ELDRED TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Donations of personal belongings that once were used pour into the Kunkletown Thrift Store in Eldred Township every day–things like coffee pots, your favorite old book, or the music trophy you won back in the fifth grade.
But when Donna Delhi stumbled upon a whole book full of one family's birth certificates, marriage licenses, and confirmation certificates, she knew they had to be returned.
"I try to find owners for everything. But this was just one of that, wow. I have to find this owner," said Donna Deihl, the thrift store manager.
Trying to trace the family history, Donna laid out all the documents, starting with the oldest one, a baptismal certificate, dating back to 1880, for a baby named Emma Rehrig.
Documents show Emma married Charles Causseer of Bowmanstown in Lehighton. They then moved to Walnutport and had two kids, Mary Ann and Thomas Causseer.
The book containing the document is from Mary Ann Causseer, who later married Robert Rehrig in 1924.
"We would be looking probably for great, great, great, maybe even great-grandchildren, easily," Deihl said. "It's all Carbon County, so I would think somebody would step up. It's not like it's a place in Arizona or something. It's local."
It's not uncommon for the Kunkletown Thrift Store to come across pieces of family history, but employees do say that these documents are by far the oldest they've ever come across.
"We get a birth certificate now, and that kind of stuff, and we find the owner, no big deal, but this is mind-boggling," Deihl said. "This is history. This is the history of a family, and I really hope we find the owner. I really do."
If she doesn't find the family, Donna says she'll donate the documents to the Palmerton Historical Society.
If you recognize the name or have any information on the documents, you're asked to contact the Kunkletown Thrift Store.
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