Grandma's Granny's Family Album

I couldn't let my kids have all the fun, so I did my DNA too.  I have only one grandparent born in the US, Arabella Zoeller, and she is the daughter of German immigrants.  My grandfather, Jacob Sulzbach, was born in Hesse, a German staat by the Rhein River.  The Sulzbachs have lived in their town, Rockenberg, since 1600.  My father is obviously completely German, making me half German.  We drank beer and ate cheese together when I was three. My other grandparents are from Nova Scotia, which means New Scotland in Latin.  Joseph Robertson has a clan of his own and Bessie Spence has at least a tartan.  My mother did have a German grandmother, Ann Acker, making her a quarter German.     So I thought of myself as about 2/3 German and 1/3 Scottish.  Ich habe Deutsch in die Schule gelernt, and I speak it well enough to have bought myself vielen Glas Bier and driven on das Autobahn in my two visits there.  I also hiked the Scottish hig...

 It is strange to think that Springhill did not even warrant a name on a map before the 1880s, when coal mines and railroads combined to create an economic boom and farmers arrived from all over to become miners.  In 1881, the Spences were still farmers in Halfway River, but had moved to Springhill by 1886, when the oldest son, Uncle Sam, married Aunt Mary Ann Shields, who also lived there. on this 1831 map of Cumberland County, I don't see any towns between Amherst and River Philip By the 1890s all our people were mining families in Springhill -  Grannie Phoebe and Grampa Bill (Grannie and Grampa English) 2 of Phoebe's 4 sisters (Aunt Abby and Aunt Mini)  1 of her 3 brothers (Stephen) all 5 of Bill's brothers (Uncle Sam, Uncle Palmer, Uncle Wes, Uncle Murd, and Uncle Ains)  his sister (Aunt Ellen)  and his parents (John W. and Almira) 2 of Bill's 4 uncles (Samuel and George Francis)  and all 3 aunts (Mary Ellen, Hannah, and Ella) In 1891, Canada was v...