This journey is going to lead me down the path of the Birch's and all those other names that have joined them. I know this will take me to England, Germany, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and elsewhere. The men in this family will be working as coalminers, railroad brakemen and Laborers in Saw Mills.

The common name "birch" is derived from an old Germanic root, birka, with the Proto-Indo-European root *bherəg, "white, bright; to shine."

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Church Record Sunday ~ Thomas Warrender

The Birch family married into the Warrander family when they were in England in the 1800's. Both families had their beginnings in Staffordshire, England.

Thomas Warrander was born in September 1877 in Staffordshire England. The census records indicate that he immigrated to the U.S. in 1888 when he was 11 years old and in 1910, at the age of 33 , he was living in Cambria County, Pennsylvania with his wife Ada (nee Hutchinson).  According to that same census he had been married to Ada for 13 years. They had a total of six children but only four were living; Charles (1901), Sarah (1903), Elizabeth (1906), and Sylvia (1908).  Thomas was a Foreman of a Coal Mine.

I stumbled upon church records that indicated Thomas Warrander was baptized as an adult , at the age of 22, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Barnesboro, Cambria County, Pennsylvania.   I found it interesting that as an adult he was baptized.  I wonder if he was baptized in England after his birth.  I find it nice that he established himself with a church where his family now lived and that this church is still holding services.  This record confirms for me his birthplace and his parents names. 





















Warm Regards,