Pennsylvania Book Sources
By Susi Pentico

Pennsylvania Book Sources
Submitted by SusiCP@aol.com

Good Resource reading material to enhance your research.

Map Guide to American Migration Routes 1735-1815
William Dollarhide under $10.00
copyrighted 1997 and published by Heritage Quest
Maps and explanation of the trails, routes and rivers our ancestors took to travel through and in Pennsylvania and in the United States.

Pennsylvania Line, A research Guide to Pennsylvania Genealogy and Local History Fourth Edition
Compiled by William L. Iscrupe and Shirley G. M. Iscrupe
published by Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, Pennsylvania's Oldest Genealogical Publishing Company.
A real must if you can find.

Pennsylvania Genealogical Research
George K. Schweitzer, Ph. D.,Sc.D.
copyrighted 1993 purchase from him, at 407 Ascot Court, Knoxville, TN 37923-5807
If you're serious about PA research, this book is a must. It's not large but packed with information, easy to read, and comprehend. He has done several states, each very worthy of purchase. He also puts on one of the best talks I have ever been to. He dresses in period costume and talks the language of the time for the region he talks about.

Pennsylvania Research Tips including Philadelphia
by Fran Carter -Walker
I got this book at GENTECH in San Diego, CA. Another must have :>) It describes the ARCHIVE SERIES, the best I have ever seen. It has much other data presented differently than above books but the data about the PA STATE ARCHIVES book series is well explained what is in which set and time-frames. If an ancestor was in REV WAR and not found, try the Archives for data. It is a copy of the old court minute records, Indian Wars, Land, Deeds, Warrantees, Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council 1777-1790, Papers of the office of the Secretary to the Commonwealth 1664-1790, personal letters, Piracy, Minutes of the Provincial Council, French Indian Wars, Revolutionary War data, Block houses and frontier Forts.

Family Genealogies in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Oakland, PA) Holdings as of March 1,1993
compiled by Bob and Mary Closson.
self explanatory

These books cover all of Pennsylvania for research.
One must remember that early states had many boundary disputes. How many know that Connecticut claimed the top 1/3 of Pennsylvania for the early years? At the same time, Maryland claimed the bottom 1/4 to what is current day Fayette County to the West and up to central Berks Co. to the North across the state. Virginia claimed the rest of the land westward and northward, up to the Last Purchase of the Indian Lands 1784-1785. Mr. Penn was so busy, settling the eastern area that they ignored the requests of the early settlers to the West. Virginia had thought this land was theirs. It was part of the OLD OHIO COMPANY. The dispute was settled in the late 1780's but the people of the land did not recognize the new boundaries and many continued until 1800 to still record and sell land using both states for fear of loss of property. My personal latest recording was 1805 back to Virginia for an ancestor.

Records on the eastern boundary with New Jersey also disputed lands for about ten years. So if your kin was near a border, look on both sides of the border for data. Information can be in either state, all the way around the state.

Regional Books are also very important and sometimes the titles are misleading.

The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania
by C Hale Sipe
The above mentioned book is a good example of that. This book covers all of PA some of NY, VA and west to the Mississippi River due to the coverage of the Indian Wars. This book lists names of settlers I have seen nowhere else. It has over 800 pages. Pennsylvania claimed much of this land. Virginia claimed much of this land depending on what years you're looking at. Virginia claimed much of the land early via the Ohio Company. Remember the Canadians and French covered and claimed some of this land also, creating some of these wars.

Early History of Western Pennsylvania and the Western Campaigns 1754-1833
by Gentleman of the Bar, reprinted by William L. Iscrupe and Shirley G. M. Iscrupe. Laughlintown, PA 15655, printed by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Genealogical Services.
This book first printed in 1847. It lists Revolutionary War pensioners, a list of rejected and suspended pensions applications for 200 western Pennsylvania residents. The new reprint has an every name index.

Each county has a History Book talking about it's county development. History and geography play a very important role in developing your genealogical research. If you know the land is a valley, it is easy to travel through. If it is mountainous, you know the travel is difficult and you may go around verses going over. I believe you need to study a map of the state and it should be a topographical map. The Library of Congress has them available to purchase. It helps you to know if, when traveling, they went by water, foot, wagon or combination thereof. This helps prevent what is called "BRICKWALLS" in our research.

Also several counties have local genealogical books and resources in pamphlets and other material available.

I believe it is very important to belong to a genealogical society or a historical society to help with your research. They can open doors and direct you in directions you are not aware of without their aid. Even if you have to change societies every couple of years so as not to over-spend money. They generally have monthly or quarterly news bulletins or magazines. They can direct you to more accurate places of research for your local ancestor. They also sometimes can be long distant collateral kin.

Resources to look at in Libraries

Index to Pennsylvania's Colonial Records Series. Mary Dunn With a forward by Jonathon R Stayer of the Pennsylvania HIstorical and Museum Commission, Baltimore Genealgogical Publishing Co. 1992.

Pennsylvania Archives 136 vols. Philadelphia, J. Severns and Co. 1851 -1935 (Very few libraries have this set complete but the wealth of information if one sat and read them is phenomenal)

William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania 1680-1684: A documentary History, Edited by Jean Soderland Philadelphia, University of Philadelphia Press 1983.

Pennsylvania German Society Proceedings and Addresses 1890-1966 63 vols. Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society 1968-. published by Pennsylvania German Society P O. Box 397, Birdsboro, PA 19508.

Notes and Queries: Historical and Genealogical Relating Chiefly to Interior Pennsylvania 1894-1900 Published by Dr. William H Egle Harrisburg, PA.

SusiCP@aol.com

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