The book which has been the best (and only) reference on the HOKE family is to be reprinted. Solicitation for material has been made by the author. If you have anything relating to the HOKE family please read on. --Derick S. Hartshorn ------------------------------------------------- Dear Cousin Hoke, The time has come for which I am sure many of you have impatiently long awaited. It has been 23 years since the genealogy of the Johann Jacob Hoke family I... Hoke, bequeath was printed. I hope that all of you who either have purchased or have had access to a copy of the original have enjoyed your journey through our history. Finally, we have decided to publish Volume II with corrections, updated materials, and additions to the original volume. Hope L (Hoke) McConnell, who was instrumental in helping to collect material for the original book, is now deceased, as are many of the others who helped us. Therefore, I must depend on any and all of you who care to contribute material to help me with this volume. Some of you are my close relatives, some I have met in person, and some I have only spoken to by phone, while others of you have been only readers of my work. However, I implore all of you to help make this work as complete a record as is humanly possible. As you may now know, many corrections and additions can be made, and much new material can be added to this Hoke family history. Perhaps you have discovered errors; have more pictures, stories, or additions; can add all new family lines; or even place some of the fragmented families from Part lI in the original text into their rightful families in Part I. We really do want to make this volume as accurate and as complete as possible, even though we know a genealogy is obsolete by the time it is printed because change comes every second of time---this is the history of a family. I do not plan any further work on this family after this coming volume, but I will continue to collect your material if you wish to send it. However, I leave any subsequent publication in the capable hands of a future generation. We are looking at a one-year time schedule. Therefore, we need you to return your contributions to us by May 30, 2004, since most &the text is to be prepared this summer. Please direct your mailing to one of the following addresses: Jean A. Berlekamp or Miriam K. Fanldaauser 6812 No. C. R. 15 @ Green Springs, OH 44836 [email protected] Furthermore, I can answer any of your questions by phone at (419) 992-4534. We hope to reach as many of you as possible and are, therefore, using snail mail as well as interact access. The format and style of this volume will follow much the same design of the original book; the text will be completely indexed and will contain all material that is sent by you to be published. However, if you send color pictures, they will be rendered in black and white in the text because of the exorbitant price for color pictures in publication. Please double check and proof-read every name, date, and page of your submission. I will take your work in any form you care to send it, but we can only reproduce what you send. We cannot be responsible for incomplete information nor can we guess at information that is not clearly presented. We will return all pictures sent to us either with your book order or by special mailing after the book is published. I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you. However, if you personally do not care to help with the information concerning your family, please ask someone else who might wish to do so. I really do not want to omit any family who wishes to be a part of this history. We are selling the supplement by pre-publication orders only, and only one printing will be run. The cost will be determined by how much material is presented. At the present time we are able to estimate a book of 500-800 pages, hard bound will run between $50 and $70. We do hope that you understand it is very difficult to predict how much material might be sent to us in the next few months; therefore, it is also hard to predict a final price. Please give this letter your immediate attention. Furthermore, fill out the attached order form and enclose it and your down payment to reserve your copies of the book with the information you are submitting for your family. No refunds will be given once the orders have been placed. Only in some extenuating circumstance where we are unable to complete our end of the contract to deliver a book will we refund preorder payments. We will notify you of the balance due, not to exceed $30 as soon as we have a final price so that you can make arrangements to send the balance due. This balance will need to be sent before we can mail the completed volume to you. We are sincerely grateful for your contributions and your support in this major endeavor. Gratefully, your Hoke cousin, Jean A. Berlekamp