Ardsley, PA Author Chronicles Generations of Family History

Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. announces the release of "The Making of an American Family: 1832-2013" by William Bergan, an extensively researched family history spanning generations of American life.

Bergan's book grew from a decades-long effort to preserve his family's history before valuable knowledge of earlier generations disappeared. His original attempt began as a handwritten project in 1985. As his research expanded, Bergan accumulated documentary evidence concerning how his ancestors came to America, acquired property, worked, pursued education, served in the military, and raised succeeding generations.

The resulting history follows the Bergan, Koblish, Sullivan, and Borowich families. The narrative reaches back to nineteenth-century immigration, including the arrival of Bergan ancestors Kyran and Timothy from Ireland in 1832, and follows family lines deeply connected with Pennsylvania. Sullivan, Lycoming, and Luzerne Counties figure prominently in the family's history.

Bergan combines genealogical research with family memory, examining census information, courthouse and property records, military documentation, historical sources, and surviving family materials. The book also acknowledges uncertainties and gaps in the historical record, distinguishing documented findings from the author's own conclusions and speculation.

Underlying the individual family stories is a broader consideration of how decisions reverberate across generations. Immigration, education, employment, military service, property ownership, marriage, and other choices made by ancestors helped establish circumstances inherited by descendants decades later.

The book concludes with an acknowledgment that the family's history remains unfinished and identifies opportunities for descendants to continue researching records in Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

William Bergan is a graduate of Kutztown State College and Spring Garden College. He worked for ten years as a civilian employee at a Naval Research and Development Center before serving as an Aquatics Center Manager. He retired from the Aquatics Center in 2017 and continues to reside in Ardsley, Pennsylvania, in the home where he was raised.

"The Making of an American Family: 1832-2013" is a 356-page hardback with a retail price of $36.00 (eBook $31.00). The ISBN is 979-8-89649-423-2. Published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For members of the press, to request a review copy or author interview, please visit https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/pages/media-requests or to buy the book, visit our online bookstore at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/products/the-making-of-an-american-family-1832-2013 . For more information on publishing services, please visit https://www.dorrancepublishing.com/