I would like to comment about researching Mennonite and other PA Dutch groups in York and Lancaster Counties and elsewhere.  The recommendation was to check with the Lancaster Co. Mennonite Society.  And in the past I have seen recommendations as to consulting with the works of Richard Warren Davis as well.  There is some merit with checking with their works, as those publications have many helpful footnotes with sites to sources, but I have found the work of both have many errors and mistaken identities, just as consulting computer postings in various databases is full of errors on the Mennonites and PA Dutch families and how they related to one another.  So much so, that it would be challenging to establish any realiable Mennonite heritage through exclusively relying on their works.   It is best to independently do your own work, preferably by doing it off-line with manila folders and pencil, and research individuals or family households one at a time, rather than downloading ged-coms or trees of other researchers, though it is worth examining those if you carefully and independently determine their accuracy.  The faster something has been put together the less likely it will be accurate, and the larger the database the less likely it will be accurate.  Many posts have year only dates of birth for children, with those years evenly spaced out, or with huge gaps in years between some children.  Those are sometimes clues that the information has only been wildly guessed at. The tendency to give children the same family names also has meant many a good researcher has even slipped up by confusing two or more individuals with the same identical names. The best research always seems to be done by those who research entire families of interrelated people, but often these studies have been confined within county borders, when in fact the PA Dutch appear to have moved back and forth between counties to a considerable extent, as you have found yourself with your Kindigs, who also intermarried with my family in York Co.  They were often seeking better economic opportunities, but often moved in extended family networks.  I think the Mennonite families may be the most challenging because of the lack of church records, and think also that many rented from other families or Mennonites rather than always owning land. RB Today's Topics:   1. Re: Mennonite records of early York County and       LancasterCounties (Pam Pearson)

*what about Quakers? This was a most informative note and answered a lot of quetions which i marked down as brick walls and so many of the. i did get some help from one census but then they disappeared. thanks for the information.* *pat * *[email protected]* * * On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Richard Allen <[email protected]>wrote: > I would like to comment about researching Mennonite and other PA Dutch > groups in > York and Lancaster Counties and elsewhere. The recommendation was to check > with > the Lancaster Co. Mennonite Society. And in the past I have seen > recommendations as to consulting with the works of Richard Warren Davis as > well. There is some merit with checking with their works, as those > publications > have many helpful footnotes with sites to sources, but I have found the > work of > both have many errors and mistaken identities, just as consulting computer > postings in various databases is full of errors on the Mennonites and PA > Dutch > families and how they related to one another. So much so, that it would be > challenging to establish any realiable Mennonite heritage through > exclusively > relying on their works. > > It is best to independently do your own work, preferably by doing it > off-line > with manila folders and pencil, and research individuals or family > households > one at a time, rather than downloading ged-coms or trees of other > researchers, > though it is worth examining those if you carefully and independently > determine > their accuracy. The faster something has been put together the less likely > it > will be accurate, and the larger the database the less likely it will be > accurate. Many posts have year only dates of birth for children, with > those > years evenly spaced out, or with huge gaps in years between some children. > Those are sometimes clues that the information has only been wildly guessed > at. > The tendency to give children the same family names also has meant many a > good > researcher has even slipped up by confusing two or more individuals with > the > same identical names. > > > The best research always seems to be done by those who research entire > families > of interrelated people, but often these studies have been confined within > county > borders, when in fact the PA Dutch appear to have moved back and forth > between > counties to a considerable extent, as you have found yourself with your > Kindigs, > who also intermarried with my family in York Co. They were often seeking > better > economic opportunities, but often moved in extended family networks. I > think > the Mennonite families may be the most challenging because of the lack of > church > records, and think also that many rented from other families or Mennonites > rather than always owning land. > > RB > > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Mennonite records of early York County and > LancasterCounties (Pam Pearson) > > > > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PAYORK > ********* > Messages posted to the RootsWeb/Ancestry PAYORK Message Board are gatewayed > to this Mailing List. Remember that the author of gatewayed messages may > not be a list subscriber so please reply to gatewayed messages by clicking > on the link and replying on the board. > ************ > Visit the York County, Pennsylvania USGENWEB Project at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~payork/ > > ------------------------------- > 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 >