Hi Shirley, I don't know of any connections to these families. Do you, Carole? Shirley, when did they live in Penfield? Cathy -- Shirley Hunt <shirleyjimbo2000@yahoo.com> wrote: This is such a sad story to hear about the fire. I have a lot of ties to the Penfield area with surnames Bobel, Boise, Gow, Opfer, and Severcool. Does anyone have connections to these families? Shirley Hunt "martin.abba@juno.com" <martin.abba@juno.com> wrote: Thank you, Carole and thank you Jane Cahl for the articles you sent. Jane is one of my Amherst classmates and, for those of you who don't know, Carole is my third cousin once removed. We have old photos of my gg grandparents and ggg grandparents (Carole's gg grandparents). In the photos, our ancestors are dressed in Brethren garb very much like the Amish. At that time, Church of the Brethren was called German Baptist Brethren. It is one of three historic peace churches and, like the Amish, they believe in living simply with strong emphasis on community. Once I clocked the distance from my gg grandparents' farm in Penfield to the church in Chatham. Thirteen miles -- quite a distance to go by buggy and the Brethren spent a lot of time in church! I've wondered how they managed -- one buggy wouldn't have been enough for the thirteen children in my gg grandparents' family (it's easy to see why Carole and I have lots of cousins in Lorain, Medina and Wayne Counties)! Those thirteen children must have very sleepy on the buggy rides home -- especially on the days the Brethren had their love feasts after their services. Carole's great grandfather and my gg grandfather were brothers and lived and worked together on adjoining farms in Penfield. They had come from Wayne County where our Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors had pioneered. The Neff side of our family were Mennonites who became Brethren and married into the Lutheran Dague side of our family -- all becoming Brethren. The Neffs were Swiss who moved to the Rhine area of Germany, probably because of religious persecution. From Germany, they immigrated to Philadelphia in 1717. Carole, would you like me to send you the articles that Jane sent? I learned of the fire from John Shafer, member of a Brethren church in VA. We had corresponded years ago because of his relationship to our Neff/Schweinhardt family. As one of our family historians, you would probably like to be in touch with him. I will send you his address privately. Cathy -- "Carole J. Schetter" wrote: There is information on the Christmas Eve fire in the Plain Dealer and on the Brethren Daily News list. I found them by "googling." What a tragedy. My ancestor, John Willis White was one of the founders of the church. Carole Schetter ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHLORAIN- request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ______________________________________________________________________ __ FREE Reminder Service - NEW from AmericanGreetings.com Click HERE and never forget a Birthday or Anniversary again! http://track.juno.com/s/lc? s=197335&u=http://www.americangreetings.com/products/online_calendar.p d ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHLORAIN- request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Shirley __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHLORAIN- request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ FREE Reminder Service - NEW from AmericanGreetings.com Click HERE and never forget a Birthday or Anniversary again! http://track.juno.com/s/lc?s=197335&u=http://www.americangreetings.com/products/online_calendar.pd