ROOTS & BRANCHES

It was just about a year ago when I reported on the passing of “German village finder” Annette K. Burgert and the news associated with it that her extensive library would be going to the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown.

Now, another prominent genealogist’s library will be moving, a happening thankfully not made bittersweet by death.

The New York Chapter of the Palatines to America is receiving a donation of the personal library and papers of Henry Z “Hank” Jones Jr. and plans to house it in Germantown (New York) Public Library.

In more than six decades of research, Jones has spearheaded research on the first mass migration of German-speaking people to America in 1710 and together with his primary German collaborator, the late Carla Mittlestaedt-Kubaseck, managed to identify more than 600 village origins for the 847 families who landed in upstate New York.

Jones released a final supplementary book collating new finds on the families last year; he’s previously complied six volumes on these families (which include many families who came later in the 1700s to America, too) as well as a number of other genealogy books.

While the books from Jones’s personal library likely can be found in multiple repositories, what will make the collection unique is that it includes his own personal notes as well as the notes and reports of Mittlestaedt-Kubaseck, his German associate. The Germantown Public Library will be assisting with cataloging, shelving, and preserving of the collection to make it available to the public.

While the contents of Jones’s library are being donated, New York Chapter Pal Am is seeking gifts to defray the boxing and shipping of the collection from Jones’s residence in San Diego, California, to the Germantown library.

In addition, once the collection is in Germantown, New York Pal Am is looking to index, preserve and digitize the items so they can be accessed remotely more easily by researchers.

Jones, 80, has now retired from writing and lecturing. He’s come a long way from his start as a child actor (he performed in several Disney movies, among other credits). It will be great for him to take comfort in his library and notes benefiting researchers for generations to come.

Questions can be directed to the chapter email palamny@gmail.com. New York Pal Am is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization so gifts are tax deductible.

Donations to defray the shipping and digitization can be made via PayPal to the account Palamny@gmail.com, or by check payable to NY Chapter Palatines to America and mailed to Garry Finkell, Treasurer, NY Chapter Palatines to America, PO Box 8811, Albany, NY 12208

In either case donors should make a note that this is for the Hank Jones collection.