Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, PO Box 253, Laughlintown PA 15655. 724-238-3176. William and Shirley Iscrupe published records and ancestors for several overlooked Pennsylvania counties.
For less than the cost of hiring a field agent, genealogists had the convenience of indexed, legibly printed original source extracts for these counties delivered to their mailboxes until about 1994 or so. And difficult to find printed works began to appear in reprints or substantial transcripts for these counties.
Old Westmoreland (Westmoreland county) 1980
Somerset Past (Somerset county) 1981
Lafayette (Fayette county) 1981
A Standing Stone (Huntingdon county) 1981
St. Claire’s Bedford (Bedford county) 1981
Conemaugh Country (Cambria county) 1981
Codorus Chronicles (York county) 1983
Lancaster Legacy (Lancaster county) 1983
Written especially for arm-chair genealogists and for genealogists doing client work, these quarterlies printed early land surveys, wills and estate papers, and tax rolls from county courthouses. School records, cemetery inscriptions, obituaries, diaries and Bible records, census records, newspapers, business correspondence and other records were collected from the local area for publication as well.
Each issue was 24 pages, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 in size, saddle stitched, and promised never before published ancestors. Each record was allotted 3-4 pages per issue. Then “continued next issue” until that record was completed.
During the wait, genealogists were frustrated awaiting the portion of the alphabet or the section of the record that applied to what they wanted.
“Continued next issue…” no longer applies. These quarterlies can be found in genealogy libraries and many issues are still for sale–check the internet. Effective research requires access to a whole alphabet for indexed records or a defined period of time including all the entries in that record.
The real benefit of these quarterlies published from 1981 through the early nineties, is this: professional genealogists have a hard time justifying the cost in any given research case to locate some of the records supplied in each issue. The cost of 25 or more letters, in time alone, to find the school records, for example, or to pay an agent to search for them–these costs are often higher than the chances of finding an ancestral family in them will support.
But…to have over ten years of issues that are well indexed, supplying access is a gift to a researcher.
Check your local genealogy libraries for these quarterlies. The records they offer really do make a difference in the success of a Pennsylvania research problem. And if your library has missing issues, find them online for sale and complete your research. Then donate these to your library to expand their coverage.
You might also check the Family History Library Catalog under the authors and their company for a complete list of their publications. And watch for them to be digitized and placed online, so you can access the whole set for your research. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS By popular request, I am writing a guide to research in Pennsylvania sources. Right now, as you read this. Watch my announcement of when it will be done! If you have a research problem in Pennsylvania, you need this guide. I know specific records, that no speaker ever covers. And other writers overlook or do not know. This guide gives you example after example of these records.