The Motherlode of Erismans
I have an unusual last name. For much of my life, I never met anyone named Erisman to whom I wasn’t closely related, close enough that we could easily calculate what flavor of cousin we were. Some years back, however, while visiting Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on a business trip, I was suddenly inundated by Erismans—a colleague’s child’s kindergarten teacher, a local car dealership, the high school’s star quarterback smiling from a billboard. There were Erismans everywhere, even on a road sign. I had, I concluded, found the motherlode of Erismans.
Flying Camps, Prison Ships, and the Battle of Long Island
I've come to realize that I really know very little about the American Revolution. I remember learning about the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, of course, but my knowledge of what happened during the subsequent eight years is quite limited. Happily, as I've spent time researching my family's past, I've learned a good deal more about what went on during the Revolution.