Assistance

I own the following publications and will gladly look up information about your ancestors. Contact Mike Voisin.

Beal City, Michigan

• Weber, Ben. Beal City Michigan Area Centenial, 1875-1975. Mt. Pleasant, Michigan: Enterprize Printers, 1975.

Westphalia, Michigan

• Pohl, Allan R. Pohl: From One Small Acorn Grows a Large Oak. A verbal Portrait of the Descendants of Johann Peter Pohl and Maria Catharina Hellenthal 1841-1992. Allan R. Pohl, 1992.

• Weiland, Evelyn A. (ed.) Of Pilgrimage, Prayer and Promise: The Story of St. Mary's Westphalia, Michigan, 1836-1986. Westpahlia [Michigan] Historical Society, 1986.

Eifel Region of Germany

• Macha, Jürgen, Nikolay-Panter, Marlene, and Herborn, Wolfgang. Wir verlangen nicht mehr nach Deutschland: Auswandererbriefe und Dokumente der Sammlung Joseph Scheben (1825-1938). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003.

  This book, written in German, contains over 400 letters transcribed by Joseph Scheben in the 1930s (i.e., the "Scheben Letters"). Emigrants from the German Eifel region during the 1800s wrote these letters back home to relatives and friends. Many letters are from those who immigrated to the Midwestern and Western United States.

  The book has an extensive index. There are separate indices of those who sent letters, those who received letters, and those mentioned in the letters. There is a location index that includes countries, states, counties, and towns. There is even a subject index where you can find all letters that mention a topic like agriculture, religion, clothes or food.

• Scheben, Joseph. Untersuchungen zur Methode und Technik der deutschamerikanischen Wanderungsforschung. Bonn: Ludwig Rohrscheid Verlag, 1939.

  This book, in German, discusses many of the early emigrants from the Eifel region in Germany to Westphalia Township, Clinton County, Michigan. It includes transcriptions of letters home. See a List of Surnames discussed.

  Surnames

Kentucky and Virginia

• Davis, Dorothy. History of Harrison County West Virginia. Clarksburg, WV: American Association of University Women, 1972.

• De Hass, Wills. History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia. Wheeling: H. Hoblitzell, 1851. Reprinted in Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Company, 1975.

• Gwathmey, John H. Twelve Virginia Counties: Where the Western Migration Began. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1979.

• Kozee, William C. Early Families of Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky And Their Descendants. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1979.

• Marsh, William A. 1880 Census of West Virginia, Volume I. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Company, 1979.

• Norris, J. E. (ed.) History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley Counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson and Clarke. Berryville, VA: Virginia Book Company, 1890. Reprinted in Berryville, VA: Virginia Book Company, 1972.

• Nugent, Nell Marion and Grundman, Claudia B. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Volume II: 1666-1695. Berryville, VA: Virginia Book Company, 1977.

• Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Volume III: 1695-1732. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1979.

• Summers, Lewis Preston. History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870. Baltimore: Regional Publishing Company, 1979.

Can You Help Me?

I hope to contact any veterans who served with my father in the Army Air Forces during World War II. Please see my list of air fields where he was stationed and the names of some of his classmates. Air Fields

For more information on the Army Air Forces during World War II, please visit my AAF Collection website. It is a collection of historical and educational documents.