For those who might be curious, the grandfather clock shown in the picture in the upper right corner of this site did, in fact, belong to my grandfather. However, its history goes back quite a ways beyond just him. The clock is still in the family at my cousin’s house in Wyomissing and they’ve done a bit of research on it. Not having seen the physical clock in years, I was curious about who made the clock as the face design was rather similar to some of the clocks made by Eli Bentley of West Whiteland in Chester county and Taneytown, Maryland. My cousin’s wife was able to tell me that the clock had been made in the early 1800’s by John J. Parry of Philadelphia. As it turns out, John J. Parry was the second cousin, once removed, of Eli Bentley’s wife, Mary Hunter, so perhaps it is not so odd they they had similar styles. Parry was also the nephew of David Rittenhouse, also well-known for his clocks - Parry’s mother was Elizabeth Jacobs, sister of Rittenhouse’s wife Hannah.

Though I don’t know exactly when the clock became part of our family, I do know that it was owned by my great-grandfather, Isaac Gregg Reynolds, who specifically left it to his grandson, my uncle. Apparently there is a tag inside the clock form an antiques dealer from Lancaster county, so it is possible that Isaac or his father David purchased the clock when they lived in Lancaster county. I have to wonder if they knew at the time that there was an indirect family connection as Mary Hunter is a distant cousin - first cousin 7 times removed from me to be precise - as well as being a cousin of John J. Parry.

I’ll be in Wyomissing next weekend, so I will be taking a few pictures of the clock then.

Old newspapers can be a real wealth of knowledge when it comes to finding information about our ancestors and the Google search engine has made that search much easier. Google has a news section that includes archives from many old newspapers including the Reading Eagle, a treasure trove for those of us seeking information about Berks County ancestors. One of the nice features of this search engine is the ability to search results based on the date, broken down first by decade and then by year. You can also limit your search by the actual newspaper if desired.

For years, I had wondered what had happened to the wedding certificate from my parents, as my mother was an incredible saver of all things. They were married by Friends Ceremony at Reading Meeting in 1955, but the document was nowhere to be found until it recently turned up in its original metal canister, tucked away in an old box. Since many folks frame these documents and display them prominently, I was surprised that Mom hadn’t done so, unitl I unrolled the large certificiate and realized that there were so many signatures that they continued on the back of the sheet in order to have room for them all. I’ve transcribed the certificate, and added the listing to the site’s Data section here.

When I was young, both sets of grandparents lived a few miles from each other in Berks county, and we usually spent several weeks each summer visiting them. Dad’s parents lived on an old farm, just off of Route 10 near Elverson, and Mom’s folks were a few miles north, on the Alleghenyville Road. It’s was Dad’s mother who first got my interest started in family research as she was the one who had the two-volume Andrew Moore genealogy and showed me the descent.

It was my mother, though, who had actually started doing some research into the family lines, mostly on her mother’s side, so I had a bit of info on that side to start with too. Over the years, as my own research progressed, I was very appreciative of the fact that Mom happily collected bits and pieces of family history, even if they were never organized very well. Part of my challenge now is to try to make sense of all of it, documenting as I go.

One of the more frustrating aspects of doing genealogy research online can be finding sites that are actually useful sites with real data, rather than just lists of links to other sites, but sometimes you find a gem, such as the Strausstown Roots site. Created by Kathy Jo and Mary Alice Berger, the site focuses on a single area, Strausstown, and it does it very well. The site was built using the TNG software, the same software used by this site for the Family Files section. There’s lots of great information on the site, so if your Berks County roots include Strausstown, you’ll definitely want to take a look!

Please pardon the dust while I rearrange some things around here - lots of new data bits will be added in the near future as I work my way through a backlog of information, so check back often to see what’s new!