Clan Armstrong

I've created a line of Clan Armstrong products for all ages via Zazzle. Show your Armstrong spirit with these customizable designs. Invictus Maneo

Baby Bib

Flask

Revolutionary Ancestor Leonard Litzinger Family

My 5th great-grandfather was recently proven to be a Revolutionary War Patriot by the Daughters of the American Revolution. We currently have an application into the Sons of the American Revolution to establish the same for their organization. In prepping documentation for both organizations, I created a chart of Leonard's family that I'd like to share with any of his decendents.

Children of Magdalen Kupser and Leonard Litzinger

Names	Date of Birth/Place	Spouse(s)	Source
Simon Litzinger	29 May 1767 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Mary Ann Meyers	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 32 1
Catharine Litzinger	29 Mar 1769 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Henry Kuhn	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 371
Magdalen Litzinger	05 Mar 1771 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	John Raille	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 421
John James Litzinger	29 Mar 1773 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Sarah Plott	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 491
John Litzinger	16 Mar 1775 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Appolonia Adams Ms Pierce	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 541
John Leonard Litzinger	20 Sep 1777 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Elizabeth Miller Elizabeth Leas	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 651
Anna Maria Litzinger	08 Sep 1779 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	John Stockton	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 721
Anthony Litzinger	03 Feb 1782 Goshenhoppen, Berks, PA	Susanah Burley	Goshenhoppen Registers pg 821
Eve Litzinger	Abt 1785 PA	John Meyers	Conewago Chapel2 and Leonard Litzinger will3

* Eve Litzinger birth year of 1785 is estimated from 1800 census. Family relocated from Berks County to York/Adams County between 1784 and 1785 according to tax records. Theories:

          A) Eve’s baptism is not recorded in Goshenhoppen Registers due to failing health of Father Ritter’s failing health “registers kept by him during the last two years of his life from 1785-1787 are missing.” [Goshenhoppen Resisters pg 122]

          B) The surviving records from Conewago Chapel seem to begin in 1791, long after Eve’s birth, hence no record of her baptism.

Sources:

¹ Goshenhoppen Registers 1741-1819; Reprinted from American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia by Clearfield Inc, Baltimore, MD 2002

² Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records; Reel: 695

³ Leonard Litzinger will; PA Archives PA-31-2-223

Church and State

1st Presbyterian Church Succasunna

The Morris County Freeholders are debating tonight whether to restrict historic preservation grants to only those organizations that own and maintain historic buildings to those that do not have any religious affiliation.

Church buildings were among the first community buildings built in our towns and villages. They served as houses of worship, schools, and community gathering places. The 1st Presbyterian Church in Succasunna served as a hospital during the American Revolution serving soldiers regardless of their faith; those who didn’t survive are buried in their cemetery. Don’t ask the government who married who in the 1700s, or when a child was born in most of the 1800s; this information was only kept by churches. Whether the politically correct like it or not, church going Americans founded this country and their buildings and records are inter-woven in the fabric of our society.

The 1st Amendment to the Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” The resolution being proposed in this motion clearly is prohibiting the free exercise of religion. A historic building that once was a church but is now used for another purpose would be eligible for county historical preservation grants; however, that same building if used for religious purposes today cannot. How is this not against the constitution? It is absurd to deny the historical status of these buildings and the accompanying need for upkeep just because they are run by thus and such religion. We are not asking you to establish a religion.

I ask Morris County Freeholders to NOT to prohibit the free exercise of religious organizations by denying them the necessary funds to maintain their historic buildings, solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. Tell your Freeholders what you think tonight 7:30pm at the Morristown Courthouse.

History of the Woodcock Family from 1692 to Sept. 1, 1912

History of the Woodcock family from 1692 to Sept. 1 by William L Woodcock
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Resource used to prove silversmith Bancroft Woodcock a Patriot in the American Revolution. Ancestry tree from Robert Bancoft to Clinton Lee Burket.

View all my reviews

Sketch of Alexander Alexander, Who Emigrated from County Down, Ireland, in the Year 1770 and Settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania: Together with ... Chart and Record of His Descendants by Walter Scott Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The life and decendants of immigrant patriot Alexander Alexander. Alexander came from Ireland and fought in the American Revolution. He is a Patriot in the rolls of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This book was used as proof for Alexander Alexander and Bancroft Woodcock applications. Ancestry charts include my grand-father Clinton Lee Burket.

View all my reviews

Today is National Organize Your Home Day

To Do List and key holder

Today is National Organize Your Home Day.  It is a good reminder of the importance of having an organized home and no it’s not to avoid shame if company drops in unexpectedly.  Rather, our home should be a place of refuge from the crazy world we live in. January is a great time to get your home in order; the weather outside is frightful so naturally we spend more time indoors and in our home. I bet like me de-cluttering, simplifying, or organizing made its way to your New Year’s resolution list.

Speaking of the New Year, have you pulled together last year’s financial records? I like to use a colored envelope for all my tax records (this year’s is blue). I went thru my files from last year, shredded the documents I don’t need to keep 7 years and put the rest in the envelope. When my W2 and 1099s show up, I’ll add them too. By early February I’ll be ready for my accountant.

If the cards you buy tend to be of the belated variety, try Send Out Cards. They will send real cards thru the mail to your friends and family for you. Simply upload your contacts and their birthdays, pick out a card or create your own, tell SOC to send the card on your friend’s birthday and forget about it. In one day, you can setup deliveries for the month or year!

We have photos galore and since I’ve been researching our family tree other family members keep gifting me their photos. So while it is hard to tell, I have made progress scanning picture as I try to reduce the actual photos in the house. I’ll keep plugging away at it in 2015; hopefully it will start to look like I’ve made progress soon.

The lack of visual confirmation of progress with the photos got me looking for a project that I could see more immediate results. The linen closet was my chosen target. Now that that is done, I will spend some time shredding some of the incredible amount of non-financial paper I seem to constantly accumulate, while I contemplate my next de-cluttering project.

Christmas Eve and Apollo 8

Kennedy Space Center 2014

Dad's Naval Academy class holds small yearly reunions at various locations around the country. This year we traveled to Cocoa Beach on Florida's east coast. The location immediately brings to mind "I Dream of Jeannie", astronaut Tony Nelson and Barbara Eden in her jeannie outfit. Like the real life astronauts of the time, Major Nelson blasted off from Kennedy Space Center. One of those real life astronauts was a member of the USNA class of 1955, so unsurprisingly a visit to the space center was a part of the reunion. In one of those could we have timed it any better moments, the exhibition centered on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission in which astronauts Frank F. Borman, II, James A. Lovell, Jr. and USNA ’55 graduate William A. Anders.  

I didn't like taking pictures even at xmas

Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to fly around the moon. It was fascinating to hear the audio from that mission as an adult while reflecting back to my memories of the time. Daddy worked with the Air Force on their space program, so different things were highlighted and celebrated than in most American homes. This flight is a perfect example, my memories center on one aspect of the flight. As the crew began their circle around the moon edging to the back side, I remember my daddy worrying about whether everything would go right and if Bill and his buddies would reappear and re-establish contact with NASA. Daddy worrying about anything was not something my six year old self had experienced, so I knew something very serious was happening. Thankfully they did navigate the spaceship back to the light. All was right with my daddy, his friend and the world so it was time to get back to what matters most to six year olds at that time of year, Christmas!

Meanwhile, there was an important mission still taking place in space. Memorializing the aforementioned feat of flying around the moon, to once again see earth, Bill Anders took one of the most famous pictures ever taken “earthrise”. Rather than taking apart the framed autographed copy off my wall, this one is swiped from the internet.

Besides the Earthrise picture, the part of the mission most Americans remember is the Christmas Eve transmission from the astronauts as they read from the Book of Genesis. So in closing on this Christmas Eve 46 years later I leave you with their transmission, wishing all a Merry Christmas.