The best I have been able to do lately is to add to distant cousins and branches not directly related to me. The Witt line has grown considerably. They had married a multi great uncle of mine and it was there I discovered not one but two Davis women. Wesley W Davis had married Lydia Marie Witt (m. abt 1865). If you follow the Witt line back from Lydia you find that her grandfather John Witt had married Catherine Davis (m. abt 1812) and her great-grandfather Jacob Witt had married Christine or Christina Davis (m. 1783). The Davis line would be in my direct line, connected to my maternal grandfather. This has my curiosity up. All of my Davis line came from the Somerset county, Pennsylvania area as did the two new Davis women.
(As a side note: John Landis Witt was Lydia’s father. In doing searches on google it turns up that John Landis was the inventor of the Mason Jar, how and where and if this family connects is still a mystery.)
Somerset county, near Philadelphia and Dauphin county, near Pittsburgh are loaded with my relatives. After a bit of web searching last night I ran across Closson Press and browsed their catalog of resources. There is quite the selection of books to choose from and prices ranged from $10.00 and up. There were several that could help with my research but I settled on ordering Births, Marriages, and Deaths of Bedford and Somerset Counties, PA, 1852-1854, Pennsylvania Births, Dauphin County, 1757-1825, and Somerset County, PA WPA Cemetery Readings: A Recompilation. I am hoping that this will loosen up information for several different lines. Once I have thoroughly dissected these I will go back and take a look at what is there for Cumberland, Mercer and Lancaster counties.
The NARA emailed me that they had sent off requested pension information on Monday on a relative from the Civil War. Although I doubt that the information will further my research it should answer questions on this particular individual’s death. With luck it should be here by Friday.