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Welcome! This website was created on Feb 27 2012 and last updated on Mar 28 2024. The family trees on this site contain 22811 relatives and 846 photos. If you have any questions or comments you may send a message to the Administrator of this site.
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About Mersinger Family
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Please sign the guestbook.  Your feedback is welcome.  If you have any additional information that might be added to this tree to enhance the accuracy and or the completeness, please feel free to share that information as well!  Any enhancements are greatly appreciated.

And MOST IMPORTANTLY...
If YOU can attach yourself into one of the MAIN branches of this tree (designated with a Black square [MERSINGER], Yellow square [ACCORDINO], Blue square [GASPARI], White square [SMITH] or Gray square [GILES], in front of your name).... OR MORE IMPORTANTLY.... if you have a RED square signifying a direct blood ancestor to the web master of this site.... it would definitely be MORE THAN EXCITING to hear from you!


SPECIAL THANKS extended to....
* Norman "Ned" DRESHER for supplying Mersinger connections back to origins in Germany.
* Nancy (Kuzan) SHROM for supplying many photos of our Mersinger ancestors
* Sandra MERSINGER for her detailed family tree of the "Missouri/Illinois Mersingers"


SPECIAL NOTES about this website......
 (ORIGIN OF MERSINGER SURNAME - German: habitational name for someone from Merzingen in Bavaria).  Mersinger is an uncommon surname in the United States. In 2000, there were only 309 people with the last name Mersinger living in the US. and by 2014 there were 399 people.  Historically, the name has been most prevalent in the Midwest.  Mersinger is least common in the southeastern states.
[Information taken from Mooseroots.com website which as of June 2022 was abandoned]

MERSINGER is ranked as the 51360th most popular family name in the United States with an estimated population of 525.  The state with the most people named MERSINGER is Illinois where 179 people have this name. Based on US Census Bureau data the estimated population of people named MERSINGER is 350, the rank is 60,887 and the proportion per 100k Americans named MERSINGER is 0.11. The most popular full name is John MERSINGER. 4.42% of all the people named MERSINGER have this given name.  There are 91 first names associated with this last name.
[Information taken from www.mynamestats.com website as of June 2022]

This website traces the Mersinger, Accordino, Smith and Gaspari clans.  This Mersinger family tree originates with Johann Valentine MERCINIER (1660 - 1740) and continues through my great-great-grandparents Heinrich MERSINGER and Christina BARTH who emigrated from Rheinheim, Pfalz, Germany in 1836.  Heinrich MERSINGER and Christina BARTH are the oldest in this tree to live and die in Berks County, PA.  Johann MERCINIER is the oldest Mersinger ancestor in this family tree.  An interesting footnote... although of primarily German descent, Heinrich was born in Alsace, France in 1799.  His wife Christina was born in Germany in 1810.

The Accordino and Gaspari clans emigrated from Sicily and Italy respectively in the early 1900s, specifically between 1913 and 1921.  So far the branch for the Accordino clan traces back to my great-great-great-great-grandfather Giovanni ACCORDINO who was born in Montagnareale, Messina Province, Sicilia Region, Italy ABT 1780.  As of now, the Gaspari clan's branch of this tree is the stubbiest, with its oldest person being my wife's great-great-grandfather Giovanni GASPARI who was born in Ascoli Piceno, Marche Region, Italy in 1858.  We have not yet determined the true origination of the Smith family's branch, however this search does go back as far as my wife's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Adam SMITH who was born ABT 1745.

Additionally, as of DECEMBER 9, 2022, there were 3697 different and distinct surnames contained in this family tree.  The surname with the most entries is MERSINGER currently with 467, followed by MILLER with 282, MERKEL with 277, BIEHL with 264, SHOLLENBERGER with 230, SMITH with 225, MOYER with 212, and then HEFFNER rounding out the top 8 with 202 individual entries. The newest members are baby girl CASTNER, and twin CASTNER boys, who together are a set of triplets born in September 2022.

SPECIAL NOTE:  In doing the searches and research for this tree there were numerous difficulties encountered matching surnames when ancestors came to this country through Ellis Island in the Port of New York.  Although it is disputed by Ellis Island officials, anyone who saw the 1974 movie, "THE GODFATHER II" remembers, when young Vito Andolini came to Ellis Island in New York harbor, he was asked his name by Customs and Immigration Officers.  Young Vito really didn't understand English and made no response.  So, the men documenting the immigrants read on the tag pinned to his coat that he was from Corleone in Sicily.  They simply changed his name to Vito Corleone on the spot right then and there.  Similarly, there were many instances of just that when trying to research ancestors on the branches of this tree.  Gualtieri became Quartieri, Ugliuzza became Gugliuzza, and Mersinger could have evolved from Messinger, Meisinger, Mensinger, Merringer, Mercinier or any number of other possible variations that were seen while doing this research.  In most cases there are notations where these somewhat arbitrary name changes seemed to appear on the different branches of this family tree.

Note:  Listings were found under the "Messinger" spelling for the 1860, 1880 and 1930 census records.


THE STORY TELLERS
(Unknown Author)

We are the chosen. My feelings are that in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors; to put flesh on their bones and make them live again; to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts, but instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.

We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us. Tell our story. So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family? You would be proud of us. How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. I go beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen.

The bones here are bones of my bones and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us that we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family story tellers.

That is why I do my family genealogy and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on their bones.
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This website is dedicated to ALL of my family and to ALL of my ancestors (Listed above) that came before me..... and to finding WHO I am and WHERE I came from...... R. Mersinger - 2012

Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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