Jake Wynn | May 29, 2013
A rare thing is to hear the Civil War years as described through the eyes of a child who grew up in the shadow of the war. Dr. Charles H. Miller, originally of Lykens, gives us that exact thing in a book he published as a young college graduate of the University of Pennsylvania medical […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 12, 2013
John W. Hoffman had two enlistments during the Civil War. In the first, he served as a Musician in Company D of the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry, and in the second, he was a Private in the 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company G, serving on Roanoke Island, eventually being discharged at New Bern, North Carolina, 25 June […]
Norman Gasbarro | September 2, 2012
Adaline “Ada’ Hoffman (1845-1915) was born in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and was only one generation removed from the Lykens Valley. Her father, Jacob David Hoffman (1812-1887) had been born in Lykens Township, and was the great-grandson of Johann Peter Hoffman (1709-1797), pioneer settler of the Lykens Valley. Ada’s mother was a Romberger, also from […]
Norman Gasbarro | July 20, 2012
The above article describing the “fatal affair at Gratztown” appeared in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, 27 September 1856, described the death of George Hoffman Jr. at the annual military encampment at Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. A more extensive article appeared in a Schuylkill County publication, the Farmers and Miners Journal on the same date. It […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 19, 2012
The Riegel family in the Lykens Valley can be traced to Mattheis Riegell (born about 1615) of Bad Muenster, Palatinate, Germany, who married Maria Werner. They had a son, Jost Riegell (1615-1687) who married Maria Honen (or Hoenen). Their son, Cornelius Riegel (1674-175) was the immigrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1733, with his wife […]
;