Cheryl Biermann Hartley
about me
To borrow a phrase from the movie The Sixth Sense, I see dead people. No, not literally, but my imagination is populated with people who are long gone. Pharaohs and slaves, peons and princesses, serfs and soldiers all vie for my attention. Ancestors seem to be particularly demanding.
To the left is my grandmother, Katherine Schatz Biermann. I dreamed of her the night she died and she looked just like she looks in this photo. I was fifteen at the time.
I have been interested in the past since I was a child. When I was about seven years old, I watched a television documentary on dredging the sacred Mayan well at Chichen Itza. From that moment on I was hooked on the past. I would be an archaeologist and uncover fabulous lost civilizations.
In practicality, that is not where life took me, although I did meet my husband while doing archaeology for the National Park Service while I was a grad student at Penn State.
Additionally, I have also always known that I am a direct (and documented) descendent of Martin Luther, the Reformer. My maternal grandfather, Otto Lindner, left me as the caretaker for our family history, a role that I have extended to all branches of our family.
This website is intended to share some of my genealogical findings and to appease my noisy ancestors.
I feel my life streaming back to the primordial ooze...
Cheryl Biermann Hartley
Katherine Schatz Biermann