Whether you connect to our extended family via birth, marriage, community, or friendship, we hope you find something that interests you in these stories from the past. Please let us know if you have an idea for a future blog post or would like to publish a post you create about a related family, person, or place.

Celebrating Sheila Jordan

Jazz legend and former Summerhill resident Sheila Jordan passed away on August 11, 2025 at the age of 96 . . . 

The Cutest Little Baby Face

Named a “popular song that will live forever”, you may already be familiar with Eddie Cantor’s 1926 hit . . .

You’re One of “A”s Kids, Ain’t Ya?

This question could have been asked of any one of Meg & “A”s children in the 1950s or 1960s . . .

Friends and Neighbors in a Time of War

New Germany residents from Bavaria were among those who registered in the first military draft in U.S. history . . .

Margaret and Nicolas Meyers

Meet Margaret (Gilroy) Rooney Meyers and Nicolas Meyers, newlyweds in 1901 in Windber, Pennsylvania . . . 

Meg and “A” Bodenschatz

Meet Edward J. Bodenschatz Jr. and Margaret Bodenschatz, née Rooney, of Summerhill, Pennsylvania . . .

A Drop in the Global Bucket

A brief look at our very long list of interconnected surnames in the context of the larger world . . .

Two Brothers and Two Nephews

Four men brought the Bodenschatz name from Upper Franconia, Bavaria, to Cambria County, Pennsylvania . . .