As a child growing up in Coatesville, my mother shared stories about our ancestors who lived in the Welsh Mountains. She told of the Natives, escaped slaves, and disenfranchised whites who settled there.  When we visited the people there I feld a sense of awe at it’s beauty and sadness at the poverty of some residents. It seemed the further away I lived the more fascination there was for the Welsh Mountains. I researched and documented my family history over a period of twenty years, and wrote two books, Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African American Family, and Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color. I am currently working on my third book, Minqua: People of the Welsh Mountains, and on a Documentary of the same name.

As a Mixed-Raced descendant of the Welsh Mountains I hold a unique perspective on the people who lived there. Two of my ancestors, Henry Green and Uriah Martin, came out of the Mountains to fight in the Civil War. Several ancestors lived and worked on farms in the area to earn money. They were not just those people, they contributed to the history and culture of the area.

If there is anyone who would like to share their family stories please contact me at, ntawls@gmail.com.

The Minqua site link is: http://minqua.ning.com

Those of you who have Quaker ancestors in your family tree may be interested in a new site that I am working on devoted to Quaker genealogy in the Mid-Atlantic region. This is a brand new project, but is already off to a good start with lots of data added and much more to come.  The site address is http://usgensites.com/quakers - I hope to see you there!

Most of us have a relative somewhere in our family tree that we would prefer not to have, and, no doubt, we also have relatives that would prefer that we not mention those same relatives. The bottom line, to my way of thinking, though, is that those not-so-desirable additions to the family tree have as much right to be mentioned as the more illustrious members. We all have the responsibility of our own destinies, but none for our relatives, so why not include as much family history as possible? If nothing else, such inclusions make for much more interesting reading when it comes to family histories!

In the early 1870’s, Chester County was rocked by a rather bizarre case, known as the Goss-Udderzook case, that started with an attempt to defraud some insurance companies and ended with a murder. Though there is a lot of information available about the case, there is very little background information to be found about the people involved. This is an attempt to provide some of that missing information.

The basics of the case are very simple. William Eachus Udderzook conspired with his brother-in-law, Winfield Scott Goss, to defraud four insurance companies by faking Goss’s death in a fiery blaze in Baltimore, to the benefit of his wife, Eliza Goss. Due to a number of irregularities in the case, the insurance companies balked and instigated full investigations into the case. It was determined that the body that was burned in the fire was not that of Mr. Goss and the search was on. Disturbed by the idea that the true Mr. Goss would reveal the reality of the situation, Udderzook murdered him and deposited the body in Chester County, not far from where Udderzook had grown up. Once the real body was found, the case was quickly finalized and Udderzook was executed in November of 1874.

Udderzook and Goss were married to sisters, Clara and Eliza, respectively, daughters of David and Sarah Arden. Articles about the case also mention William Udderzook’s brother-in-law, Samuel Rhoades, husband of William’s sister Annie.

William Udderzook was one of six childen born to Henry Udderzook and his wife, Jane Yarnall, four sons and two daughters. Henry and Jane were married in 1831 and lived together for 12 years, after which they lived separately, their marital status becoming a matter for legal minds to consider when Jane later sought to sell the family property without involving Henry. Jane Yarnall was the daughter of Amos Yarnall and Larcy DeGrace Beaumont. She died in 1881 and is buried at Morris Cemetery in Phoenixville; Henry is buried at Willistown Friends. More information about Jane yarnall Udderzook’s family may be found in our family Files section.

Since my work schedule has changed and I now only work every other weekend, I’ve been planning a number of road trips for this summer. A few weeks ago, I spent some time roaming around Delaware County and came home with lots of shots from some of the old Quaker meetings in that area.

One of the planned trips will be to West Chester to catch up with some of the old family properties in the area, including the home of Joseph T. Rothrock on Church Street, and Isaac Reynolds’ former home on the campus of WCU. I may combine this trip with a stop at the Historical Society to do some research as well.

Another trip will be to some of the Quaker meetings in the western portion of the county, including Homeville, Unionville, Marlboro and Oxford. I’d like to photograph as many of the headstones as possible while in the area as well as the meetinghouses themselves since I’ve never been to either the Oxford or Unionville meetings.

I have a rather haphazard approach to recording cemeteries. In a perfect world, I would chart each one and then meticulously photograph each stone and note its position on the chart, but the reality is that I am usually working with time constraints and lack of help. So, what happens instead, most of the time, is that I work my way down the rows, focusing on surnames that I recognize and concentrating on stones that are easily readable. At the end of the day, I’ll have several hundred images stored on my camera’s card and lots of folks to identify.

The identification part is where the fun comes in. Though I’ll be quick to caution folks against using online sources as a reference, many of these online trees can be a great starting point for figuring out who the people were in each cemetery.When a discrepancy shows up between an online date and the one on a headstone, I’ll generally assume that the headstone is correct
When taking pictures, I like to keep all the obvious family members together to make identification easier. Though husbands and wives are often found side by side, the parents may be in a different row altogether, though they often turn up in the next row over.

While a numberof sites have large listings for some of the Chester County cemeteries, most of them do not provide the additional family information that would help to really identify these folks, so one of the goals on this site is to show as much information as possible with each listing. It’s a slow process to be sure, but very rewarding in the long run.

Since the weather cooperated by no raining on Saturday, I took advantage of the long weekend to do a quick trip around the county. Mostly, I wanted to fill in some holes in my collection of meetinghouse pictures, as well as find some places that I been curious about.

One of the places was the old Quaker cemetery on White Horse road in Londonderry township, known under various names. On the signpost out front, it reads Doe Run Friends Cemetery and mentions that the property is under the care of Fallowfield meeting. On Google maps, it shows up as Londonderry Cemetery and I’ve seen it referred to as both Derry and Londonderry. The meeting itself, while it existed, was Doe Run, so it becomes a bit confusing when trying to determine where an actual burial took place.

Some Quaker graveyards are more accessible than others, particularly when it come to older meetings that have been laid down over the years. Penns Grove, for example, does not  appear to have anywhere to park though the yard is accesible easily on foot. Many of the sites merely have grassy areas in which to park, though the more active ones may actually have a paved area. Good maps definitely help and as an aid, I’ve added a Googlemaps section to this site with the various meetings added.

Seeking documented evidence of “blacksmith” Abraham Maxwell, wife Rachael and children Jacob, Esther (others) in West Chester during 1800s. Trying to connect Surname to 6-7 desendants who have same “middle name”

Any assistance and/or information gratefully appreciated. Also what websites will provide city census,wills,photos etc. of that era and local.

Thank you, Tom Maxwell Whitelock

My first search . . .  

Searching for Joseph Davis born abt 1715.  Listed in 1765 Tax Assessments in Vincent Township and another listed in West Marborough, not sure which one.  Also, Anyone have a map of these two townships?

Joseph & family moved to Fayette Co., PA and died there in 1787.

Thank you kindly!

Jane Webb

One of my goals for this upcoming year is to transcribe as much as possible of the old files left to me by the daughter of David M. McFarland. Many of these files deal with the Bonsall family as well, as he was married to Julia Bonsall, daughter of Ellwood, and there are also lots of old letters between the various family members which help to pinpoint family lines. Some of these letters are quite poignant, such as the one sent by David to his father explaining why he feels the need to enlist in the service during World War One rather than being drafted; others are more mundane but are still of interest. David did serve in the military apparently, as one of the files included in this collection is his Honorable Discharge dated from 1919.

One of the most interesting bits of the collection are two old pages from a family bible from the Bonsall side. The latest entries date from the 1920’s and there are numerous different handwritings on the pages, with the earliest appearing to be from the mid 1800’s.

There is also a very old autograph book belonging to Eliza Veazey prior to her marriage to Thomas Bonsall. Though most of the entries are undated there are a few from the early part of the 1800’s. Scanning the book will hopefully make it possible to read some of the entries, even after all this time.