Stranger meeting

This has been a fun week for me. I got an email asking about a family tree I've been working on for several months now. She claimed to be a relative, and wanted to get in touch with someone because she was raised outside the family because of her mothers early death as a baby. So I called my friend and told her about the women, and gave her name. She said it sounded familiar, so I should give the lady her phone number and have her call her. Well I did this, and low and behold, the two are 2nd cousins. And better yet, only live miles from eachother. She got alot of info she needed from my friend, and they will get together and exchange pictures and information with one another too. You never know what you will find on Ancestry.com family trees. I've made several contacts which panned out to be gold mines.
Now I'm in the search for my linage all the way back to the Revolutionary War so I can join DAR. It seems it will be a struggle till I get there, but I won't get upset if it doesn't happen over night. Who knows what I'll find along the way.....................

Blue Eyes Six

I have recently started to research my fathers ancestors, which are very famous in Lebanon County Pa. They were the " Blue Eyed Six ". His ancestors involved were Charles Drews, his Great Grandfather, and Franklin Stickler who was a Great Uncle. I don't know if anyone out there knows the story, but it is quite scary even to modern times. To cut the story short. six men ( all with blue eyes ) George Zechman, Charles Drews, Israel Brandt, Franklin Stichler, Josiah Hummel, and Henry F. Wise decided to make some extra money by buying a life insurance policy on Joseph Raber. They planned to then kill him for the money. Joseph was reportedly pushed into the Indiantown Creek and was held under the water by two of the six on 7 Dec. 1878. The two that were hanged on 14 Nov. 1879 for the crime were, Charles Drews and Franklin Stichler. The others were hanged on 13 May 1890, George Zechman was found not quilty. There has been a Documentary made on the story, and a play. The book also is fact based, written by Gary Ludwig.
I'm looking forward to getting all I can on these guys, but being it was back in the late 1800's and they were dirt poor, I know of no pictures except those drawn during the ordeal.
It's fun looking in Newspaper archives for family history. I've been doing it for the past several weeks on and off. Just make sure you have the right dates to match your ancestors. It can be fun to see what they were up to back then, and then again....................................