I am looking for the ancestry of Eva Maria BEAR Zirkle Ottinger b: 1709 Virginia? PA? d: 1777 bur. Forestville Cem, Rockingham Cty, VA m[1]: ca. 1732 Telford, PA Johann Ludgwig ZIRKLE b: 9 October 1705 Ittlingen, Germany d: 1747 Indianfield Lutheran Cem, Telford, PA m[2]: ca. 1748 Christopher OTTINGER d: 1750 Johann Ludwig ZIRKLE came to Philadelphia from Itlingen, near Heidelberg, Germany where he was born on 9 October 1705. He apparently had been married prior to coming to America, as he mentions a son by his first marriage in his will. He and Maria Eva BEAR were married about 1731 or 1732, as their first child was born in 1733. Ludwig died and Maria Eva married Christopher OTTINGER, but he is dead by 1750. Maria Eva moves with her daughters and five sons to a place called "The Forest" now Forestville, VA. This began the history of the ZIRKLE family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Does anyone have a copy of these articles by Jane Evans Best, "A Bear Saga: Lancaster County and Beyond," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 10 (Jan. 1987)? Jane E. Best, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage European Roots, Lancaster Co. PA Bear Families Vol. VII #1 (Jan 1984). I am hoping that this may be the same BEAR family that I am researching. Michael Willis Freeland <mailto:[email protected]>