In the summer of 2000, Tom visited western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio in search of the second and third Korns' ancestral homes in the United States.  He and his family visited Wellersburg, PA, 10 miles from Cumberland, MD, where they found the grave of Michael Korns, Sr. and Susan Baker Korns, his wife.  The family homestead no longer exists, however, the cemetery where they are buried and the church they attended are still in great shape.  Buried in both the cemetery and the church cemetery are families who intermarried with the Korns, including the Uhls.  Indeed, some members of the contemporary Uhl family are married to Korns. A colonial museum can be found in Somerset, PA, which provides a very accurate recreation of the farms of the era of Michael Korns (1795-1822).  The log house occupied by Michael Korns, Jr. in 1815 still stands in Somerset County.    Local sites nearby are Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water and the Youghigheny River, a favorite whitewater rafting area.

Tom followed the migration of one of Michael, Sr.'s sons, Charles Korns, to Millersburg in Holmes County, OH.  With the help of an innkeeper of a local bed and breakfast, he was able to locate the cemetery where Charles, his wife Catherine, and other Korns family members were buried.  Tom also met Jerry Uhl, who owned both the Uhl and Korns' 1815 ancestral homesteads.  Unfortunately, the house was razed in 1980's because it was deteriorating.  Jerry Uhl's mother was a Korns.  Holmes County is the heart of the Ohio Amish settlement and the largest Amish community  in the country.  Lots of Korns cousins live in the neighborhood.

(top) Millersburg, Ohio old Lutheran cemetery    (lower left) Wellersburg, Pa. Reformed Lutheran Church

(lower right) Katie, Jenny, and Tom at grave of Michael and Susan Korns, Wellersburg, Pa.

view from Wellersburg, Pa. cemetery, near home of Michael Korns (ca. 1795)