This information could solve a long standing brick wall for me so would appreciate it if I could receive any information that is found. My ancestor George Storts / Steorts / Sturtz / Stots / Stotz / Steortz / etc was born in 1769 near Hagerstown according to the 1850 census. His father, whose name may have been George or Frederick, was supposed to have come from Germany and fought in the Revolutionary War. Old family notes say the family lived near Gettysburg at an early date before two brothers went west over Braddock's old road. One brother went on West and my ancestor George Steorts bought land in 1817 near the Harrison / Lewis County line on Hacker's Creek on what is today Route 19. He would have been middle aged in 1817 and may have been married before with a family but I have never been able to find one. He married a neighboring widow Eunice Bailey Stalnaker in 1827 when he was 58 and she was 36 with five children. They had six more children together. I have wondered if the father could have died in the Revolutionary War. Linda Steorts Kaufman [email protected] In a message dated 12/3/2011 11:01:50 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Has anyone ever seen a list of those (mostly Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren) who were charged or paid the triple tax as a result of the oath of allegiance law that said if you don't take the oath nor the affirmation, you have to pay the triple tax for life? The law was apparently in force between about April 1777 until it was repealed a year or two later. I think I once saw the list of those who actually took the oath in 1778, but I forget where I saw it and it was not a long list. Also, is anyone aware of any diaries, journals, day books, account books for any of the Germans in Hagerstown area for the period between 1750 to 1800? Or even memoirs for Germans who may have written such later in the 2 or 3 decades after 1800? I ask this in the context of writing a book about a German immigrant who arrived Frederick Co in 1753 and died with a wife and 7 children in 1799. Ned D. ********* Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/MDWASHIN ********* ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message