Pike County Kentucky–
Pikeville College Special Collections is the repository for genealogy materials from Pike County Kentucky as well as several communities in the surrounding countryside. And it is closed much of the time–available only by appointment because the Librarians also have other responsibilities within the college library system.
I carefully studied the college website and emailed ahead the specific collections we wanted to see. Mindy Robertson, the Medical Librarian, agreed to open the collections to us on Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm–and we needed all of that time to go through their rich holdings for Pike County ancestors. (Check out our Eastern Trip photos.)
Among the collections we researched for the life of John Clark Holbrook are these:
1. Names in 1822 law suits for Pike County Residents, checked against 1823 tax lists, 1810 Floyd County Census, and marriages to 1865. This is a card index compiled by Claire Coleman-Kelly.
2. Old Regular Baptist Annual Reports, 1886-1940. John Clark Holbrook lived in Long Fork District in 1930 and died in 1932. I looked for an obit–which the Baptists do better than any other church denomination–in the Union and the New Salem Association reports. I also had access to a book of obits taken from these reports, being prepared for publication in 1981. (The book never appeared because the author, Mrs. James G. Hobbs died.)
As we drove away from this friendly campus archive and library, we encountered some of the most astonishing highway engineering we have ever seen! Bridge after bridge constructed over mountain chasms and whole mountains cut-through so the freeway system could flow from one place to another without hindrance. In some states the roads tunnel through the mountains. In others, the roads wind around and around until you almost get dizzy. In Kentucky, they cut-through and the landscape is completely changed forever.
Washington County Pennsylvania–
Today, our research took us to the Citizen’s Public Library, 55 South College Street in Washington PA. And I want to share with you a glimpse of the New Bookshelf, Special Collections/Genealogy Section of this library:
1. Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.4 vols. 2000. Benjamin and Vladka Meed Database Collection. This is an alphabetical listing of more than 170,000 survivors and some members of their families, now dec’d. The list also includes non-Jews displaced or persecuted in Europe. It is cross-indexed by maiden names and wartime aliases. And you can search by place of birth, prewar place of residence, or wartime locations. The database is located at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and receives new information regularly from family members and living descendants.
2. Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Warrantee Maps of Washington County Pennsylvania. 2005. Sharon Cook MacInnes, PhD. Published by Closson Press, 257 Delilah St, Apollo PA 15613. http://www.clossonpress.com The book for Greene County is also available and the author is working on Fayette County. Spread sheets contain the essential facts on each warrantee map, including the dates of survey and patent. Maps showing each land tract are reproduced in two sizes. A thorough introduction describes the land system in Pennsylvania and how to use maps to find your ancestor’s land and where he got it. The maps for these three counties are reproduced from the Horn Papers, Volume 3. (See Genealogy New Sheet, 5 Feb 2007 for Tract Maps for other Pennsylvania counties.)
Kathryn and I could stay in this library for several more days, writing and photocopying genealogy data for those clients who signed up for this research trip.
And it is time to return home–so I can evaluate what we found, match all the data to proven pedigree ancestors, and determine what to do next. What an exciting month we have had working on the research for some 24 research clients! For several, we have new breakthroughs. For some we have additional evidence to lead us into proof. For all, we have completed research in record categories and localities available only where the ancestors lived and died.
You cannot afford to miss even one episode in the next two weeks–I still have so much to share with you–three full boxes of stuff. Your favorite genealogist, still in the field, and traveling home through the autumn trees now shedding their flaming red and golden leaves everywhere–“as dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly…” Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com
PS Since we will be driving 600-700 miles per day to get home by Friday, I won’t post again until I get home. Kathryn will update the photos on Monday. And remember, your ancestors can be included in our next research trip. Get them ready and watch for announcements and schedules.