I am a retired teacher (30 years teaching elementary and middle school Art) and a recent genealogy returnee. The death of my 6-year-old great-niece in a horrible car accident in April 2011 reopened my interest in my family tree. My father's cousin James Smith had done a lot of research on the Smith side all the way back to the 1600s, but very little was known about my mother's side of the family. This site and ancestry.com have been extraordinarily helpful in the hunt.

The last names of my ancestors on my father's side (Smith) are Smith, Shultz, Aulthouse, Anders, Hoffa (yes, I am distantly related to Jimmy Hoffa!) and Heck. My mother's ancestors (Peiffer) include Peiffer, Miller, Yoder and Boltz. For the most part, both families have stayed in PA with some of my father's side coming from Maryland.

I am a retired teacher (30 years teaching elementary and middle school Art) and a recent genealogy returnee. The death of my 6-year-old great-niece in a horrible car accident in April 2011 reopened my interest in my family tree. My father's cousin James Smith had done a lot of research on the Smith side all the way back to the 1600s, but very little was known about my mother's side of the family. This site and ancestry.com have been extraordinarily helpful in the hunt.

The last names of my ancestors on my father's side (Smith) are Smith, Shultz, Aulthouse, Anders, Hoffa (yes, I am distantly related to Jimmy Hoffa!) and Heck. My mother's ancestors (Peiffer) include Peiffer, Miller, Yoder and Boltz. For the most part, both families have stayed in PA with some of my father's side coming from Maryland.