Herrick Twp. woman avid local historian, genealogist

BY JOSH MCAULIFFE

Times-Shamrock Writer

Historical research is great fun for Pat Peltz, but it’s so much more than that.

It’s a full-blown passion, one she approaches with the rigor of a job. Her compensation – one more connection to her family’s distant past.

“I can’t wait to get up in the morning and do research,” she said.

The considerable skills  Peltz has acquired in her years as an amateur historian have proven to be a boon for the Clifford Twp. Historical Society, which she helped found six years ago.

The group has had many accomplishments in its relatively short history, among them leasing and renovating the Hoover School, a 19th-century, one-room schoolhouse people can tour during warm-weather months, and procuring a 17th-century Native American canoe that’s displayed at the township municipal building, where the group is currently converting a vacant room into a museum that will house other donated ite

In addition,  Peltz and her fellow directors have hosted a theater production in a township cemetery, a Chautauqua weekend, a Civil War dance group, a Native American speaker and a stone wall restoration workshop.

All of the historical society’s programs are free, so fundraisers are crucial to the group’s operation. One of them was “CliffordTownship: Two Hundred Years,” a detailed pictorial history of the township that  Peltz co-wrote in commemoration of the township’s 2006 bicentennial.

The book went over so well – it received an award from the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations – that  Peltz ended up writing another one, “The Beechwood Settlers,” a history of several Susquehanna Twp. municipalities, including Herrick Twp., where she resides.

Meanwhile, every year, the group creates and sells a calendar with a different theme.  Peltz came up with the concept for the 2012 edition, which spotlights the 1863 diary entries of a Clifford school named Martha Millard Hallsted. It’s available for purchase on the organization’s Web site, www.cliffordpa.com.

“She had just turned 16 years old when she started keeping the diary in 1863,”  Peltz said. “Each page of our calendar displays the pages from the same month in Martha’s diary so that you can follow her daily activity as the days go by.”

Always researching

Most of  Peltz’s days are spent doing genealogical and historical research at her home, located on a portion of the sprawling farm her father, the late Charles Wildenberg, bought on the southeast slope ofElkMountainin 1938. Her brother, Hank, lives in the original farmhouse, while her mom, Marjorie, resides in a nearby apartment.

Both sides of her family have been inNortheast Pennsylvaniasince the early 19th century, with her mother’s side settling near South Gibson and her father’s down in the Pittston area.

A retired postal worker,  Peltz first got interested in her lineage during her 20s, when she started looking through the scrapbooks compiled by her great-grandmother. She found herself deeply fascinated by the faces in the pictures. Who were these people? What were their lives like?

Her research has taken her to many, many attics throughoutSusquehannaCountyin search of old photographs, diaries and ledger books. Along the way, she discovered she was pretty much “related to everyone” in the area, including the family of actor Richard Gere.

Matching photos

Often, she encounters relatives who have the same photos she has in her possession. “That’s why I never give up on pictures where I don’t know who the people are,” she said.

“So now what I do is help other people find their families, because I know so many people around here,” added  Peltz, who also counts former presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush as distant relatives. “I could write a book about researching and finding people in my family, I’ve had so many stories.”

Looks like she might just have the topic of her next book.

Meet Pat Peltz

At home: A resident of Herrick Twp.,SusquehannaCounty, she is the widow of Russell Peltz. She has a son, Rusty,San Diego,Calif., and a daughter, Stephanie,Charlotte,N.C. She is the daughter of Marjorie and the late Charles Wildenberg.

At work: A retired Postal Service employee,  Peltz is a founding director of the Clifford Twp. Historical Society.

Inspiration: “I’m awed and inspired by the hardships that the pioneer settlers to this area endured and the incredibly hard work that it took for them to clear the land and build a life here for themselves and their families.”

Aspirations: “To interest more young people of our area in learning about the rich history ofNortheastern Pennsylvania and in the importance of preserving it for future generations.”

Diversions: Traveling to visit her children and grandchildren, genealogy, writing, reading (currently, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”)

Aversion: “Those who little appreciate our Founding Fathers and the many generations that followed who toiled and fought to keep our country prosperous and free.”

Quote: “Everybody’s got a book in ’em!”