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LANCASTER CO.,

PENNSYLVANIA

 

An Introduction

Family Surnames

Family Genealogical Sites

Genealogy Information Websites

Image Gallery

Contact Information

 

 

AN INTRODUCTION

 

County Seal

 

    Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, known as the Garden Spot of America since the 18th century, is located in the southeastern part of the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. With an estimated 2005 population of 490,562 Lancastrians, Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the 99th largest of 361 MSAs in the U.S. The city of Lancaster6 is the county seat.

     Lancaster County is a popular tourist destination, due mostly to the many plain sect residents, known as the Amish or Pennsylvania Dutch. They are the descendants of Germans who immigrated in the 18th and 19th centuries for the freedom of religion offered by William Penn, and were attracted by the rich soil and mild climate of the area.

     The first recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks, whose name meant "people of the muddy river" in Algonquin. They were also known as the Conestoga, from their principal village, Kanestoge, known to the English as Indiantown. They were viewed by European settlers as a friendly tribe, converted to Christianity, who made brooms and baskets for sale, and named children after their favorite neighbors.

     However, the outbreak of Pontiac's War in the summer of 1763, coupled with the conciliatory but militarily ineffective policies of the provincial government, aroused widespread suspicion and hatred against all Indians in the frontier counties of the state. Rumors spread that the Conestoga were harboring strange and hostile Indians in their village. On December 14, 1763, the Paxton Boys, led by Matthew Smith and Capt. Lazarus Stewart, descended upon the village, slaughtered the six Indians present at the time, and burned their houses. The fourteen survivors of the tribe were placed in protective custody in the county workhouse, but the Paxton Boys returned on December 27 broke into the workhouse, and butchered the remaining Susquehannocks. The widespread sympathy in the frontier counties for the perpetrators of these acts made their discovery and arrest futile.   Other tribes in the area included the Shawnee, Gawanese, Lenape (or Delaware), and Nanticokes.

 

 

     The area that became Lancaster County was part of William Penn's 1681 charter, and John Kennerly received the first recorded deed from Penn in 1691. Although Matthias Kreider was said to have been in the area as early as 1691, there is no evidence that anyone actually settled in Lancaster County before 1710.

     Lancaster County was part of Chester County, Pennsylvania until May 10, 1729 when it became the fourth county in the state. Lancaster County was named after the city of Lancaster in the county of Lancashire in England, the native home of John Wright, one of the early settlers.  Six other counties were subsequently formed from territory directly taken, in all or in part, from Lancaster County: Berks (1752), Cumberland (1750), Dauphin (1785), Lebanon (1813), Northumberland (1772), and York (1749).  Many other counties were in turn formed from these six.

     The southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and thus of Lancaster County, was in dispute for years. Lord Baltimore believed that his grant to Maryland extended to the 40th parallel — about halfway between Lancaster and Willow Street. Starting in 1730, Thomas Cresap started Cresap's War by confiscating farms near Peach Bottom and Wrightsville, establishing ferries there. He started vandalizing farms, killing livestock and driving away settlers in southern York and Lancaster counties, giving those lands to his followers. When a follower was arrested, the Marylanders broke him out of the Lancaster lockup. Lord Baltimore negotiated a compromise in 1733, but Cresap ignored it, and continued his raids. When an attempt was made to arrest him in 1734, he killed a deputy at his door. The Pennsylvania governor demanded Maryland arrest Cresap for murder; the Maryland governor named him a captain in their militia instead. In 1736, he was finally arrested, and jailed until 1737 when the King intervened. In 1750, a court decided that Lord Baltimore had forfeited his rights to a twenty-mile swath of land. The new Pennsylvania-Maryland border was properly established by the Mason-Dixon line in 1767.

 

Lancaster Co., PA

Family Surnames

The following are surnames of persons, found within our data bases, who were either born, married or died in this county.

 

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Bennett;   Brumwell;   Douglas;   Kerr

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

 

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

Amstutz;   Bard;   Chateau(Schatto);   Ellis;   Faircloth;   Gilbert;   Gohn;   Ilges;   Kinard;   Kitzmiller;   Kline;   Leiphart;   Leithiser;   Pfeffer;   Schneider;   Shaeffer;   Silar;   Sterner;   Weinhold;   Young

To find out more about each family listed here click on the appropriate LINK(s).

Lancaster Co., PA

Family Genealogical Site(s)

SITE NAME:

 

 

LOCATION:

 

COORDINATES:

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

HISTORY / DESCRIPTIVE INFO.:

 

ANCESTRY:

 

 

Lancaster Co., PA

Genealogy Information Websites

 

The following are links to websites that will provide you with specific

genealogical  information to assist with your research for this county.

 

 

 

Use the following LINKS to find more information that may pertain to this location.

 

 

 

Lancaster Co., PA

Image Gallery

 

During our research we have collected and images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of localities.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

One of the 29 covered bridges in Lancaster County.

 

If you have any photographs or other images relating to this ancestral

location we would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

 

Use the following LINK to ascertain whether we have any images that pertain to this location. 

ANCESTRAL LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHS and IMAGES

 

Contact Information

Email

Pony Express:

Tom
27 Christopher Dr.
Burton, NB E2V3H4
Canada

Email

Snail mail:

Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA

 

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