Books

The Search for Heinrich Stief: A Genealogist on the Loose

$32 Cdn / $32 US (shipping & HST included)

Heinrich and Regina Stief left their homeland in 1749 and settled in Pennsylvania. From there, they and a small band of fellow settlers migrated to the rough terrain around New Brunswick’s Petitcodiac River. Faced with starvation, frigid winters, and abandonment by their sponsors — among them Benjamin Franklin — the settlers defied the odds by not only surviving but prospering. Steeves descendants now number upwards of 150,000 worldwide. Heinrich’s tale has been told so many times that parts have become legend. From the stories his earliest descendants told around the fire to the ones family historians have written and published since then, the facts surrounding Heinrich Stief, his roots, and his exploits have become confused, murky, and half remembered. Certain pieces of the puzzle have always eluded genealogists. Recently a Stief family descendant with a knack for research and more than his share of luck has uncovered a piece of history that is as significant as it was elusive. Here, then, is Heinrich Stief’s story, told as never before.

— extracted from the website of the Halifax publisher, Nimbus Publishing.

The Settlers of Monckton Township

$15 Cdn / $15 US (shipping & HST included)

The Settlers of Monckton Township: further investigations into the lives of Heinrich Stief, Michael Lutz, Jacob Treitz, Charles Jones, Matthias Sommer, Georg Wortman, Jacob Richter, John Copple and others; plus Anthony Wayne, John Hughes and Benjamin Franklin

Wanted: Energetic history buffs who like nothing better than to dig around in old documents and to unravel some of the mysteries of the past. No experience necessary. Apply within.

In this little volume, the author will take you on a journey of discovery — into the inns and byways of colonial Philadelphia, onto some of the immigrant ships that came to America, into little towns and villages in the south-German Duchy of Wurttemberg, and into the lives of the Pennsylvania-German settlers who founded the township of Monckton in 1766.

Dust off your detective hat, find a comfortable chair, and get ready to do some serious sleuthing.