ROOTS & BRANCHES

Some 20 years ago, my late mother Mildred H. Beidler had a visitor from the Midwest. The visitor was one of those distant cousins you meet through genealogical happenstance. Her name is Michelle Potter and she was a descendant of Elias Machmer, who my mother recalled having been talked as a brother to mom’s great-grandfather …

The Lancaster Family History Conference has been around for 39 years – just a little bit longer than I’ve been involved in genealogy! – and was already a well-regarded get-together when I first attended in 1990. Over that time, I’ve seen it grow from a Saturday-only event to several days of activities that culminates in …

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” column profiled readers Niels Witkamp’s attempt to extend his Dutch surname line into Germany, based on a couple of entries in the Netherlands that pointed to either “Salm” or “Westphalia” as the origin of his Witkamp family. The first entry was a marriage of the Roman Catholic Jan Hendrik Witkamp …

Niels Witkamp is a devoted “Roots & Branches” reader who is also my go-to guy for Dutch genealogy, so I guess it’s natural that he decided to return the favor when it appeared that his Witkamp line was going to extend into Germany. “I am stuck with my Witkamp line and was wondering if you …