Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

Source:  Deed of Sale from Amos B. Yeager to Jacob Luden, 1855 (filed 2 April 1855), Berks County, Pennsylvania, Deed Grantor 1752-1926, page 2. Recorder of Deeds Office, City of Reading, Pennsylvania. <https://portal2.recordfusion.com/countyweb/disclaimer.do>     In my two previous posts, HERE and HERE , I outlined an intriguing family mystery from my mother's maternal line - specifically involving the LUDEN and YEAGER families of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Nutshelll summary: I have lingering paternity questions about my 3rd great-grandfather, who was born just before my 4th great-grandmother and grandfather divorced.  Until I started working on our family history, I was unaware that my 4th g-grandmother had been previously married (with two children, no less); quite a bombshell discovery.  Autosomal DNA testing is casting some doubt on my 3rd great-grandfather's paternity.  A very complicated mystery indeed! Just last ...

Portrait of Edward Musser Luden,: McAtee, William.  The Members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania and Heads of Departments: Session of 1895 .  Harrisburg, PA: J.H. McFarland Company, Mount Pleasant Printery.  1895.  11 February 2015 https://archive.org/details/portraitsbiograp00mcat Portrait of Frederick Musser Yeager: Yeager, James Martin (1857-).  A Brief History of the Yeager, Buffington, Creighton, Jacobs, Lemon, Hoffman, and Woodside Families and Their Collateral Kindred of Pennsylvania .  Lewistown, PA.  11 February 2015 https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofye00yeag Yesterday, I started the slow, winding description of one of the l argest mysteries in my family tree .   It’s one of those continuing stories over which I have continued to mull over, setting it down for a month or two only to pick it back up again to ascertain whether or not I missed a detail here, a document there. A...

 There is a huge, genealogical elephant in my living room.   Every so often, he nudges me with his trunk, he asks for fresh water, and bats his long eyelashes at me in hopes that I will scratch behind his giant elephant ears. My theory about family history research is that nothing is as cut and dry as it seems at first.   Dig a little deeper – search a few newspaper archives – and you’ll either make your particular research question a) more complicated, or b) exceptionally clear in a way you never expected. By the time I actually his “POST” on this article, I will most likely have re-written it several times.   This elephant is giant.   HUGE.   Effecting the way an entire branch of my family will view its identity – even its surnames.   I’m putting on kid gloves.   But most importantly – I want to outline for my extended family and my future family exactly how I arrived at my present hypothesis.   I feel deeply convicted that ...

This month, I have been spending the majority of my research time working through one particular family unit from my mother's side of the family - John (Johann) ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria (Schumacher) ETZEL (1837-1894).  Here are quick links to previous installments - part I (from 2013) , part II , part III , part IV , and part V , and part VI . Research Goal: To locate information about John ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria SCHUMACHER (1837-1894) prior to their listing in the 1860 US Federal Census in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Context: John Etzel  is my 3rd great-grandfather on my mother's maternal side of the family. Happy New Year!  In my last installment of ETZEL research, I outlined the discovery I made concerning the hometown of Johannes Etzel and wife, Maria Schumacher.  A breakthrough!  Just before I stumbled upon the couple's immigration and marriage records, I made another discovery that enabled me to start to link Johannes ...