baldwin, HI The First Germans in Americas. Edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann. Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Md., 1992. 110 pp., index of names, paper. $13.00 plus shipping. This slim volume brings together three essays, previously published in the early 1890s, which provide details about the earliest German settlers in this country who arrived between 1608 and 1685, before these immigrants established their first permanent settlement in Germantown, Pennsylvania. One chapter identifies by name some of the most prominent Germans in all the colonies. The second section concentrates upon Germans in Virginia, while a third article features a biographical directory of some 180 German settlers in New York. Book Reviews 79 The latter were mostly Lutheran, more law-abiding than the "adventurous elements from Dutch- and French-speaking Netherlands of Europe." Representative names include Dirck Claessen, a potter from Bremen; Nicholas De Meyer from Hamburg, who became mayor of New Amsterdam; jurian Fradel from Moravia, who dealt in tobacco; and Andries Rees of Lippstadt, who was accused of "playing at nine pins on Sunday." The book concludes with an index of close to six hundred names of the first Germans in America. It claims to be "the most extensive" such list ever compiled. Readers should remember, however, that this is a reprint of information originally compiled in the 1890s, and a considerable amount of additional detail about early German settlers and settlements in America has been published since then. Despite this "dated" quality, the book provides interesting background material on the subject. John A. Baird, Jr. Directory of Family Associations. By Elizabeth Petty Bentley. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1991. vi plus 318 pp. $29.95. There are thousands of family name associations and family name publications. Some are hardly more than cousin clubs or family reunion societies. Others furnish genealogical data to members, with varying amounts of documentation. There are quarterly and annual newsletters and magazines, and there are bound books that are published at thirty-year intervals. Quite a few are very stable, active for nearly a century. Also, many lose momentum and vanish in a few years for lack of membership interest. For the family genealogist, these associations can be very helpful, and they are fun, to boot. Even when their information is sparsely documented, they can lead to sources otherwise not dreamed of. For those concerned with a common ancestor, the family researcher can be led back to the immigrant ship. And who can resist a letter addressed to "Dear Cousin Rita" from someone with the same surname living in a far distant state? In her Directory of Family Associations, Elizabeth Petty Bentley has listed about five thousand of these. There are about three times as many organizations shown as appear elsewhere in the genealogical press. A spot check of fifty names in her book shows only thirten in other lists. The researcher is provided with names and 80 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine addresses of contact persons, and usually some indication of the purpose and range of the association is apparent. There are two entries for the surname Hand, for example. One seems to be profesionally operated and publishes the "Hand Family courier." The other calls itself "The Hand Family Reunion" and concerns itself with the "ancestors and descendants of Aaron Hand (ca. 1765-1839) of North Carolina and Jasper County, Indiana" Of course, even if you are following a score of lines, you will exhaust the information contained in this directory in an hour or two. Its appeal is mainly to the family genealogist, not to the professional, and its usefulness is limited to the number of surnames sought out of the five thousand. It is most valuable on the shelves of libraries, where numerous researchers may use it to make not twenty contacts with "cousins," but hundreds and thou sands of contacts. Robert Emmet O'Connor Heirs and Legatees of Caroline County. By Irma Harper. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md., 1989. 67 pp., index, paper. $6.00. Maryland Land Commission records have been abstracted from 1772 to 1884. Especially helpful are the ages of participants. As always noted in Maryland deeds, the names of plantations such as "Bank of Pleasure," "Retalliation," "Parritt's Lookout," "Mulberry Garden," "Deer Skin Ridge," etc.--are interesting, unusual, and perhaps even helpful in genealogical research. The final third of the book consists of abstracts of cases from the Chancery Court Dockets, from which genealogical information has been extracted. The years covered are 1815 to 1863. This is a very helpful little book for anyone interested in this Maryland county and Sussex County in Delaware, which adjoins it. It might have been helpful to researchers working with these geographical areas if the author or the publisher had included the name of the state in the title. Caroline Sparks -- Book Reviews 81 Books in Brief Reviewed by Jane Adams Clarke (JAC) John C. Richards (JCR), and Caroline Sparks (CS) Lists of Inhabitants of Colonial New York Excerpted from the Documental History of the State of New York (1849-51). By Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, with an index by Rosanne Conway. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1989 (orig. publ. 1979). 351 pp., index, cloth. $20.00 plus $2.50 shipping. This book contains census records, tax rate lists, lists of early settlers, rolls of militia, etc., from the earlier O'Callaghan work, published originally without an index. The index provided here is designed to overcome the confusion caused by variations in the spellings of Dutch and German names. The area covered ranges from Albany to New York City and Long Island. The lists are just lists and very little more, but they do indicate the existence and location of many individuals during the Colonial period. For researchers working with immigrants to the New York area during the colonial period, this book can be a useful contribution. JCR - The History ofMaiden, Massachusetts, 1633 1785. By Deloraine Pendre Corey. Heritage Books, Bowie, Md., 1992 (orig. publ. 1898). 2 vols. 870 pp. total, paper, index. $50.00 per set. These two volumes give a thoroughly detailed history of the town of Malden in Massachusetts, beginning with a history of Maidon in County Essex, England. Many of the early pages are devoted to the Indians who lived on the land before the seventy foe proprietors from Charlestown took over. Although there are no genealogies as such, many families are mentioned in the text. Extensive footnotes expand the text The story concludes after the Revolutionary War. A list of the town's soldiers and sailors is provided. The index ends vol. 2, making it necessary to work with both volumes at once. CS 82 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine History of the Pennsylvania Resell* Corps, A complete Record of the Organization and of the Different Companies, Regiments., and Brigades. By J. R Sypher. Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Md., 1991 (orig. publ. 1864). 395 pp., paper. $43.00 plus $3.00 shipping. This reprint chronicles the development of the Civil War and the role of the Pennsylvania men who fought for the Union. JAG Some of The First Settlers of "The Forks of the Delaware" and Their Descendants. By The Reverend Henry Martyn Kieffer, D.D. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md., 1990 (orig. publ. 1902). 477 pp., index, paper. $31.50 postpaid. A translation from the German-language record books of the First Reformed Church of Easton, Pennsylvania, from 1760 to 1852, this reprint includes an index not included in the original edition. JAC Caroline County, 1850 Census. By Debbie Ann Hooper. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md. (n.d.) 101 pp., paper, index. $8.50 plus $2.00 shipping. Contains all the information of the original population schedule. JAG The History of Erie County, Penwylvania, From Its First Settlement. By Laura G. Sanford. Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Md., 1991 (orig. publ. 1861; reprinted 1894). 483 pp., paper, index, illus, maps. $31.00 plus $3.00 shipping. Reprint, including supplement of expanded topics and new information that comprises about one-fourth of the book. JAC Maryland and District of Columbia Volunteers in the Mexican War. Compiled by Charles J. Wells. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md., 1991. 90 pp., paper. $8.50 plus $2.00 shipping. Contains a brief history of the War along with muster rolls and pension information for over 1,300 individuals. JAC