What's New on this Korns.org history website for 2024

Hit your refresh button to see the latest updates! Korns family genealogy

Cumberland (posted December, 2024)
1876: The Daily News Directory of the City of Cumberland (59,106 KB pdf)

Dietle (posted December, 2024)
Photo of the stone springhouse of Irvin & Alma Dietle

Sturtz (posted December, 2024)

  • 1874 copy of an 1808 Christian Sturtz land warrant

  • Christian Sturtz Sr. & Jr. land transactions, Somerset Co. PA (Index)

    Korns (posted December, 2024)

  • New items about Jacob Korns, including obituaries (Tama County, Iowa)

  • Added an obituary of John D. Korns, Tama County, Iowa

  • John Wilson Korns, Township Clerk, 1900

  • An 1847 reference to the tavern of Jacob Korns

  • Jacob Korns listed as an Innkeeper in the 1850 census of Somerset County, PA.

  • Newspaper notices, estate of Daniel Korns, Sr.

  • Updated the page about Joseph H. and Elizabeth (Clair) Korns

  • Added 1880 & 1881 newspaper clippings regarding a Daniel Korns, Jr. lawsuit

  • Added an item about Lizzie Korns to the Daniel Korns, Jr. page

  • Added an Elizabeth Korns death notice to the Daniel Korns, Sr. page

  • Added an item about Lydia A. Korns to the Daniel Korns, Jr. page

  • Started a new page about Frank Elmer Korns

  • Illness and death of Mrs. Michael Korns, Jr.

  • An 1892 article that mentions Matilda “Tillie” (Korns) Brubaker

  • Added an obituary to the bottom of the Edmund L. Korns page

  • Virgil Eben Korns in the 1920 census

  • Stonemason Joseph H. Korns in 1870 census

  • Matilda "Tillie" Korns

  • Obituary of Nevin Korns

  • Added an article about Mrs. Elizabeth L. Korns to the William C. Korns page

  • Golden Wedding Anniversary, Earl and Ella Korns

  • Added an obituary to the Emanuel Korns page

  • Korns auto-pedestrian accident, 1958

  • Death of Gladys (Troutman) Korns, wife of Lester Korns

  • A new daughter is born to Melvin & Dolores Korns in 1960

  • Henry Korns Sr. estate, Letters of Administration notice, 1860

  • Marriage of Helen Marie Bittner and Dr. Miller J. Korns

  • Created a page for John Harvey Korns, son of John Wilson Korns

  • Created a web page for Annalee Ada Korns, who died young

  • Created a web page for Anna M. Korns of Cumberland, Maryland

  • Created a web page for Elizabeth (Korns) Spears

  • Created a web page for Pearl Sarah (Korns) Frickey

  • Created a web page for Mary Korns, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Reiber) Korns

  • Created a web page for Elizabeth "Bessie" (Korns) Kabosky of Cumberland, Maryland

  • Created a web page for H. Estella or Estelle (Korns) Wright

    Dietle (posted November, 2024)
    Grandpa Irvin H. Dietle's shotgun

    Bittner (posted November, 2024)

  • Calvin & Ida Bittner's Somerset County house

  • Marriage license of Calvin Wesley Bittner and Ida Ada Petenbrink

  • Added a more complete copy of a Peter Petenbrink family photo to an existing web page.

  • Calvin & Ida Bittner's Somerset County, Pennsylvania barn

  • Minerva Alice Bittner, who married Harvey J. Miller

  • Added a photo of the Peter Petenbrink farmhouse to an existing web page.

  • Added a photo of the Joseph "Josiah Joe" Bittner family to an existing web page.

  • Photo of Calvin Wesley Bittner and his daughter-in-law Bertie

  • Wilbert Bittner & Bob Shockey on horseback

  • Ida Ada (Petenbrink) Bittner with Geary family members

  • Marriage License of Irvin Joseph Bittner & Alberta Miller

  • Photo of Johnny and Mildred (Bittner) Sass

  • Photo of Ida Ada (Petenbrink) Bittner and Calvin Wesley Bittner

    Civil War armored railroad cars (posted November, 2024)
    Captain Petrie's Iron Clads; an article first-published in the 2016 issue of the "Journal of the Alleghenies." (452 KB pdf)

    Old-time schools in Somerset County (posted November, 2024)
    Click here to see a new web page that indexes the information I've collected on old-time schools in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

    Somerset County churches (posted November, 2024)
    Click here to see a new web page that indexes the information I've collected on churches in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

    Tressler (posted November, 2024)
    Several newspaper clippings and maps have been added to the bio page of Isaiah "Ike" Tressler (1850-1916).

    Korns smokehouse (posted November, 2024)
    Click here to see a new web page that consolidates all my photos of the Somerset County, PA smokehouse of Allen Lester & Gladys (Bittner) Korns, and includes a new photo of the smokehouse that was provided by Jane (Stevanus) Brocht.

    Korns (posted November, 2024)
    Photo of Allen, Gladys, & Alvin Lee Korns at Christmas-time

    Muzzle loading firearms (posted October, 2024)

  • Understanding the set trigger arrangement of a muzzle loading rifle

  • The basic internal mechanism of a gun lock

    Knupp (posted September, 2024)
    Eli Nup (Knupp) signed full stock muzzle loading rifle

    Somerset County (posted September, 2024)
    Photos of the Greenville Lutheran Church

    Observations from my heart operation (posted September, 2024)
    Thoughts on preparing for and recovering from a bypass operation

    Dietle (posted September, 2024)

  • Obituaries of Irvin Henry Dietle and his wife Alma Catherine (Miller) Dietle

  • Obituary of Julia (Dietle) Saylor

    A few items that belonged to Estalene (Korns) Dietle (posted August, 2024)

  • Photo of Estalene Korns and a brother

  • Figurines that belonged to Estalene Korns as a child

    Alma (Miller) Dietle (posted August, 2024)
    Photos of a tray Alma (Miller) Dietle kept on her dresser

    Author profile (posted August, 2024)
    Lannie Dietle

    Alvin Lee & Barbara Korns (posted July, 2024)

  • Photos of Alvin Lee Korns and his first wife Barbara

  • Alvin & Barbara riding Jolly Jumpers on the Korns farm

    Wellersburg (posted July, 2024)
    Improved photo of the Wellersburg Iron Furnace

    The day dad found a dead man in the woods (posted July, 2024)
    Click here to see newspaper articles about the day the remains of D. Baker were found on Big Savage Mountain.

    New photos of Bedford County long guns (posted July, 2024)

  • Signed percussion rifle by John Nicholas Mathesiee

  • Unsigned shotgun with Bedford County stock profile

    In the Land of Used to Be (posted June, 2024)
    Because the world has changed so much since I was born in 1953, I wrote a new book about country kids growing up in the time before cell phones, video games, and social media. I hope it will help the younger crowd understand how their Baby Boomer parents and grandparents lived, and I’m certain it will help my fellow Boomers remember their own childhood adventures, misadventures, and hijinks.

    The book is a collection of memories from my childhood and covers both Somerset and Mercer counties. I would guess that about 35 percent of the content is about Somerset County, where my earliest memories were formed. After we moved to Mercer County, I still spent a good bit of time at the farms of my Somerset County relatives working, playing, and absorbing the culture.

    My childhood friends and I were left mostly to our own devices, except for school and church. We had the entire countryside as our own to explore and made our own adventures — at first on foot, then on bicycle, and eventually by automobile. We took risks and made mistakes with various degrees of seriousness, and learned from the sometimes-unpleasant consequences. I guess you could say we got a lot of mistakes out of the way early!

    The book is titled "In the Land of Used to Be: Memories of a Rural Pennsylvania Childhood." Like most of my books, all of the proceeds from this book go to a historical society. In this instance, the beneficiary is the Mercer County Historical Society.


    Purchase the book from Amazon.
    link to book FB page

    Dietle (posted May, 2024)

  • Additional photos of the farmhouse of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Roy & Estalene (Korns) Dietle in the Meyersdale High School "Hi-View" publication

  • The early 1950s "Lo-View" Newsletter (Meyersdale High School)

  • Photos of Roy and Estalene Dietle and their children from a Korns photo album

  • The house that Roy and Estalene (Korns) Dietle built, at its original location

  • Estalene, in the dining portion of the kitchen of her parents

  • Some photos of descendants of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Floorplan of the Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle farmhouse.

    Bittner descendants (posted May, 2024)

  • 1953 group photo of the children and grandchildren of Allen & Gladys (Bittner) Korns

  • Several descendants of Calvin & Ida Ada (Petenbrink) Bittner

  • A 1953 photo of Roy and Estalene (Korns) Dietle in their trailer

    Henry Rhoads, Sr. (posted May, 2024)
    Click here to read a detailed report on the Rhoads family that Jeanie Woods wrote for inclusion on this website.

    Sebastian Shallus (posted May, 2024)
    Finding the Sebastian Shallus property (A-77-214)

    Miller family (posted April, 2024)

  • Bible records of Harvey & Belinda (Baer) Miller

  • Photos of the Harvey & Belinda (Baer) family

  • The brick farmhouse of William Bare, then Jacob Peter Miller

  • Photo of Sarah J. "Sally" Deal Bare, wife of William Bare

  • Photo of Mariah (Harden) Miller, wife of Peter Miller

  • The farm of Peter D., Harvey, and Elbert Miller

  • Genealogy of the Relatives of Jacob Peter Miller and Catherine Bare Miller (23,276 KB pdf)

  • Peter D. Miller in the 1870 census

  • William Bare in the 1860 census

  • Peter D. Miller in the 1860 census

  • William and Sally (Deal) Bare, father-and-mother-in-law of Jacob P. Miller (index)

  • Elisha and Mary "Polly" (Beal) Baer, the father-and-mother-in-law of Harvey Miller

  • Peter Gaver, father-in-law of Peter Miller

    Petenbrink (posted April, 2024)
    A lot in Cumberland that the widow of Peter Peppenbrink sold in 1873

    Lepley gunsmiths (posted March, 2024)
    A 1939 aerial photo of the Lepley farmstead that identifies the location of the stone house, gunsmith shop, barn, and smaller stone structure.

    Our Mercer County, Pennsylvania neighbor's 1923 trip to California (posted March, 2024)
    Our Real Life Adventure by Lela Painter.

    Books (posted March, 2024)

  • The Family of Harvey Miller and Belinda Baer Miller (26,314 KB pdf)

  • A Little Book of Somerset County Verse (26,280 KB pdf)

    Dietle (posted March, 2024)

  • 2009 video taken at the home of Roy and Estalene Dietle

  • The desk bell Irvin H. Dietle used as a school teacher

  • Child's rocking chair from the household of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Hutch from the household of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Irvin Henry Dietle's 1916 diploma

  • Ralph Dietle Cradle Roll Certificate, Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church

  • Irvin & Alma Dietle's kitchen clock, Larimer Twp., Somerset Co. PA

  • Christening gowns from the household of Irvin and Alma Dietle

  • Christmas card Ralph Dietle received from his Miller grandparents

  • Christmas card Ralph Dietle received from his sister and uncle as a child

  • Irvin Henry Dietle reciting poetry from memory at age 86

  • Video of most of the children of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Wooden-handled forks from the household of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Children and grandchildren of Irvin & Alma (Miller) Dietle

  • Annotated 1958 aerial photo of the Irvin H. Dietle farm

  • Kerosene lamp of Irvin & Alma Dietle

  • Ralph's childhood nightstand and flute

  • Birth certificates of Roy and Estalene (Korns) Dietle

  • Army identification card of Roy Dietle

  • Childhood dollhouse furniture of Estalene (Korns) Dietle

  • Estalene (Korns) Dietle baptism certificate

    RETURN TO THE 'WHAT'S NEW' INDEX TO SEE OTHER YEARS

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