The map fragment below is from the 1876 Beers Atlas of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and includes the portion of Larimer township that is adjacent to Southampton township. For orientation purposes, the "CH & CEM" near the bottom of the map is one of the White Oak Churches. Underneath the words "GEIGER DIST.", the farms of J. Tressler and W.A. Geiger are shown. I believe that these are abbreviations for John Tressler and William Aaron Geiger, although John Tressler had apparently been dead for a few years at the time the map was published.
In 2008, I spoke to my first cousin W. L. Korns, who told me that he believed that Wilson Korns's grandmother (nee Tressler) was raised on a farm down the same road that my Grandfather Dietle lived on, further back the same road (on the right side of the road). My cousin said that he knows the present owner of the Tressler farm, and the present owner told him that the farm had formerly been in the Tressler family for many years (the house burned down).
My Grandfather Irvin H. Dietle lived on what had previously been the Ephriam Geiger place (marked W.A. Geiger on the 1876 map), and Ephriam and his sister Mary (Wilson's wife) were raised next door to that, on their father Aaron Geiger's place (apparently the place marked W.A.G. on the 1876 map). It isn't very hard to imagine that Wilson Korns must have met his future wife Mary Geiger as a result of her living near the John Tressler place (i.e. near Wilson's grandparents' place).
According to Eber Cockley's article titled "GoodHart Tressler Family Notes" in the November 1966 "Laurel Messenger":
Eber Cockley's article the only written source I've found so far that points to the possible parents of Caroline (Tressler) Korns, but it seems to fit well with the local lore that my cousin W. L. Korns told me in 2008.
L. Dietle
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