Skip to main content

Contact Info

Contact me ...



You can even contact me at LinkedIn!


About Me

I can't recall ever NOT being interested in my family history. Perhaps it was my maternal grandmother who often (like hourly!) announced she was 100% Irish. She herself was about as tall as a leprechaun too! Perhaps it was growing up in Coatesville, which is admittedly a very ethnically proud community, where being Ukrainian was part of our identity. Perhaps it was my being only third generation American on Daddy's side. Perhaps it was mom's aunt (my great grandfather's sister) who used to tell me stories of her family line that just kind of showed up in Chester County! Whatever IT was, I got hooked early.

I got my Journalism degree (a B.A. in Mass Communications) from Lock Haven University (LHU) and those research skills have proved over and over again to be useful in genealogy research.

After college, I married an Eckman from Lancaster County who is descended from the Rev. Hans Herr, and well, the addiction just exploded all over! His mom's side attended Christ Church in Philadelphia!

In addition to tracing our own lines, I also offer my services to others. This has opened up even more records and researches. There is never enough time it seems to cover everything or learn everything. Through my various research I have learned so much history - both American history and that of my ancestral homelands.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

52 Ancestors: Remembering the King

Today is Elvis’ birthday. He would have been 80 today.   I was only eight when he died so obviously I am too young to have seen Elvis perform. However, when I hear his music, I go back in time. I am once again that young girl dancing in the living room to Elvis and other greats with my father. Back then girls learned to dance by dancing with their fathers not some video of scantly dressed people doing all sorts of things young ladies should not be doing in public!      What is YOUR favorite memory - either of your father or of Elvis?   52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a weekly genealogical challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow, of No Story Too Small . Look for my weekly posts each Thursday!   © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015