Zirkles first arrived in America in the early 1700s. Traveling to the New World was expensive, long, and subjected travelers to filthy conditions. But eventually our ancestors, settling in ÒPennÕs Woods,Ó found the rich soil and freedom they had dreamed of. These industrious Germans farmed, built tanneries and grist mills, and planted orchards. Many eventually sold their estates and moved to new frontiers such as Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, for larger plots of land and friendlier climates. Thanks to these hardy ancestors, we enjoy a land of freedom and plenty. This book traces five generations of descendants of our earliest known Zirkle ancestor, Chaplain Conrad Zurckel (b. c1600), and attempts to provide accurate, detailed, and documented records to memorialize their lives.