The Ancestry Of The
Rauchs and Nicholsons
Of Luzerne County, PA

This website is dedicated to Mary,
my guardian angel from the north
who came to me, taught me, counseled me, and shared with me
much time, talent, and knowledge,
and to whom I will be eternally grateful.

You have entered the NICHOLSON-RAUCH family of Luzerne County, PA website.

We call it that because Luzerne County is where we were born, married, had our first child and many of our ancestors were there then. We Parsons have four daughters, Jennifer, Milissa, Allyson and Tara. Three are married and we have six grandchildren already here with us and one soon to join us. The rest of our family has gone before us and taken with them a history unduplicated by any other family in history. We are determined to learn everything we can about who they were and what they did when they were here, for each of them is a part of us and we can learn more about ourselves by studying them.

They have been such interesting people to discover. Most of our ancestors came to this country at enormous risk to escape religious persecution. Some came as early as the Nicholsons in Fenwick Colony, New Jersey, Quakers fighting for life and liberty. Others were Presbyterian, Germans who wanted to live the faith of the Reformation forbidden by the waring powers of Europe. These pilgrims left everything they had behind to follow the promise of freedom here in a new land. They built homes, towns, cities. There were those who plowed the fields and provided food, while others tended to the business of the growing communities. Some drew up the plans, a few provided the money, most provided the hard work. Others pastored the churches, taught the children, healed the sick and the stronger fought the Indians. Each made his own contribution to the new land while giving birth to generations and at the same time, burying precious babies and children along the way because they were too little and too weak to survive the struggles of childhood in a new world.

No family could be prouder of its roots than we are. We believe they are important to us because of the sacrifices they made for us and the lessons we can learn from them, for after all, they are a part of us. We are indebted to them for their courage and fortitude, their forthrightness, their faith and their sense of character. We are dedicated to identifying as many as possible, learning everything we can about them, making each one more than a name, a date and a place and leaving that record as a legacy to their courage. We want to build memories of the past for the children of the future.

So here's to our past--those strong, brave men and women who sacrificed far more than God has ever called upon us to do! Here's to the present--and our commitment to record the past. And here's to the future generations! May they have the courage to carry on in the tradition of that strength, the willingness to sacrifice for each other, and the endeavor to forever record the events in their lives. Please feel free to browse our site. Look carefully through the names. Let us know if any are familiar. We share here - all that we have. We would like your suggestions and additions. Hopefully, as we learn more about the internet and website building, we will have more here for you.

Let us know if we can help. There is an email link to us at the bottom of this page or just enter in jnparsons@comcast.net. We look forward to hearing from you!

For more about our family history and related subjects, please enter here.