ROOTS & BRANCHES

For the first time in 42 years, a history of the German-speaking Staudt-Stoudt-Stout families in eastern Pennsylvania is being published.

This is a common name—your “Roots & Branches” columnist counts himself among the thousands of descendants of multiple immigrants of the surname in the 1700s.

Led by Ellen Kramer, the national family historian of the Staudt-Stoudt-Stout lines, on information all the German-speaking lines was computerized over the last decade. “We added other research, color and black and white photos and scans of documents, and corrected and updated much other information,” Kramer said. “This work of love is being reprinted for your family to cherish and enjoy.”

The new set of publications runs nearly 2,000 pages over three volumes. It contains a 40-page introduction/reference section with maps, some ancestral lines back to the early 1500s, a master index. “Due to the huge volume of information that we have on the family, we are publishing only the children and grandchildren of female lines although we continue to gather information far past that,” Kramer said.

The volumes of the book set cannot be ordered separately; the set (as long as 25 sets are ordered by the deadline Aug. 20) will be available for $175. “You will love the personality of the family that comes from the obituaries and other stories, even the fact that a female ancestor in one line invented duct tape!” Kramer says. 

To order a set, send a check payable to: “Ellen Kramer” c/o Mrs. Ellen Kramer, 101 S. College St., Myerstown, PA 17067. Shipping is included in the price of the set.  For questions, call or email Kramer at familyhistorylady@comcast.net. 

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Genealogists and historians are benefiting a partnership between two Penn State units, the University Libraries and its Richards Civil War Era Center that has launched the “Pennsylvania Civil War Deserters Database.”  

The database contains more than 24,000 records compiled from the Descriptive List of Deserters from Pennsylvania Military Units, which was published in 1866 by the Provost Marshal General’s Office, the Descriptive List contains physical (height, weight), military (rank, enlistment date) and demographic (birthplace, ethnicity, occupation) information for Pennsylvania soldiers who enlisted in the Union army and subsequently were cited as deserters.

The database allows users to search the compiled records for individual soldiers and identify groups of soldiers by specific criteria including rank, regiment, and occupation.  Penn State encourages researchers to start at the “search tips” page for an overview of the available options, http://desertersroster.psu.edu/site/searchtips/

 “We hope this trove of data will inspire creative uses that can generate new conclusions about desertion from the Union Army,” said Eric Novotny of Penn State University Libraries. “We expect it will also be popular with those using the database to learn about family members who served.”