One of the challenges faced by anyone who does serious research into their roots is, literally, finding out where the bodies are buried. Since public records were not required in most places until the early part of the 1900's, finding early ancestors can be quite difficult, and the best resource will usually be any church records that might exist for the time in question.
In the case of my Reber and Hiester ancestors, I've been relatively lucky in that many of them can be found in some of the better documented churches. Closson Press, out of Apollo, PA, has printed a fair number of books covering some of these early churches and their books are very reasonably priced. In 1995, they published a two-volume set called Collected Church Records of Berks County, which includes records from Altalaha Evangelical Lutheran, St. Pauls's (Smoke), St. Michael's Reformed, Moselem Lutheran, St John's (Hains) and Zion (Blue Mountain). In most cases, the baptism records include the name of the sponsors for the child, which are often the grandparents or a sibling of one of the parents, providing a valuable clue to the rest of the family.
With my Hiester lines, the main churches of interest are Bern, Hains and Zion's, but the lines are still not clear in some cases. For example, I know from his obituary that my great-grandfather was buried at the Hains church, but his father was at Bern, so I suspect many of the other early members of that line will turn up at Bern church as well, and hence, the road trip I am planning.
Showing posts with label Hiester. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiester. Show all posts
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Time for a road trip
Every now and then, I get to a point in my research that I need some better information. That time has come again now. Luckily the two main places that I want to go are relatively close to each other, just outside of Reading in Berks county, PA.
The first of these is the old Bern churchyard along the Bernville Road, where the largest number of my Hiester ancestors are buried. There are also a lot of Rebers buried at Bern, so the trip to Bern will serve two purposes.
The second stop will be St John's near Wernersville, AKA Hains Church. According to his obituary, my great-grandfather, Adam Reber Hiester was buried here. Adam was one of the toughest of my early stumbling blocks in my Hiester research so it will be nice to have him finally located. For whatever reason, Adam and his wife, Ellen or Laura, were not part of the regular family visits when I was a kid, and though I was really too young to remember them at all, my mother had told me years ago that he was a difficult man. I gathered that my grandfather did not choose to spend much time with his father in later years.
If time permits, I'd also like to get up to the Pagoda and take a few shots, as it was always a neat sight in my visits to Reading as a kid and I haven't been up there in years. Now if the weather will just cooperate a bit...
Looking at Mapquest, it might actually make sense to combine one more location into my trip, St. Paul's (Summer Hill) near Auburn in Schuylkill county, where some of the early Rebers from the Johan Leonardt side are buried. Mapquest says it's just short of two and a half hours, by going up Rte 15 from Taneytown and heading east from Harrisburg. If so, that's not much longer than it would be to go straight to Reading. If I do it that way, I would hit Summer Hill first, and then come down 183 to Bern and finish at Hains. It would for a pretty long day, but it would save me making a separate trip later to Summer Hill.
The first of these is the old Bern churchyard along the Bernville Road, where the largest number of my Hiester ancestors are buried. There are also a lot of Rebers buried at Bern, so the trip to Bern will serve two purposes.
The second stop will be St John's near Wernersville, AKA Hains Church. According to his obituary, my great-grandfather, Adam Reber Hiester was buried here. Adam was one of the toughest of my early stumbling blocks in my Hiester research so it will be nice to have him finally located. For whatever reason, Adam and his wife, Ellen or Laura, were not part of the regular family visits when I was a kid, and though I was really too young to remember them at all, my mother had told me years ago that he was a difficult man. I gathered that my grandfather did not choose to spend much time with his father in later years.
If time permits, I'd also like to get up to the Pagoda and take a few shots, as it was always a neat sight in my visits to Reading as a kid and I haven't been up there in years. Now if the weather will just cooperate a bit...
Looking at Mapquest, it might actually make sense to combine one more location into my trip, St. Paul's (Summer Hill) near Auburn in Schuylkill county, where some of the early Rebers from the Johan Leonardt side are buried. Mapquest says it's just short of two and a half hours, by going up Rte 15 from Taneytown and heading east from Harrisburg. If so, that's not much longer than it would be to go straight to Reading. If I do it that way, I would hit Summer Hill first, and then come down 183 to Bern and finish at Hains. It would for a pretty long day, but it would save me making a separate trip later to Summer Hill.
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