Tree:  Jonas Herz Hirschland (one of the three original brothers) >> Isaak Hirschland >>Levi Hirshland >>Roy Pinkerton and Harold Hirshland >>Roy’s son Samuel and Harold’s son Lee >>Samuel’s sons Bob, Roy, Mike, and Larry and Lee’s sons David, Keith & Mark

Just Victoria & a shark strung up on a utility pole.

Thirty years ago, my photo appeared in my mother’s hometown newspaper, the Falmouth (MA) Enterprise, and within days, I received a most surprising call. The woman who called me had the maiden name Hirshland, and she said she was part of the Pennsylvania branch of the Hirshlands (with a slight spelling change), descended from an Essen Hirschland who had emigrated in the 1800s and become a farmer in Pennsylvania.

More importantly, she told me that there was only one family that choose the name Hirschland, and that we were all related. The first Hirschlands were Herz Solomon, Jonas, and Markus.

I was only 18 when I met this Hirshland, and I did not record her name, but obviously the story stuck, and when I began my search for Hirschlands this fall, finding this family was high on my list. The notion that there were Hirschlands out there who I had no knowledge of stuck with me. And astonishingly to this non-genealogist, we have found about 1500 descendents of the Hirschland name, of whom about half are likely alive. Continue Reading