News at Masthof Press and Bookstore

My books always start with an unresolved question or two. This is very much the case with Both My Sons, published by Masthof Press (2016). Nicholas Stoltzfus is my great (7 greats) grandfather through my grandmother, Emma Yoder, born Emma Stoltzfus to Mast and Mary Stoltzfus. As a teenager, I wondered: Who was Nicholas? Why did he leave his homeland in Germany and his mother there and emigrate across the dangerous North Atlantic to a new land, at great risk to his life? His story has grown more relevant over the last three years. Like the Syrian boat refugees of...

Join the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society for a presentation and book signing with Urbane Peachey, author of the new memoir More Than One Thing Is True:  Agony and Ecstasy below Cloud 9, at 7 pm on Thursday, November 3, at West Bethany Chapel in Landis Homes, 1001 East Oregon Road, Lititz. Urbane Peachey’s memoir illuminates themes that rise out of many rich life experiences. He had four different assignments with Mennonite Central Committee, in twenty-six years, 1960-1986. From 1975-1981, he was administrator in Akron for Middle East Programs. From 1986 to 2000, Urbane served as lead pastor at Akron Mennonite...

How much do you know about Lebanon County’s heritage, its centuries of history and its pioneers? Whether you need a refresher or not, Ken Reed’s historical fiction novel “Both My Sons” will provide an entertaining way to relive the county’s history. The book, published by Masthof Press, will be released on Thursday, Oct. 6. The novel tells the story of Klaus Greenywalt, a Swiss-German immigrant to Lebanon County, around the year 1755. Faced with a number of personal struggles, his issues become magnified by the outbreak of the French and Indian War. “Greenywalt is an immigrant father from Germany in 1710...

Are you a Zook or a Zook ancestor? Check out the new ZookFamily.net.  The website is quite different from before, and is a lot more secure.  If you had a user account before, please re-register for a new one. Planned features included: Genealogy database (GEDCOM compatible) Forum News Articles Links Facebook Group And More

PRESS RELEASE—AN IMMIGRANT’S STORY Masthof has recently released plans to publish Both My Sons, a major new historical novel by Ken Yoder Reed, on October 6, 2016.   The novel tells the Coming to America story of immigrants—Swiss-German refugees—in 1710. The immigrant refugee story of the 1710 Swiss-Germans resembles the 2016 Syrian refugee story.  Like the Syrians, the Swiss-Germans came as ‘boat people’.  They were targeted by pirates.  The death rate was sometimes as high as 30% of a ship.  And they landed in the English-speaking colony of Pennsylvania that suspected their loyalties.  Between 1710 and 1750, an estimated 50,000 fled...