Most of my pages are “family cards.” Each card is linked to an older generation (through the parents) and to a younger generation (through the children). In the interest of privacy, the youngest generations are omitted. As a result, this online tree has two separate branches, one for each pair of grandparents. You can go directly to the family card for either pair of grandparents (Toth or Murtha) and follow the older generations from there. Otherwise, you can start from the list of surnames, or you can start from the contents/index page, which has more information about the family cards, acknowledgements, contact information for myself, links and other interesting tips.
I have a separate “Political Genealogy” page, in case you are curious about the Murtha surname.
The red dots on the maps below are places where the families lived or passed through. Click on a red dot to read about that locality.
Six of the red dots are crowded together in the Coal and Coke Region of southwestern Pennsylvania.
New: Changing Times
People moved, especially after 1873, to the Coal and Coke Region. Times had changed. There were jobs in that area. Some of my ancestors arrived directly from Europe; others brought their coalfield experience from Maryland and Ohio.
But that was not the only period when economic upheaval changed lives. Considering the current state of the economy, it's interesting to look back at similarly troubled times, and at how those times led to a move from one red dot to another.