What started as a simple ancestry search led to the discovery of several family members across the country, as well as the burial place of a Revolutionary War veteran in Somerset County.
Lynn Schrock says he had been searching through his family tree when he came across revolutionary soldier Casper Swank. Wanting to learn more, Schrock says he began researching through several historical groups. He says he was surprised to find that historical officials pointed him to another descendant of Casper Swank.
He says it turned out that his distant cousin Steven Swank had been researching Casper as well.
“One of the historical societies said I should get ahold of Steven Swank. So, I went to him, and he and I just put our heads togetherhe showed me all the paperwork that he had, and it was just overwhelming,” says Schrock.
After looking through years of paperwork, from deeds to wills, Schrock and Swank found that Casper was buried at the Friedens Lutheran Church cemetery. Officials say he’s been buried there since 1813. Schrock and Swank also say they discovered that Casper was a founding member of the church. The cemetery recently unveiled a new plaque commemorating him.
Schrock says, “The sad part is that we don’t have a true grave to look over, but at the same time, knowing that he helped start this church, we felt pretty confident that’s where it would be. So it’s pretty interesting even getting that far. It turned out better than i thought, I’m really happy.”
As a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Schrock helped to organize a memorial service for Casper Saturday afternoon. At the memorial service, Schrock revealed that many of the audience members were also descendants of Casper.
Swank says, “it’s mind boggling. You know, in almost 300 years that our ancestors have been here, how spread out over the country and how many people have descended from one person. It really is amazing.”
Officials say they honor revolutionary soldiers each year, but a discovery like this is out of the ordinary.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRflruksdKtqbJlo5qus6%2FHZqynm5%2BrsrO%2FjKucr6ecqsGqu82aqbJlp5a%2FbsLErZyrmZ6oeqPB0aKYpWWjnsGmecCnm2aclaiwprrDmqWtqw%3D%3D