Germantown Pennsylvania

Biography of William Ranck

WILLIAM RANCK. – This representative citizen of Clarke county was born at East Waterford, Pennsylvania, in 1829. At the age of five years his parents moved to Huntington county in the same state, one and one-half miles from Shade Gap postoffice, where he received the common-school education of that early time which consisted chiefly of the “three R’s.” At the age of seventeen he went to Shirleysburg to learn the trade of a wagon and carriage maker. After some years of employment at Germantown, and at other points in Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the 1st day of April, 1852,he left … Read more

Lutheran Orphans’ Home and Asylum, Germantown PA 1892-1914

Lutheran Orphans Home and Asylum Germantown

Philadelphia has been justly noted for its many charitable and benevolent institutions. Among these the “Orphans’ Home and Asylum for the Aged and Infirm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Germantown” holds a conspicuous place. When so many children were made orphans during the late war, this institution was among the first to open its doors for these soldiers’ orphans, and 98 were admitted up to the time when the State provided homes for them. Including with these reports are names and ages of the orphans who were present during the year.

Wistar Family: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Caspar Wistar, Emigrant in 1717

Wistar Family title page

The book “Wistar Family: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Caspar Wistar, Emigrant in 1717” delves into the fascinating history of the Wistar family, tracing its roots back to Caspar Wistar, who was born on February 3, 1696, to Hans Caspar and Anna Catharina Wüster in Hilspach, near Heidelberg in the Electorate of the Rhenish Palatinate. Caspar’s father served as a huntsman or forester for the Prince Palatine, a position that was hereditary in their family.