South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society

Richard Konkel – The 1829 Answer and Defense of Catharina Ziegler of Codorus Township to Accusations of Witchcraft.

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The June 5, 1829 German language edition of the York Gazette features a lengthy article written by or for Catharina, wife of Johannes Ziegler of  Codorus Township in answer to accusations made against her by “Doctor” Sebastian Keller and members of the Michael Lau family about participating in a Hexentanz (Witches’ Dance) along the road to York lead by a musician clad in red (the devil); being able to read people’s minds and other traits historically attributed to witches.  The presentation will explore the parties involved, the accusations and the popular beliefs they were based on and how some of these beliefs have persisted into modern times.  These events were almost exactly 100 years prior to the murder of Nelson Rehmeyer in 1928 and the 1929 Hex trials of the three murder suspects.

Monthly meetings are held in the Meeting Hall of the York County History Center, at 250 East Market Street, York, Pennsylvania unless otherwise noted. Meetings are FREE and open to the public. For more information visit the SCPGS website http://www.scpgs.org.

South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Inc. (SCPGS) is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization of genealogists. Their purpose is to encourage and promote an interest in genealogy by collecting and preserving materials related to genealogy, encouraging the compilation and publication of family genealogies and histories, publishing materials of interest and benefit to members, holding meetings for the education of members and the public, and offering financial and volunteer support to the library at the York County History Center.