I couldn't resist, folks. Instructions for Microsoft's new TV DinnerTM product You must first remove the plastic cover. By doing so you agree to accept and honor Microsoft rights to all TV dinners. You may not give anyone else a bite of your dinner (which would constitute an infringement of Microsoft's rights). You may, however, let others smell and look at your dinner and are encouraged to tell them how good it is. If you have a PC microwave oven insert the dinner into the oven. Set the oven using these keystrokes: <\mstv.dinn.//08.5min@50%heat// Then enter: <ms//start.cook_dindin/yummy\|/yum~yum:-)gohot#cookme. If you have a Mac oven insert the dinner and press start. The oven will set itself and cook the dinner to its own liking. If you have a Unix oven insert the dinner, enter the ingredients of the dinner (found on the package label), the weight of the dinner, and the desired level of cooking and press start. The oven will calculate the time and heat and cook the diner exactly to your specification. Be forewarned that Microsoft dinners may crash, in which case your oven must be restarted. This is a simple procedure. Remove the dinner from the oven and enter <ms.nodamn.good/tryagain\again/again.crap. This process may have to be repeated. Try unplugging the microwave and then doing a cold reboot. If this doesn't work, contact your hardware vendor. Many users have reported that the dinner tray is far too big, larger than the dinner itself, having many useless compartments, most of which are empty. These are for future menu items. If the tray is too large to fit in your oven you will need to upgrade your equipment. Dinners are only available from registered outlets, and only the chicken variety is currently produced. If you want another variety, call MicrosoftHelp and they will explain that you really don't want another variety. Microsoft Chicken is all you really need. Microsoft has disclosed plans to discontinue all smaller versions of their chicken dinners. Future releases will only be in the larger family size. Excess chicken may be stored for future use, but must be saved only in Microsoft approved packaging. Microsoft promises a dessert with every dinner after 1998. However, that version has yet to be released. Users have permission to get thrilled in advance. Microsoft dinners may be incompatible with other dinners in the freezer, causing your freezer to self-defrost. This is a feature, not a bug. Your freezer probably should have been defrosted anyway. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Addendum to MS TV Dinner News, from the Chief Technology Officer, MSTVD None of this will be an issue for MS TV Dinner98. A paradigm shift has changed the way we think of TV Dinners and Microwaves, and the new MS interface to TV dinners now owns the entire Microwave desktop, which will be henceforth known as the ActiveMicrowave*. This will allow a wide bandwidth for merchandisers and financier markets to gain a new and unique foothold on the consumer, providing access and services to every user in every home, right next to the julienne sliced carrots, corn bread and refried beans. Low-level interfacing with Web TV is now being beta tested in a local market of barca-loungers. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Yup, folks - the book I am looking for is Humphrey's, alright - and it is on CD196 - both parts of it - and CD196 is at the Austin state library. Thanks much for all your help! Incidentally, Martin and Gertrude Burkhart, who it turns out had far more than four children, aren't in the PA Dutch church compilations because they went to a Catholic mission in Grossenhoppin or somewhere like that. Yours, Dora --- GenieDot@aol.com wrote: > Hi, Dora, > > The Berks County Births list you were given > most likely came from John > Humphrey's book Pennsylvania Births Prior to > 1800: Berks County. If so, then > that info is included on the Birth Index: > Southeastern PA (CD 196), which > contained the first 13 of his books in that > series, plus a 14th book on > Monroe Co. that wasn't enough to put out as a > separate book. > > However, there was an earlier compilation by > two Berks Co. researchers who > put out births in two volumes and marriages in > another two volumes. Those > were also arranged alphabetically, but was not > as comprehensive (so I am > told) as John's books on Berks. Those were > available in paperback but are > likely out of print now. I know they were on > the shelves at the Historical > Society of PA in Philadelphia the last time I > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Can someone tell me what if any church is associated with Risser's Mennonite Cemetery or what church someone buried there may have attended? It is in Lancaster County, in Mount Joy township I believe. Thanks for any leads. Valerie Williams

Thank you very much, Lorraine. No, I haven't searched in Lehigh Co, but will do that and will also sent your information to our NEFF family historian. Is Northhampton Co. still in existence? Thank you so much for your kindness in offering to see if you have information in your files about my family. My brick wall is Jeremiah SMITH and Rowena or Regina ARNOLD SMITH and their daughter, Maria / Mariah SMITH, born in Berks Co. about 1824. It's likely that the family was Brethren (Maria / Mariah was Brethren during her adult years). Because of the county-name changes, I wonder too if there could be information about our SMITH / ARNOLD families in counties surrounding Berks. Since one of the difficulties in searching German names is that it was custom to call people by their middle names, I wonder if their first names differ in the records. I have both names for many of my PA Dutch ancestors, but not for the SMITHs and ARNOLDs Thank you again, Lorraine. How is your own search going? Cathy Martin ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

That's PACHESTE-L. It's a good list. Dora --- Cathy Martin <martin.abba@juno.com> wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > Can someone please tell me the address for > subscribing to the Chester Co, > PA list. I've tried > PACHES-L-request@rootsweb.com and > PACHESTER-L-request@rootsweb.com, but they came > back. > > Cathy > > ________________________________________________________________ > YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! > Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! > Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE > software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Hi, Would the list member who sent me information about a PA town named for the Neff surname please contact me. You also included some information about Neffs buried in the town. Both your e-mail and my thank you in response disappeared from my screen, so I'm afraid you may not have gotten my response. If you still have that information, I would be grateful to have it again. Sure do apologize for the inconvenience. Cathy Martin ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

My GGGG-Grandfather, Jacob Kuhn was born in Germany on 10/18/1720. He immigrated to America 9/23/1741 on the ship Marlborough. He married SUSANNA M. (MAIDEN NAME UNKNOWN) and had 9 children. I am directly descended (and named after) one of his sons Peter Kuhn. Jacob was a miller and probably a Palatine. He died in Reading on 10/15/1793. Can anyone help me with his place of birth or ancestry? David Keehn peachykeehn@cs.com

Hi Everyone, Can someone please tell me the address for subscribing to the Chester Co, PA list. I've tried PACHES-L-request@rootsweb.com and PACHESTER-L-request@rootsweb.com, but they came back. Cathy ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

In a message dated 3/20/00 10:52:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, martin.abba@juno.com writes: > Can someone please tell me the address for subscribing to the Chester Co, > PA list. I've tried PACHES-L-request@rootsweb.com and > PACHESTER-L-request@rootsweb.com, but they came back. Cathy- It is always (well there are exceptions) the first 6 letters of the county if the county name is that long. So it is: PACHESTE-L-request@rootsweb.com Joan

Dora, The book with the pages copied is "Pennsyvania Births, Berks Co. 1710 to 1780" compiled by John T. Humphrey. Glenn in Lititz, PA

Hello, There are several NEFFs buried in Centre Co.'s Centre Hall Cemetery or combined Old Methodist/ Lutheran Cemetery in Pleasant Gap...I went looking for ancestors last Sept. and thought I wasn't looking for NEFFs, I know I saw some in either one or both cemeteries. Sorry I can't be more specific. Regards, Paul

I have the following compilations of Pennsylvania Dutch church and other vital genealogical records available to me on FTM CD's at the Texas state library in Austin. I would like to know what OTHER compilations of these records exist that I don't have. I also would like the title and other information on a particular book that someone sent me some pages from that is not on the FTM CD's, that I would like to get ahold of. I did confirm that there is quite alot more on Burkharts than in the pages my distant cousin sent me, and that is now on my web pages, it's going to take me quite some time to put the information together. I am planning a page at my web site on how to spell Burkhart - I so far count 47 different ways not counting the versions that end in "in". You have to search each individual spelling - and you also have to search each individual spelling in the Berks County vital records page, because there are such variant ways to spell Burkhart that they fit atleast eight different standardized spellings that that office came up with for their search engine. The CD's that I found at the state library are: 130 PA GErman Church Records 1729-1870 FTM 163 PA Genealogies #1 FTM 166 Church Records: Selected Areas of PA: Berks Co Church Records vols 1-4. 172 PA Vital Records 1700's-1800's FTM 196 Vital Records: Birth Southeastern PA 1680-1800 FTM 193 PA (contains county histories) 1740-1900 FTM 209 Genealogical Records PA Wills 1682-1834 FTM 213 PA Gen Soc Q Vols 1-39 or 59 2 CD's FTM That three-volume work on Pennsylvania Dutch church records people have been requesting lookups from Vol III of is on one of these CD's, but I msut have written down which one somplace else. I am looking for the identity of a book someone sent me some pages from that includes Berks Co PA Dutch church vital record information organized by name in alphabetical order; for 39 churches, with each entry number coded for the church it came from. The page I have wears the title "Berks County Births". I don't know if the book also contained deaths and marriages. I do know for a fact that this book contains information that is not found on any of the FTM CD's in the state library in Austin. For instance, the births of the children of Martin and Gertrude Burchard are not on any of the CD's. Can anyone please tell me of any other compilations of these records they know of. Yours, Dora __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Can anyone please tell me what books there are on the Berks County Wagners? I know there is a Wagner/Wagener/something book, but I wonder if it is the only book there is on Wagners in that area. I'm looking for books that might help me locate who was Henry Wagner who lived in Reading at the end of the 19th century and died there in 1816, and had most of his children in the 1770's. He married someone named Elizabeth, and one of his children was named Barbara and married Phillip Burkhart. But if noone happens to HAVE the books handy, or the books aren't indexed properly, I may be able to get them from interlibrary loan. Yours, Dora Smith __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Since some of you are talking about the Neffs, does anybody know the parents of Anna, b. 28 March 1766, married to Christian Mayer 06 August 1782, and d. 24 January 1833. thanks.

Cathy: I have a Swiss ancestor or two. Those Swiss people came from all over; in fact, of all the people who turned up in Pennsylvania they are perhaps most likely to have been running all over Europe in circles for centuries. Likely places for Pennsylvania Dutch from Switzerland to be from include Russia, Holland, and France. I have some part Negro people from the middle of Germany; Bavaria and Schwabia to be precise; more than likely they are descended from the many thousands of Jews and Moors who fled Spain for the Netherlands and were particularly likely to become Anabaptists and other radical Protestant groups. And if this line wasn't negro, they sure were Mediterranean! The part Negroes from Bavaria met up with the line from Switzerland, see. Yours, Dora --- Cathy Martin <martin.abba@juno.com> wrote: > Thank you very much, Joan. This has been a > mystery because I knew > Thalassemia has also been called Mediterranean > anemia but our family is > very Germanic. We have traced this blood > disorder back to my PA. Dutch > great grandfather who was German and Swiss. > More recently, though, I > learned that one of his PA Dutch lines was > French Huguenot. I guess the > French side is the most likely source of > Thalassemia, but I haven't seen > French ancestry mentioned in the information > I've read about Thalassemia > and I haven't found it among other LABARRE / > LABAR / LAWAR descendants. > Because French Huguenots fled to the Rhine area > of Germany and lived > there among Germans and Swiss and later lived > and worshipped among them > in PA, I've wondered if other PA Dutch > descendants had encountered > Thalassemia in their families. I've also > looked for Jewish ancestry in > our family, but have found none. > > Joan, is your neighbor Italian and not PA > Dutch? Thank you again for > your help. I hope you and your family are well > and greatly blessed. > > Cathy > > ________________________________________________________________ > YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! > Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! > Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE > software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

Looking for a Wayne Kennedy Richardson. Rumored to be of PA-Dutch decend. I have information that says he was born in Wheeling WV in 1854. I know he was in the Roscoe, Mt. Tabor, Long Brance area of PA from 1880-1890. Any connections would be greatly appreciated. P.S. I have a feeling that his mother may have been a Kennedy My other thought being that his father may have been John, because he named his first known son John Milton. Ron Richardson

Thank you very much, Joan. I will save the web address as I plan to obtain internet access in a couple months. Our Brethren NEFF and SWINEHART (SCHWEINHARDT) families also lived in Frederick, Co. Maryland after moving from Chester and York Counties, PA in the early 18th century. It is interesting to hear that parts of Chester county became Berks Co later in the 18th century, because my ARNOLD and SMITH ggg grandparents came from Berks Co. after the change in county lines. This was a Brethren family and I believe they were Brethren when they lived in Berks Co. The ARNOLDs and SMITHs are my only brick wall and I am wondering if ties between those families go back earlier than my ggg grandparents. We are still looking for the origin of the sometimes fatal anemia, Thalassemia, that runs in our Swiss/German NEFF family. So far we have found it in the "D" and "E-l" lines of the NEFF/ NAFF / NAFF families. Yes, the NEFFs were originally Mennonites -- they were Swiss who had fled persecution to the Rhine area of Germany. However our line, Jacob and Catharine NEFF became Brethren after they immigrated to the colonies -- at least by the time they moved to Frederick Co., MD. Thank you again, Joan. Cathy ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

In a message dated 3/18/00 10:41:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, martin.abba@juno.com writes: > I remember that you have some Brethren ARNOLD ancestry. Cathy- Yes I do. Do you > know if they were Swiss or German? The information I have on the Arnolds can be found in my GEDCOM at WorldConnect: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=joan_young Click on the letter A and then on Arnold and then on John George Arnold for more information. This Arnold family was from Epfenbach, Kreis Sinsheim, Germany and they settled in Frederick County, MD. Do you know of the ARNOLD families > who lived in Berks Co., PA and do you know the names of Brethren churches > in Berks Co? No, not really. My Brethren families were all living in MD and York and Adams counties in PA. I apologize for all the questions, but I do have two more. > Were parts of what is now Berks Co. in another county prior to 1824? Yes. Berks was formed in 1752 from parts of Chester, Lancaster, and Philadelphia counties. Do > you know of any ARNOLDs who married into the Swiss/ German Anabaptist NAF > / NAFF / NEFF families? I do know of the NEFFs but not in connection with the Arnolds. I think the NEFFs were Mennonites rather than Brethren--not so say there couldn't be an intermarriage anyway. Joan

Cathy, Your post may have some connections for me. If my info is correct the last change to Berks County was in 1811 when Schuykill was formed from Berks and Northampton. Since then I show no changes. I decend from the immigrant(?) Jacob Naff b 16 Mar 1736 who moved to Frederick Co. MD (ca 1772) and then to Franklin Co. VA (1787). On another line (my Great Grand Mother) is Jane Fegley Smith b 26 Aug 1874 d 22 May 1944. I have never been able to trace her or what I believe to be her mothers side (Fegley). Does this ring any bells. Thanks Michael A. Barnhart barnhartma@cowtown.net http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~barnhart/ -----Original Message----- From: Cathy Martin [mailto:martin.abba@juno.com] Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 10:42 AM To: PADUTCHgenONLY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [PaDgo] Arnold, Neff, Naf, Smith, Berks Co, PA Hi Joan and PA Dutch Cousins, Joan, I remember that you have some Brethren ARNOLD ancestry. Do you know if they were Swiss or German? Do you know of the ARNOLD families who lived in Berks Co., PA and do you know the names of Brethren churches in Berks Co? I apologize for all the questions, but I do have two more. Were parts of what is now Berks Co. in another county prior to 1824? Do you know of any ARNOLDs who married into the Swiss/ German Anabaptist NAF / NAFF / NEFF families? I am also seeking information about the SMITHs in what is now Berks Co and surrounding areas. Thank you very much for any information you may have. With warm regards, Cathy Martin ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

Hi Joan and PA Dutch Cousins, Joan, I remember that you have some Brethren ARNOLD ancestry. Do you know if they were Swiss or German? Do you know of the ARNOLD families who lived in Berks Co., PA and do you know the names of Brethren churches in Berks Co? I apologize for all the questions, but I do have two more. Were parts of what is now Berks Co. in another county prior to 1824? Do you know of any ARNOLDs who married into the Swiss/ German Anabaptist NAF / NAFF / NEFF families? I am also seeking information about the SMITHs in what is now Berks Co and surrounding areas. Thank you very much for any information you may have. With warm regards, Cathy Martin ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.