THE SIXTH ANNUAL MOCK/MAUCK FAMILY CONFERENCE
The meeting was held October 11-13, 1996 at the Mount Jackson Best Western Motel and the Woodstock Ramada Inn which are conveniently located in the center of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, and easy driving distance to all points of interest.
The main conference was October 12 from 9 am to 5 pm in a banquet room of the Woodstock Ramada Inn. There were close to 60 in attendance, the largest turnout we have had at one of these conferences.
The featured speakers included 1. Barbara Dittig who gave an update on the Mock Family Historian and plans for the future.
2. Steve Lapp spoke on Macks and Mocks for God and Country. This talk featured the various religious groups that many early Mack/Mock pioneers belonged to, and pointed out that Macks and Mocks were leaders in several of the early churches.
3. Dorothy Boyd-Rush PhD, Dean of Postgraduate Education at James Madison University, spoke on how Early German Church Records may or may not be helpful to your family history research.
4. Ron Moore gave an update on genealogy on the World Wide Web and told about MOCK-GEN-L, the Internet discussion group and the Mock Archives which are accessible on the Web and which are now proving to be a treasure chest for Mock data which can now be accessed by anyone.
5. James P. Mock gave his talk on the current status of his Virginia Mauck Project and how his computer database has now grown to over 12,000 names. Some new members attended the meeting and contributed new information on their families. In addition, he was instrumental in helping some who even lived in Virginia to find their roots. He also operates a Web Site of Virginia Maucks.
Click here to visit the Mauck, Mauk and Mock Families of Virginia
Barbara Dittig presented a plaque of special recognition from the MOCK FAMILY HISTORIANto Ron Moore "For His Contributions in Launching Mock Family Research into the Cyberspace of the Internet's World Wide Web, Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, October 12, 1996."
For some, this meeting gave an excuse to return to their ancestral home. As usual for this time of year, the beautiful Shenandoah Valley was beginning to show its Fall colors with the changingfoliage.
One of the featured events was an interdenominational church service on Sunday in the old Mauck Meeting House. As part of the program, Jake Mauck, a direct descendant of Daniel Mauck, who once owned the land upon which the church was built, gave a history of the old church which had been thoroughly researched.
The speaker of the morning was Pastor James Everly, a Church of the Brethren Minister, whose topic was No Creed but Christ He spoke briefly on the early years of Alexander Mack and his followers, and the reasons certain other religious groups came to America, including the Mennonites and Quakers.
Those who attended came away with greater empathy for the trials and tribulations of some of the early pioneers. The offering that was taken amounted to $173 and was donated to the Page County Heritage Society who is in charge of the maintainence of the Mock Meeting House. It is one of their museum sites and is sometimes used for special community events.
REPORT OF THE EIGHTH ANNUAL MOCK
FAMILY HISTORY CONFERENCEThe Best Western Beford Inn located in Bedford, PA was the site of the 8th Annual Mock Family History Conference held September 25-27, 1998. Over 60 people were present and an outstanding program was included. Those who attended, found this to be one of the best we have had over the past years. Bedford County was chosen as the site for this meeting since it was where it all started in America for several early Mock, Mack and Mauk lines.
On Friday afternoon, a few who arrived early, met downtown at the Visitors Bureau, to go on a walking tour of the downtown area of Bedford. This was led by the Bureau's Executive Director, Dennis Tice. Although he denied being a historian, it was obvious he was very knowledgeable about the early history of Bedford.
Many of the downtown buildings were visited including the Courthouse. One attraction was Espy House where President Washington made his headquarters during the Whiskey Rebellion.
The story was told about the only civilian who was ever executed in Bedford and that was a minister. This account dates back to the Revolutionary War.
Friday evening from 5:00-8:PM there was group registration and a get acquainted reception at the motel. Hor D'Oeuvres were served and there was a no host bar. In addition to meeting old friends and relatives, a few long lost cousins met for the first time.
Saturday morning there was free time which included a tour of local cemeteries, lead by local resident, Terry Mock. Some visited the Pioneer Library, Bedford County Historical Society, and others went to the Courthouse.
At 1:00 PM, the meetings officially started and Lois Byrem, who is a member of the Brethren Church, gave a slide show and told about her travels abroad with her minister husband as they studied the history of the Church, founded by Alexander Mack. She was very knowledgeable and was able to answer questions that those had from the audience.
At 2:00 PM, Fred Ickes, local historian and long time avid Mock researcher, who has written several books, told us about the early Mocks of Bedford Co, PA. After the meeting, some purchased his books which he kindly autographed.
At 4:00 PM, we had our featured speaker of the event and that was Annette Burgert, who is a nationally known author and speaker who has done extensive research on the German and Swiss immigration to Pennsylvania during the 18th and 19th centuries. Her topic was both interesting as well as informative. In her talk, she had also made a special effort to include some of the early Mock immigrants she has documented. Those who attended felt this to be an outstanding presentation. After the meeting she and her husband sold some of her publications which many were eager to get.
5:00 PM was the Annual Mock Family Buffet Supper, except this one was for real. It was held in the private dining room of the Inn. The food was good and there was plenty of it.
Following the meeting, there was an awards ceremony where various people were given recognization for their work with the Mock Family Historian. The winner of this year's major award which included a wooden engraved plaque, was Steve Lapp, who has been with the organization since it started and who has researched and contributed many articles for publication in the Newsletter. Many standards set by him have helped us to reach a quality of research achieved by few similar organizations.
Sunday morning, everyone drove a few miles to the Dunning Creek area near Pleasantville, in West St Clair Twp of Bedford County, PA, where the old Mock Church is located. This surrounding property and church structure is owned and maintained by the Brethren Church who have it now nicely restored. The church is still used for funerals and special events of their organization. Surrounding the church is a well kept cemetery with many old graves, including that of Christian Mock who donated the land for the church and cemetery.
The Mock group attended an interdenominational Church Service at the old Mock Meeting House. The gathering was led in the singing of old gospel hymns by Jan and Jake Mauck, from Topeka, Kansas who had a portable Yamaha keyboard.
The congregation was then treated to a history of the old Mock Church that was related by Mr Callahan who is a local Church Custoidian, and one of the committee members, who was instrumental in restoring the church a number of years ago.
The message of the morning was given by Rev. Nightengale, a local retired Methodist pastor, who came dressed as a circuit riding minister. His message touched the hearts of those present as well as their pocketbooks. An offering was taken and the group was very generous and the several hundred dollars that was raised was donated to the Brethren Organization for the continued upkeep of this fine old church. Some felt that this church service was one of the high lights of the entire weekend.
At 1:00 we returned to the Best Western Bedford Inn after stopping for lunch, and had an open forum on all lines of Mocks and with a panel of experts to help answer questions. This was led by Barbara Dittig who had her working charts on all known Mock/Mack/Mauck/Mauk lines. There was a short talk by Barbara Dittig on the Mock Family Historian, enumerating the accomplishments over the past eight years and with some of the goals for the future. This was followed by a short presentation by Ron Moore on the Mock Family Historian Home Page on the World Wide Web and our list and discussion group, MOCK-GEN-L and the Mock Archives.
The meeting adjourned and those who attended felt happy they had come since it was a very nice weekend with a chance to meet many new friends and relatives. Nice weather was enjoyed the entire time and early autumn leaves were beginning to show.
DIGITALIZED PAGES FROM THE ROBERT MAUCK FAMILY BIBLE
REPORT OF THE 9TH
ANNUAL MOCK FAMILY HISTORY CONFERENCE
The Ninth Annual Mock Family History Conference was held this year in Buena Park, CA, at the Knott's Buena Park Hotel. This adjoins Knott's Berry Farm. The Meeting was held October 8-10, 1999.
The organizers of the conference this year were James P. Mock and Helene Hawkins who did an excellent job working with Barbara Dittig to arrange for this event and scheduling the speakers.
5 PM Registration and get acquainted reception was held in the Hospitality Suite along with Hor D'Oeuvres. There were a number of individuals there this year that had never attended one of these conferences before. It was nice to meet new faces and talk about mutual interests in Mock research.
9:30 AM: Registration, Coffee and Sweet Rolls, and the meeting was held in the Cyprus Room of the Hotel.
JP Mock presented an engraved wooden plaque of appreciation to Barbara Dittig, the Editor of the Mock Family Historian, from Mock family researchers, recognizing her tireless service as Editor of the Mock Family Historian over the past eight years. Similar honors in the past went to other Charter Members of this group including Ron Moore in Virginia in 1996 and Steve Lapp in Pennsylvania in 1998.
10-11 AM: Toni Perrone of Murietta, CA, spoke on Rheinland-Pfalz and the Baden-Wuerthemberg Resources. Her organization, the Immigrant Genealogical Society is a very active group in Southern California and she told a very interesting story about how it got started. She Showed on maps of Germany, the pattern of migration down the Rhine and Neckar Rivers. This included some migrating to Switzerland and other Countries which are now part of Eastern Europe such as Hungry, Poland and Russia. She pointed out that although some Germans may be found in this area, they may not have originated there but could have come from a town somewhere else. Toni is one of the co-founders of the Immigrant Genealogy Society and is their Librarian. Those wishing extra help with German migration problems can contact her organization and they have numerous resources in their library to check. There is a small charge for their services.
11-12 AM: Kurt Schroeder of the Los Angeles Family History Center, spoke and gave a talk and demonstration on deciphering old German Script. He gave us a souce for obtaining printing fonts for German Script. He told about a group that meets weekly at the Los Angeles Family History Center and invited anyone to join them if they wished to learn this art or who may have problem text to translate. By the end of the meeting, he had several starting to write this old script.
12 Noon: Break for lunch. Some used the coffee shop in the hotel.
1 PM: James P. Mock gave a very informative presentation on finding those long lost close and distant relatives who may have history of your family. JP Mock has had a lot of experience in this area and his talk proved to be very helpful to all. JP brought his special equipment that he uses in his own business of giving anti-drug seminars to law inforcement officers and used it to illustrate his talk and this worked very nicely. He illustrated how he was able to locate a lost family branch from a family that was needed for a family runion. He showed the steps he used to find a living descendant from this family who then was able to fill in details about other members of the family. He did this using clues from an old family Bible along with recollections that some older family members had on the lost branch, all within the two week deadline given him. He also illustrated the steps how he went about and located his wife's birth parents. This was a very touching experience that brought tears to many of our eyes. He pointed out that the adopted child must make the decision to proceed, understanding all the problems that could arise in a search such as this. Fortunately in this case, there was a happy ending.
3 PM: Jake Mauck gave an illustrated lecture on digital cameras and their potential application to genealogy. He pointed out that some of the less expensive models are often adequate for the needs of most people and the prices are coming down on some of the newer models with a little better resolution. He illustrated features that some cameras had over others. He also told how he had successfully used it in libraries with ordinary lighting conditions to photograph a page from a book where copy machines may not be permitted due to the age of the book or manuscript. His camera was small and able to easily fit in a pocket of his shirt or coat. He has also used his camera to photograph the display copy from a microfilm reader, and often allows one to do this faster and at less expense than using the usual copying process with microfilm and ending with a hard copy.
6 PM: Group Annual Mock Family Dinner was held in the nearby Knott's Berry Farm Chicken Dinner Restaurant. The food was still good as it has been known to be for so many years. Following the dinner, the group returned to the Mock Hospitality Suite of the Hotel where each person was able to visit with other friends and relatives.
9 AM: Steve Lapp spoke on Mack/Mock/Mauck/Maag Migration from Europe to America in the early 18th Century. Steve has spent many hours researching this topic which was really a continuation of a similar talk he gave at one of these conferences several years ago. He has been able to pinpoint the origin of many of the early American branches with these variantly spelled surnames and his talk was nicely illustrated with pictures he had located on the World Wide Web showing some of the towns that many of our Mock/Mack families had originated.
10 AM: Barbara Dittig, Editor of the Mock Family Historian, lead an open forum on the future of the Mock Family Historian. She would like to see us become more international. It is hoped that we may eventually locate a group of genealogists in Germany who may have similar interest to ours in tracing our German roots and connecting with branches who may have come to America. One way to start this would be to locate a key genealogical library in Germany and send them copies of all of our back issues of the Mock Family Historian. The question about the need for continued hard copies of the Mock Family Historian every quarter was raised since we now have the technology and expertise for producing on-line copies of our publication. It was pointed out that since we started about 9 years ago, the intent was never to make money, but to disseminate this information to all who are researching any spelling variations of the surname. The cost is still $10 per year and goes mainly to cover the cost of postage, paper, printing and a few miscellaneous supplies. It was pointed out that there are still a significant number of people who do not have access to computers, nor do they intend to ever have one. Even if we publish an on-line version of the Newsletter, we still need hard copies. The consensus seemed to be that we should continue to do as we are doing, putting out a hard copy each quarter of the year. One of our cuurent projects has been to send copies of the Mock Family Historian to a few selected key genealogical libraries in America, and we would hope to continue this by continuing to publish hard copies. We are currently dedicated putting up some of the older editions of the Mock Family Historian on-line and Sandy Hart has agreed to help us with this and will coordinate this project with her Home Page which we will link to the Mock Family Home Page.
Another project our group will be considering is to have a bound ten year edition of the Mock Family Historian along with an every name index. We should be hearing more about this over the coming year.
A discussion was also raised about the location of the next Mock Family History Conference and tentatively this has been favored to be in Frankfort, Kentucky, in October of the year 2000. This location is being considered because of nearby excellent research facilities as well as being in close proximity to Ohio and Indiana. The Mock Family Home Page as well as the Mock Family Historian will have further details as to the exact date and location of the meeting as things are more certain.
Ron Moore gave a brief presentation about various features of the Mock Family Home Page as well as our list and discussion group, MOCK-GEN-L. He pointed out some of our more popular and helpful areas are the Mock archives which can be searched by anyone on-line, and the Mock/Mack/Mauk/Maag working charts of Barbara Dittig and displayed by Ken Neal on his home page. There are many more who are helping to make this a success, and Ron expressed great appreciation to all of these individuals who have helped to make this project a success.
The meeting adjourned at about noon, and everyone that attended seemed happy they were able to be there. Many are looking forward to our gathering again next year.
We would like to contact you and learn of your Mock/Mack/Mauck/Mauk interest in family research even if you do not wish to subscribe to the Mock Family Historian. Drop one of us an E-Mail message and make your connection known. Maybe we can help you, or perhaps you may have information that may be useful to us. An attempt will be made to answer all messages to the Webmaster whose address is below.
Suggestions for expansion will be appreciated and in the future we hope to see this section grow. Appreciation is expressed to those who have helped with this project.
Gene Andert
Webmaster