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Somerset County, Pennsylvania (posted December, 2025)
A video of a drive on an old one-lane ridgetop road in Larimer Township
The lime kiln along Piney Run Road
An 1895 newspaper article about packhorses, the Tissue murder, and a fist fight as a test of strength & skill
Korns (posted December, 2025)
A mystery John Korns of Cumberland, Maryland
1837 land patent of William Korn, son of Michael Korn, Sr.
I added a property ownership map to the William Korns page.
Land patents of Charles Korns, son of Jacob, grandson of Carl
Updated the Mary Magdalene Korn page
Updated the Susanna (Korn) Shearer page
Last minute Christmas gift ideas! (posted December, 2025)
Give your Boomer grandparents the gift of nostalgia this Christmas!
Deck the halls with history! Give "Fort Cumberland" this Christmas!
Sloan's Ford (posted December, 2025)
I added a new photo to the Sloan's Ford video (6 minutes 45 seconds).
Music (posted December, 2025)
I added the new song "The Pennsy Aerotrain" to my folk song page
I added the new song "Angels on the wing" to my folk song page
Dr. Wellford (posted November, 2025)
A study of several entries from Dr. Wellford’s 1794 travel diary
Music (posted November, 2025)
I added the new song "Applejack" to my folk song page
I added the new song "The Painter Cat" to my folk song page
I added the new song "The 1964 Corvair" to my folk song page
Korns.org succession planning (posted November, 2025)
Welcoming Emily Dietle as Co-Administrator
Gunsmithery (posted November, 2025)
A significant update to the biography of the gunsmith John K. Parks
Gunsmithery (posted October, 2025)
Details of a rifle made by John Moll of Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Music (posted October, 2025)
I added a couple more songs to my folk song page
Music (posted September, 2025)
Folk songs by L. Dietle
'Mongst the Hills o' Somerset (James Whitcomb Riley's 1888 poem, set to folk music.)
The Used-to-Be (James Whitcomb Riley's 1893 poem, set to string quartet music.)
Statistics (posted September, 2025)
Korns.org visitor traffic statistics
Korns family (posted August, 2025)
Michael Korn, Sr. owned a 523-acre Maryland tract called "Philips Fancy"
Gunsmithery (posted August, 2025)
1842 & 1844 Huntingdon County, Pa. commercial gun part procurement-related records
Individuals outside of my primary area of interest
The gunsmith George Nunnamacher
1871 Great Western Gun Works wholesale catalog
Gunsmithery (posted July, 2025)
Whitmore & Wolff gun lock photos
Whitmore, Wolff, & Co. gun lock photos
Whitmore, Wolff, Duff & Co. gun lock photos
A 19th century muzzleloading rifle by William Sink
Jacob B. Reynolds: Steubenville, Ohio gun barrel manufacturer
Historic availability of store-bought gun parts in western Pennsylvania
An improved digital copy of Dillin's 1924 book "The Kentucky Rifle"
A working definition for the 1800s term "gun trimmings"
Updated the Holderbaum's hardware store page
Updated the Byers & Barnett hardware store page
The Great Western Gun Works company.
Information about old-time gun barrel manufacturing
A description of the rifling in Pennsylvania long rifles
Updated the web page about how rifling was cut in the old days
Gunsmithery (posted June, 2025)
A major update to the John Furney page
John Parks
The husband & wife gunsmiths William B. and Vester Stapleton
Josiah Topper
Tracing the term "Pennsylvania Rifle"
Abner Truax, gunsmithing apprentice
Photos of the house, gun shop/post office, and family of the Huntingdon County, PA gunsmith James Stapleton
Was this rifle made by one of the Horner gunsmiths?
Whitmore & Wolff, Pittsburgh gun lock importers
Baer (posted May, 2025)
Added a portrait of Elisha Baer to the Elisha & Polly (Beal) Baer family page
Gunsmithery (posted May, 2025)
Photos of a percussion rifle by Samuel Conrad of Somerset County
J. N. Matthesiee inlaid & carved 1857-dated sliding lid wooden box
Major update to the William W. Blain page
Samuel Miller Shillito
Photos of a J. Furney-signed rifle
Two 1936 articles about the Clouse gunsmiths of Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County (posted May, 2025)
Updated the Larimer Township breastworks fort web page
Father's Day — June 15, 2025 (posted May, 2025)
A Father's Day Gift That Takes Your Dad Back in Time
Petenbrink-Geiger (posted April, 2025)
A bottle that belonged to John and Gerty (Petenbrink) Geiger
John Nicholas Matthesiee (posted April, 2025)
An inlaid and carved sliding lid-type curly maple box by 19th century gunsmith J. N. Matthesiee
White Oak (posted April, 2025)
Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church sesquicentennial booklet (8,159 KB PDF)
Turkey Foot Road (posted April, 2025)
Reorganized the Turkey Foot Road info on this website to improve accessibility
Gunsmith project (posted April, 2025)
Added more detailed photos of the Ephriam Geiger powder horn
Agricultural history | Korns family (posted March, 2025)
1942 picture of Allen & Lester Korns posing with a binding machine
Updated the Korns Fordson page to include a photo of a Fordson at the Smithsonian
Somerset County Indians (posted March, 2025)
1938 archaeology article: Recent Discoveries in Somerset County (4,521 KB pdf)
Maple sugar (posted March, 2025)
Consolidated all of my Allen Korns maple syrup-related photos onto a single page
Gunsmith project (posted March, 2025)
Octagonal barrel weight in pounds per inch of length (chart)
Added ball weight to pure lead balls per pound chart
I found a copy of an 1875 article about the murder of Bedford County gunsmith Jacob Snider
Updated the page about the three unidentified gunsmiths referenced in the 1810 Somerset County manuscript census records
Added links to scans of the estate documents of Peter and Benjamin Troutman on the Benjamin Troutman biography page.
Photos of early Southampton Township houses (posted February, 2025)
New photos of the old log house on the Troutman farm
Added a new photo of the southern end of the Lepley stone house
New photos of the timber frame house on the Blubaugh Place
Somerset County (posted February, 2025)
Index to maps from the 1876 "County Atlas of Somerset Pennsylvania"
Southampton Township militia lists (1823, 1825, 1836)
Korns (posted February, 2025)
Dr. Charles Byron Korns, Sr. of Sipesville, Somerset County, PA
Updated the page tracing ownership of the Daniel Korns, Jr. farm
The Somerset County gunsmith Jacob Mier (posted January, 2025)
Jacob Mier percussion full stock muzzleloading rifle
Boomer memories (posted January, 2025)
Nostalgia in Print: Revisiting the Rural America of Yesteryear
Dietle (posted January, 2025)
Framed photo of Agnes Marie Dietle
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