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ONE Berks-related book review of historical interest ======================================================= "LEINBACHS IN AMERICA: The First Five Generations" by Laurel Miller. Printed by Westlawn Graphic (Sinking Spring); 8.5 by 11; hardbound; attractive dust jacket; 320 pages; contains a table of contents, foreword, preface, acknowledgements, introduction, five appendices, comprehensive index, and a page of photo credits. Available at $42.50. Make checks payable to Leinbach Family Reunion and send to Connie Leinbach, 1319 Girard Ave., Wyomissing, PA 19610. Laurel Miller grew up in the Reading area and lived here most of her life. In recent years, she’s been off in foreign climes doing missionary work, lately with the Wyclisse Bible Translators in the Ivory Coast of Africa. A recent insurrection induced the group to temporarily relocate. At present, Laurel is in Germany. For starters, this is an extraordinary book that has much to interest genealogists and historians alike--even folks with a marginal interest in those fields. Even though not wildly enthralled with family histories--including my own!--I have a hard time putting this book aside because of my personal interest in the Oley Valley, Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians, and Berks history in general. The freshly unearthed Moravian material alone is worth the price of the publication. Especially the Oley material that includes a wonderful map of the Moravian cemetery which I examined nearly 45 years ago; regrettably, it is now little more than a memory. It once had some small slate-like burial markers. This compilation has been a work in progress for something like twenty years. The end product reflects this statement. I have never encountered a family history--or any local history--so well documented. Every source of reference is revealed and explained. Laurel’s methodical approach can be judged by the fact that her book contains a foreword, preface, and protracted introduction. Impressive! Laurel’s extensive background in printing and the graphic arts is clearly manifested as the text is a model of clarity and attractive design. No compilation could be more reader-friendly. Photos, while generally not large, are adequate and well chosen. There is a ten-page section that is extremely helpful to those interested in researching family history. Included is a page of samples of German script, in numerous forms, such as one might encounter in poring through old manuscripts. Another page contains a lengthy listing of German tombstone vocabulary. From there she provides:- genealogical building blocks, sources & hierachy...primary sources (church records, tombstone inscriptions, courthouse records)...intermediate and secondary sources (census records, newspapers, family manuscripts)... tertiary sources (county histories, genealogies, magazine articles)...and so forth. The ten-page section concludes with a detailed listing of popular genealogical websites and a state-by-state/county-by-county guide to good sources of information. For the unenlightened, particularly those of us who have not encountered any spelling of the family name beyond Leinbach, it appears extensively elsewhere as Leimbach (very early), Lineback, Leinbaugh, and Linebaugh. The book’s table of contents divides the main text into these sections:- Leinbachs in Germany, Leinbachs in PA, Moravian Tapestry, Morarian Miscellany, America on the Move, Historical Sources, Genealogical Standards, and Leinbachs by Generation, 1 through 5. "The Leinbachs in America" is a model book with lots of local history interwoven throughout. Accordingly, it belongs in every library in the county. Anyone with old-time family ties to Oley will want this volume, too. Forty-three years ago, at a very tender age and on my first day as principal of Alsace Consolidated school in the Oley Valley, custodian Elmer Garman warned me: "Don't talk about anyone, Mr. Meiser, everyone around here is related!" =================== An after-thought: It’s incredible how many really good Reading and Berks-related history-type books have been published within the past 12 months. Looking to the shelf above my computer, I count 10 substantial and significant volumes. One wonders how this compares to other counties within the Commonwealth. ====================== gmmix ==== end ===

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