Hello Bonnie, I can't help specifically with Michael, but in my family there is a John H. Maize, born Nov. 1852, died Sept. 1926, both in Millheim; he could be a brother of your Michael. John married Julia E. Ripka (17 Apr 1855 - 22 Mar 1941) on 14 Feb 1875, and she is a distant cousin of mine. I have information on their three children, Charles P. (1875-1897), Cora B. (12 May 1879 - 21 Dec 1964) and Allen (12 May 1879 - 4 Feb 1880). Cora B. married Charles Edward McClellan (4 Mar 1874 - 28 Nov 1939) but they had no children, so the line of John H. Maize has completely died out. They were all buried in the Union Cemetery in Millheim. My records show that John H. Maize's parents were John Maize (4 Jan 1805 - 2 Oct 1888) and Anna Poorman. Anna Poorman was the daughter of Daniel and Christina Poorman, and that lineage is also quite extensive, going back to the 17th century in Europe. I don't have any resources at hand to help you right now, being away from home, but you should be able to find Michael Maize in the 1860 and 1870 census of Centre County, at least, in his parents' home, confirming their identity. I suspect his parents were this John and Anna. The censuses are online for a fee at www.ancestry.com, and you can find them increasingly online for free at www.familysearchlabs.org, as well as a host of other records. There was no major fire in Millheim to my knowledge; in fact, it is so full of old log homes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. See here: http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Centre_County/Millheim_Borough/Millheim_Historic_District.html Also, records for Millheim were generally never kept there; these were filed in Bellefonte, the county seat of Centre County. You should contact the Centre County Library and Historical Museum in Bellefonte, paroom@centrecountylibrary.org, where, for a fee, they can search newspaper obituaries, wills and estate files, deed records, church records, tax lists, etc., etc., etc., for your relatives. They can do a small amount of lookups but if you require extensive research they can recommend a genealogist in the area to assist you, usually at an hourly rate. Justin On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 10:21 AM, <Jupiter121348@aol.com> wrote: > Hello, new to the list and hoping to find someone researching the surname > MAIZE. I'm trying to help a 92-year-old (Maize) who desires to leave his > children their family history. Having a very hard time finding much for > this > line. I understand there was a fire in Millheim that destroyed vital > records? > > Any reference to the name I'd be interested in. Burials, marriages, > anything to try to pull this line together. > > The family in question is that of Michael Maize born Sep 1854 PA (maybe > Centre Co?) and died in Baltimore. Census points to Michael's parents being > John and Mary ___ but beyond that, things get very vague. > > Any help greatly appreciated. > > Thank you, > > Bonnie > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PACENTRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >