Burkholder Business

After spending most of four months working on an article about the Burkholders, I am just about ready to say it is finished. I spent the first couple months writing about the Burkholder immigrants and their Swiss ancestry. In the process, I found some things about the descendants of Christian Burkholder that were either missing or garbled in the genealogy books.

After the article was finished I thought I should write down some of the things I found in my research about Christian's descendants and the documentation for the correct information. That led to listing all of Christian's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Every time I thought I was finished and reviewed it I would find something else that sent me on another search. In the end, I spent most of March putting this genealogy together.

Yesterday I wrapped up the project by visiting two historical societies and confirming the last bits I had marked in red. I came home and entered all the corrections and additions and am now pronouncing it finished. There are still a few people I could not find but so be it. A few blanks in a list of nearly 200 people is not excessive.

This article is supposed to be in the July issue of Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage. The editor is about to start working on it. I think it will be ready in time. I just need to collect one more piece of documentation on Christian's brother Peter next week when I go to Virginia (and hope it doesn't lead me down another trail) so I can finally wrap up this Burkholder business. Spring is here and other things are peeking over the horizon.