A family history website dedicated to the Male-Mail-Mayle-Mayhle-Mahle lineage
This website organizes research I have conducted into the Male family history, from which many lines of Males, Mails, Mayles, Mayhles and a multitude of other spellings descend.
The site is currently being developed; creating individual pages for thousands of individuals is a time-consuming process and one that will take some time to fully complete. The beauty and curse of genealogy is the unintended journeys; that is, the "side trails" that are identified and investigated when the original question was something completely different. However, these often relate to the human side of genealogy, when we are able to most closely connect with our ancestors through their life events.
Please check back frequently for updates. Any feedback or ideas relating to the website is always welcome. If you have any comments, or if you'd just like to introduce yourself, I'd love to hear from you!
'The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before.'
by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943.
A study of the Male family genealogy simply cannot be properly accomplished without acknowledging the work of Bernard Victor Mayhle (1930-2015).
I had the privilege of (albeit over the phone) meeting Bernard many years ago. I was perhaps 18 years old and had located some information regarding our ancestry on the internet. I don't even recall what information I located, nor do I believe it to be overly consequential; however, I knew I had found a passion, and I was eager to learn all I could. My parents and grandparents knew of Bernard and his research, and an email address was located. Bernard, in Washington, took the time to spend an evening talking with an 18 year old kid located in Pennsylvania. He even sent me a CD with a printout of his research.
The amount of research performed by Bernard is incredible. It is impressive enough to view it in the context of the 20th century, but one must also remember that a great deal of it was performed before the advent of internet genealogy research. This meant traveling to courthouses and archives, spending time locating and transcribing cemeteries, etc.
In my own research I have tried to acknowledge and reference Bernard any time I am relying on his research. For all the work he did, and for his willingness to share it with future generations, I am eternally grateful.
We make every effort to document our research. If you have something you would like to add, please contact us.
