Pennsylvania German Index

Well, now that I have got this blog started, I guess I had better fill it with something meaningful. About three years ago, I was researching quite a bit in the 1700s in Pennsylvania. Most of this research dealt with German immigrants, a large percentage of Pennsylvania's population at that time. There were quite a few authors (Burgert, Hacker, Yoder, etc.) who had connected German immigrants with passenger lists found in Strassberger and Hinke's book, Pennsylvania German Pioneers and residences in Pennsylvania. Strassberger's book is extremely helpful in locating these particular immigrants and those they travelled with. Often, they travelled in groups from the "old" country and settled close together in the "new" country. Every time I would search for a German family, I would look at about 20-25 books in search of the immigrant and a German place of origin. After about the third or fourth time searching, I started asking other Pennsylvania German researchers about indexes to these various works. I was met with a "wouldn't THAT be nice!" So, out of frustration I began to extract names from these various works, in and out of print, borrowing from friends and colleagues. Thus began the creation of my index. This index now has about 8,400 names and is still growing. I can sort it by name, ship or even place of origin. I hope to be able to publish this in the near future, but it is hard to know when to stop collecting names. By the way, this index has resulted in several breakthroughs on my research as well as in the research of others. This will be my first foray into the world of genealogical publishing. I just hope it isn't too grueling!

My Beginnings as a Genealogist

I guess I have really been "into" family history and research since I was about eight years old. I begin to paw through the old pictures my grandmother had in a box. When I was in high school, I began to be a bit more curious and ventured to ask my grandmother about the people and places in the pictures I had come to memorize. As she told me the stories of relatives being taken by Indians in Kansas and how some of the families travelled from the 'old' country in Germany, I knew I was hooked. My freshman year in college, I had the opportunity to take a Family History class and learn how to find out more about these elusive relatives. It wasn't long before I had others asking me how they could find their relatives. All of this was happening as "Roots" was being shown on TV as an epic drama. Soon, my hobby was "in." Fast forward to the future…my children were growing up and I had gone through several careers in the business world – loan processor, accounts receivable manager and even dabbled for a time as a seamstress and costume designer, but I still had my passion for genealogy! Our family had the chance to move to Utah and I had a chance to visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake on a regular basis. I knew then that I wanted to return to college to pursue this as a profession. I enrolled in BYU and began a 4 year odyssey through classes with students much younger than I. There were days that I wanted to give up, but in the end I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Family History and now enjoy helping others in their searches. Through a series of events, I have been able to research in many different areas of the U.S. as well as Canada, Germany, and France. I love the challenge of the "hunt." I guess I have always liked detective stories and trying to find out whodunit. What I do now, is just a variation on that theme with people that have passed on. Recently I have had the opportunity to apply my research skills to find the living next of kin and loved every minute of the hunt. As I begin this blog, I hope to be able to enlighten others and pass on many of the techniques and helps that others have given me. I recently started my business,"Lineages by Luana" and will be taking my genealogical accreditation exam in the near future. I have had the opportunity to speak at several family history fairs, the Utah Genealogical Association Fall conference and at the ICAPGen conference in Provo, Utah. I hope to be able to hear from others and share what we each have learned through this blog.