American Boyers


Book Description

Michael Boyer (1690/1700-ca.1761) lived near Richmond, in Fredericksburg in Frederick County, and then in Augusta County, Virginia. He was father to at least twelve children. Descendants and relatives lived in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, and elsewhere. Includes some history of the Association of American Boyers, Inc.







Southeastern Berks County


Book Description

Berks County was established in 1752 from portions of Chester, Lancaster, and Philadelphia Counties, but its early settlers had already left their marks on the area. Southeastern Berks County covers a mythical trip between the villages Oley, Englesville, Exeter, Yellow House, Earlville, Amityville, Douglassville, Pine Forge, Little Oley, Greshville, Moreysville, Boyertown, Gabelsville, Shanesville, and Pleasantville. It examines why people settled here and how they lived, worked, and enjoyed themselves 100 years ago. The trip, taken through the medium of vintage postcards, may be traveled today by car.




Familie Allwein


Book Description

This book—Familie Allwein: Volume III: Western Migrations—is volume three of a series of books about the history of the Allwein family in America, a family descended from an eighteenth-century German immigrant Johannes (Hans) Jacob Allwein and his wife, Catharina. Familie Allwein: Volume III: Western Migrations builds upon earlier volumes of Familie Allwein, which dealt with the Allwein family’s emigration from Germany to America and their settlement in colonial Pennsylvania. The first volume, Familie Allwein—An Early History, set the stage for later volumes. The second volume, Familie Allwein—Journeys in Time and Place, covered Allwein descendants living east of the Allegheny Mountains over the seventy-year period from about 1870 through 1940. Part 1 of Journeys in Time and Place focuses on those families that settled in southeastern Pennsylvania, particularly in Lebanon, Philadelphia, and the Berks Counties. Part 2 of Journeys in Time and Place focuses on those families living in Dauphin, Lancaster, Adams, York, and Blair Counties in south central Pennsylvania. This third volume of Familie Allwein—Western Migrations—covers families who moved to western Pennsylvania and those who migrated farther west. Not only is the present volume an update on the families covered in earlier volumes of Familie Allwein but it also extends the coverage of Allwein families by tracing their paths west—not only to the western counties of Pennsylvania but also to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and places farther west, including California. As in earlier volumes of this series, the author’s careful documentation of all sources and attention to detail make it possible to reproduce his findings and re-examine his conclusions.













Publication


Book Description







Architecture and Artifacts of the Pennsylvania Germans: Constructing Identity in Early America


Book Description

How did a mid-eighteenth-century group, the so-called Pennsylvania Germans, build their cultural identity in the face of ethnic stereotyping, nostalgic ideals, and the views imposed by outside contemporaries? Numerous forces create a group's identity, including the views of outsiders, insiders, and the shaping pressure of religious beliefs, but to understand the process better, we must look to clues from material culture. Cynthia Falk explores the relationship between ethnicity and the buildings, personal belongings, and other cultural artifacts of early Pennsylvania German immigrants and their descendants. Such material culture has been the basis of stereotyping Pennsylvania Germans almost since their arrival. Falk warns us against the typical scholarly overemphasis on Pennsylvania Germans' assimilation into an English way of life. Rather, she demonstrates that more than anything, socioeconomic status and religious affiliation influenced the character of the material culture of Pennsylvania Germans. Her work also shows how early Pennsylvania Germans defined their own identities.