There’s a field I’m nearly obsessed with and it’s very rare for my age: Genealogy. I’m only 26 and have a degree in computer science, so nearly every site I visit related to genealogy makes me want to cry. Sure, the big ones like Ancestry.com are wonderful, but there’s so many sites out there that would be better in plain text. In a field revolutionized by computers, there is still mountains of information hidden in bad websites or simply not indexed. If I were to strike it rich tomorrow, I’d retire and spend the rest of my days volunteering to help convert some of this information to something more accessible.

And then, I stumbled upon the York County Archives site. WOW. My home town, has as far as I can tell, the best archives site on the earth. After finding their site, I search nearly all the local and major counties I could think of. Not one even came remotely close.

They have most of the records indexed and search-able. When you find a record, it has some information right there. Some very valuable information. This service alone would earn this site as one of my all time favorites, but it gets even better. You can order photocopies of any records listed. Now, you’re probably thinking that has to be expensive, Death Certificates from some counties run $18.00. Nope! Not at http://www.yorkcountyarchives.org/ It’s $1.50 per page for email or fax. If you go there in person it’s 50 cents.  If your total order is under $10, it works on the honor system, and they send you your documents first.

So, I had to try it. I submitted a request for 3 marriage applications. One containing a relative whom I’ve never been able to find out who his parents were. I hoped for 3 pages of a simple application, one for each marriage, and expected the cost to come in under the honor system of $10, so I could get a quick taste. Well, about an hour later I received an email back explaining that it was 11 pages and thus $16.50. 11 pages! I couldn’t wait to see it. While they only take Discover cards, I was forced to snail mail a check, it arrived a day later. By noon, I had a PDF in my inbox with all 11 pages. Each marriage had the application, the certificate, and parental consent! I know I’m a dork but this was really great.

Lucky for me, the vast majority of my relatives are from York County, so I may have to pay the archives a visit, at the very least I may be ordering a few pages a month for a long time.

How the site became so great is still a mystery to me, I suspected some IT shop won a contract and turned around a great project because compared to the other sites it didn’t seem like archives really worried about their sites. But I can’t find any branding on the website indicating a contractor. If this was an in house project, I’m really grateful for the people at York County Archives.

Thank you York County Archives!

I’ve become very interested in genealogy as of late. My last name has always been a mystery to my family. It’s extremely rare, in fact I am fairly certain I know of every single person with the same last name, and I could count it on one hand.

So I always figured, we had not been settled long in America or at the very least seem to lack male children to carry it on at all. I also had no clue about the origin of my last name.

I was able to solve a lot of these questions, my family has been in America since the late 1600’s. We just couldn’t spell well at all. (Makes a lot of sense if you know me) So I’m just one of thousands now, but with a very rare misspelling.

So this sparked a huge interest in family tree research, I feel blessed because of at my age of 25, I still have a lot of older relatives around that I can ask information of. I tend to see in other genealogy circles that a lot of the crowd is older and they have few family relatives to ask for information.

I’ve found a lot of gems over the last few months:

1. Starting with a small family tree by a great aunt in 1977 which helped me find out the history behind my last name. (Including a relation to Jesse James!)
2. My wife’s side had a book from the 1930’s dedicated to one branch.
3. And lastly my mother and grandfather showed my the Herbst tree.

My maternal grandmother was a Herbst and in 1967 her brother Herbert Hoover Herbst compiled a family tree back to the landing in America in 1794, by our ancestor Johannes Herbst (b. 1770 d. 1832). (Not the Composer). Starting with one of Johannes’ sons, Herbert Hoover was able to compile a list of what I believe was every single relative up to 1967.

Now, I’d normally consider this fairly impressive. There was no “internets” in 1967, so he actually had to do research the old way. And he even found the name of the ship and the captain of it that sailed to America.

What blew me away, and still does a day later, is the pure beauty of it. It’s a circle with the Herbst coat of arms in the center with every single generation spiraling along the outside. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. And to be honest I’m a little disappointed in my relatives (i’m not sure if it was my mother or grandfather) for keeping such a wonderful thing hidden in a cardboard tube for fifty years. The thing should be framed and displayed.

I can’t understand how he did it. I doubt I could reproduce it on a computer, but they did it on what I assume is typewritters. It was printed in little old “Dallastown, Penna” in 1967. So how?

I’m going to attempt to get Kinkos to make some copies of it for me, so I can keep a copy of it and give some to other relatives who may be interest.

I’ve posted a picture of it and while it does it no justice, at least you can see what I’m talking about somewhat.

Herbst Family Tree Photo – Herbert Hoover Herbst 1967

If you happen to be a PA-Herbst and are on the tree and want a copy, shoot me an email.