Ort and Lauser Families

Sabina Raish Homer

When good men die their goodness does not perish,

But lives though they are gone. As for the bad,

All that was theirs dies and is buried with them.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), Temenidae

When a person dies, a library burns. -- Unknown

If I am part German and part Irish, how come both

parts of me look the same? -- Sarah McBride, Age 6

Anglais-Français

Englisch-Deutschen

Carolyn Lauser Jacobs

Major families making an appearance on this site:

Families	Branches
Ort	Price, Clark, Robinson, Schambers
Lauser	Lausser, Homer, Raish, Putt, McCaffery, Rowe
Jacobs	McKinney, Fleming, Kimmel
Durand	LaCroix
And my Cousins	Nelson, Kimmel, Warner, Bergey, Witthaus, Yehl, Case, Wise

Why this web site?

1) We have lost the verbal historical accounts of a number of our parents due to death. (Hey, those of you in your 20s, 30s and 40s, talk to your parents now.)

2) Families are drifting apart as family members settle out of our original communities

. As new generations come along and form more families, physical documentation of our family history (letters, photos, etc.) are thinned out and it will be difficult to consolidate information.

3) The longer we, or our descendants, wait to document the history of our most recent generations, the more difficult the task will become.

4) We are finding that we do indeed have the sense of family; it was just waiting to be awakened. Very few have indicated that they are not interested in this project.

5) The sooner we announce our interest and intentions, the better chance we will receive information from our other cousins who may also be interested.

Why do I bother? (I know most of you think I am a little off-in-the-head.)

1) It's enjoyable to see family photos that I have never seen before

2) There is some satisfaction in being able to at least look up the names of your cousins. Also, reading the history of your aunts and uncles (or writing the history of your parents) reveals many facts or often corrects misconceptions about your family. Certainly, the more you know about your family, the more you feel you belong. (I swore I was adopted! Poor Mom.)

3) We have some interesting ancestors and it's enjoyable to read about them and interconnect with their lives! It's a new experience to be linked with events and places centuries ago!

(Discovered some of the original family buildings are still standing in Montgomery County, PA. A trip to be planned, for sure. UPDATE: THE TRIP HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL POSSIBLY AUGUST OR SEPTEMBER.)

4) Detective work is enjoyable! My life may be dull, but my family can attest I was truly thrilled the night I found a nephew I didn't know I had. Now that's worth years of researching.

5) Writing this history will be important to someone, someday, if not today, like a couple of generations from now, and then only to someone with a familiar surname, but I am doing it anyway. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

6) This work has renewed my faith in people. There are so many wonderful, kind and generous people out there. I have had people helping me in this research who are not related to my family. I am so grateful for those friends I have made through this hobby. Maybe that's the addiction to genealogy; it's not the hunt, it's the camaraderie.

The above is paraphrased (that means 'not quite stolen' or 'not quite plagiarized') from the Introduction to:

George Durand and Eleanor Dubeau: their Descendants and their Ancestors

by Francis (Pete) Petersen, Marilyn Durand Kunz, Eileen Schema Sloan, Janet Durand Kahler, Mary Durand Thomas, Patricia Elliot, Mary Durand Weir, Eleanor Durand Parry, Roger E. Durand, Edmund Durand

2nd Printing, printed in 1997, 100 years after the marriage of George Durand and Eleanor Dubeau

Carolyn J.

Established 6 Jun 2004

Updated August 2007