Genealogical Gems

Jacob Bushong was born on 9 July 1813 and died on 29 May 1880. He is buried at the Bart Friends Meeting on Valley Road in Sadsbury Township , Lancaster County , according to the Gerberich Collection.   Find A Grave also reveals that he was the son of Henry Bushong and Sarah Gilbert. His wife was the former Margaret Hobson. Jacob and Margaret had two children: Henry and Edwin. His biography on the FAG site also states (I can not otherwise confirm or deny this claim at this time) that he was, with several other family members, conductors along the Underground Railroad.   His obituary reads: Jacob Bushong, an old resident of Eden Township , this county, suffered a stroke of paralysis last Wednesday, from the effects of which he died on Saturday, and will be buried tomorrow. He was about seventy years of age; a Hicksite Friend and ardent spiritualist in religion; an old time Abolitionist, Whig and Republican in politics; a farmer and veterinary surgeon by vocatio...

Adam Geist is the new postmaster of Blue Bell On This Day in 1880. Blue Bell is a small village in East Earl Township , Lancaster County .   Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 31 May 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.      On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.              © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Ice remains on the Susquehanna River On This Day in 1881. There remained a bank of ice on the Lancaster side of the Susquehanna River near McCall’s Ferry. The ice is reported to be about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide and five feet think. A personal note: I thought after the harsh winter we had this year (2015), this item may be of interest to some locally!     Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 30 May 1881. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.      On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Evidently it was a slow news day On This Day in 1880. One of the notes – hardly an article – in the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer reported that George Kirchner has a family of opossums that are “very lively and are worth seeing.” George lives on East King Street. A personal note: The article caught my attention, not just because it was silly, but because it mentioned Kirchner. My husband’s great grandmother was a Kirchner. Her father was Johann (John) Kirchner (1821 – 1881). I know very little of John before he married Barbara Kuhn in 1850. I know he lived in Lancaster City and that there were other Kirchners, although I have not connected everyone quite yet.   Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 29 May 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.   On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.          ...

Frank Eckman’s young child was scalded On This Day in 1880. The scalding was severe enough that it was feared the child may not survive the burns. One of the boys had been lifting a kettle of boiling water from the stove in their West Willow (Lancaster County) home and some of the water spilled on another child. The child who was scalded is only two or three years old.   Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 27 May 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.      On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Peter Miller (1838 - 1913) is buried at the Clearfield United Methodist Cemetery in New Providence, Lancaster County . He is buried near his wife, Mary (1836 – 1911).   Peter was born 22 February 1838 to Peter and Elizabeth Hoover Miller. He died 15 February 1913 of exhaustion, according to his death certificate.   Tombstone Tuesday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.   © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

The death of Civil War soldier Simon Goss was reported On This Day in 1881. Goss had served with as a Private in Company F, in the Ninth PA Calvary. He had been wounded at Dandridge, East Tennessee. He died 25 May at his home at Locust Valley , located between Strasburg and Lampeter.  Goss, 42, left a wife, Fannie, and six children. He was buried at the Mennonite burying ground in Strasburg.   Find a Grave however lists his service information as having enlisted in Company K, 10 th Infantry.   Source: Find A Grave. Simon B Goss   Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S. , Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo , UT , USA : Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.    Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 26 May 1881. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.      On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore histor...

It’s Military Monday but I was lost as to who to write about so I searched Stills and found nine Stills listed on a World War II POW site . Two were held by Japan and the rest by Germany . Of the nine, one was a woman!   The nine listed were: Albert T. Still Sr Dorothy Still Edward F Still Eugene H Still Homer E Still Jr Joe T Still John Howard Still Omer G Still Rupert H Still Albert Thomas Still Sr Albert (ser # 34831946) was a Private from Georgia, the son of Thomas Acree and Ella A. Still. He served in the Army, Infantry in the European Theatre France . He was detained by Germany in Stalag 2a Neubrandenburg Mecklenberg 53. Social Security records indicate he was born 2 February 1918. According to U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, Albert enlisted on 18 November 1943 in Fort Mcpherson Atlanta. He was married at the time he enlisted and stated his civil occupation was unskilled oilers of machinery. He ...

Memorial Day is a day we – in the United States (other countries have similar holidays) – set aside to remember our dead. We remember and honor those soldiers who have laid down their lives in service to America . While I have many family members who have served - some willing and some not so much -   in every branch of the Armed Services, there is only one who died in service … my Uncle Paul Kurenda.   Paulie – as my grandmother/his sister always referred to him – died in service during World War II. He was just 22 years old.  He is pictured here with my grandmother, Anna Kurenda Ruczhak. He did not die taking out one of Hitler’s goons. He did not die rescuing cousins he probably never even knew from the horrific concentration camps. He did not on the field in an actual battle. No, he died of tuberculosis.        His death certificate lists his immediate cause of death as being, “Tuberculosis, pulmonary, acute, military, bilateral....

The Grand Army post of Westchester County in New York , On This Day in 1885, issued a protest against certain Memorial Day activities. The post adopted a resolution stating: “We depreciate the use of Memorial Day for other than memorial purposes.”   The resolution also stated that the members of the post felt “the holding of entertainments, festivities and indulging in any kind of athletic sports are desecrations of the solemn holiday, against all of which, in the name of our dead comrades, we solemnly protest.”   On Memorial Day, we recognize, honor and remember the fallen heroes who died in service to our Nation. It is a day of remembrance of those passed.        Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 25 May 1885. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.    Presidential Proclamation - Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2015. White House, Office of the Press Sec...

It was On This Day in 1881 that the Russian city of Pinsk burned. Pinsk was, at that time, located in Minsk and was home to 18,000 residents. During that time period, many Russian cities, towns and villages were burned as the “red rooster” struck out against the Jews of Russia at that time. Pinsk remained part of the Russian Empire until 1915. Today Pinsk is part of Belarus and 130,000 souls call it home. The city itself dates back to 1097.    Source: Jacobs, J., Persecution of the Jews in Russia , 1881. London : Spottiswoode & Co.   Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 24 May 1881. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.   On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Hugh Corcoran was born in Ireland and immigrated to America when he was about 14. His obituary reads: Hugh Corcoran, superintendent of the Lancaster gas company, died at his residence, No. 130 Water Street , yesterday afternoon (17 May 1880), after an illness of considerable duration.   Mr. Corcoran was a native of County Longford , Ireland , and came to America nearly forty years ago. Not long after his arrival in America he was employed by Patrick Brady as a laborer on the New York and Erie railroad, and for a short time subsequently he was engaged in railroad and telegraph work in the South. About 1846 he came to Lancaster , and secured the contract for trenching for the pipes of the Lancaster gas company. On the completion of the gas works he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the process of manufacturing gas, and after being employed for some time in a subordinate position he was chose as superintendent of the gas works, a position he held to the time of...

Samuel H Miller stood trial On This Day in 1882 on the charge of murder! Miller has been charged with the murder of William Gensemer, who was killed on 15 October 1881. Miller pled not guilty. S. H. Reynolds, David McMullen and J. hay Brown, esqs. Represented the defense. District Attorney Davis M. Brosius and J. L. Steinmets, esqs. Represented the Commonwealth.   The murder trial began with the testimony of Dr. Peter O Bleiler, of Denver . He was called out on the evening of 15 October 1881 to attend to Gensemer, who had been shot. Gensemer was found on the pavement in front of Miller’s hotel. The official cause of death was internal hemorrhage from a bullet having entered Gensemer’s throat. Two other physicians were also called to testify.   Clayton H Regar, a friend of Gensemer’s, then testified as to the events leading up to the actual shooting. He claimed they left Eberly’s hotel and heart music at Miller’s. They were deciding if they should go in when Mille...

Recently Crestleaf published a list of 40 Twitter Accounts to follow and included Genealogical Gems (@ GenealogicalGem ) on it! Below is that list. 1. @ALifeTimeLegacy   2. @AmyCrow 3. @AncestryHour 4. @AncestrySleuth 5.  @APHistorians 6. @AreYouMyCousin 7. @BordersAncestry 8. @ClueWagon 9. @DearMyrtle 10. @DHGenealogy 11. @DickEastman 12. @DJoshuaTaylor 13.  @ElkinsValerie 14. @EllisIsland 15.  @GenaOrtega 16. @GeneaBloggers 17.  @GenealogicalGem 18. @GenealogyIsFun 19.  @GlobalReunion15 20.   @HenryLouisGates 21.   @HeritageFamily 22. @HistoryAngels 23. @InDepthGen 24.  @LIGenealogist 25. @LindaEccles2 26. @LisaCooke 27. @LorineMS 28. @LynnPal 29. @LynnsWaffles 30. @MadamAncestry 31.   @Marksology 32. @MJNRootDig 33. @OldPostcards 34. @PhotoDetective 35. @SavorySpotlight 36. @Spurwing_ 37. @THEHeirHunters 38. @Veriss...

  A Pittston miner was killed On This Day in 1882. Thirty-two year old James Dougherty was killed by falling rock. He was employed at the Barnes Shatt. Pittston in located in Luzerne County and played an important role in the mining history of Pennsylvania. Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 22 May 1882. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.    On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

I believe this photo to be that of my Aunt Helen, my grandmother, and my Aunt Jennie. Aunt Helen (Helen Still Webster) and Aunt Jennie (Jeannette Still) are sisters of my great grandfather Pierson G Still. Their brother Lloyd P Still married my grandmother (seated in the middle), Mary Welsh Still. Aunt Helen passed in 1995, at the age of 91. Aunt Jennie passed in 1982, at the age of 94. Yesterday, 20 May, was the anniversary of my grandmother's passing. She passed in 1989, at age 79. May their Memory Be Eternal.

The Philadelphia and Reading coal and iron company announced On This Day in 1880 that it has faltered. The company, announced President Franklin B. Gowen, suspended payments and cannot pay its bills.   As a result of this announcement, stock in the company dropped 16 ½. The company was obliged to pay parties in New York back a borrowed $600,000. The stock recovered appoint or so and ended the day at 23.   The company had been the largest producer of anthracite coal from 1871 through the 1920s in the nation. I ts parent company was the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad.   Source:   Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 21 May 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress. On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015