I never knew my mother's family. She was born in Akron, Ohio, raised Lutheran. But then she went south to Maryville College in Tennessee. There she met and married my father, a Presbyterian minister. I myself was born in North Carolina and raised everywhere else. There were a few visits to my maternal grandparents over the years but no real knowledge of the rest of her family. Then, several years ago, I decided I wanted to know more about my ancestors. So I started off with a handful of names from my mother and some pretty big ideas that somehow I was going to find my roots. Well, it hasn't been an easy task. In the beginning most of my discoveries were just dumb luck, like finding a church cemetery in the small town of Loyal Oak, a place I had never even heard of but which turned out to be the final resting place for many of my ancestors. Or stumbling across the Serfass family history on a Pennsylvania man's website. And finding a second cousin in Akron who was kind enough to give me not only old family photos but a bible from my great-grandmother. All that and plenty of research through courthouses, cemeteries, and libraries, has enabled me to put together what follows.
For their contributions to this work, I would like to acknowledge and thank Charles Miller of Barberton, OH, author of The Serfass Family from Coblenz, Germany to Philadelphia, PA, Dale Berger of Oreland, PA, for his research on Philip Servas, Patrick and Marie Montgomery of Akron, OH, for their assistance and support, the staff members at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Akron and Lakewood Cemetery in Barberton for their kind assistance, all those wonderful clerks at the Barberton, Summit County, Akron, and other health departments who went out of their way to help me locate the most obscure information, Michele Housley for information on Patricia Montgomery, the Akron Fire Department for information and a photo of my grandfather, Captain Arthur Montgomery, and Trinity Lutheran Church for various records. There were many others along the way, too many to mention. To all of those, I say thank you. I could not have done this without you.
