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This unusual compilation laid in typescript in the library of the Germantown Historical Society since 1935, until it was published by the Genealogical Publishing Company in 1980. It abounds with the kind of curious and out-of-the-way information likely to be helpful to those wishing to augment their knowledge of their German ancestry.

Arranged by newspaper and thereunder by date of publication, this work contains abstracts of paid notices, advertisements, and articles from the five principal German newspapers published in Germantown and Philadelphia during the second half of the 18th century. Pertaining to several thousand German settlers in Pennsylvania during the period 1743 to 1800, the data derives variously from death notices, advertisements for runaway servants, offers of property for sale and lease, offers of goods and services, notices of arrival and removal in the Pennsylvania area, advertisements of letters received and awaiting delivery, and notices placed by persons seeking news of relatives and friends. The latter sometimes designate place of residence in America and birthplace in Germany.