Comments on: Got Pennsylvania Ancestors?

By: Jane Crawford

Jane Crawford — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:27:50 +0000

You are my kind of woman; Barefoot! That’s me, can’t wait until garden time etc. I did find a Mary & Margaret Crawford in the Pa, Church & Town Records. Maragaret is an elusive lady, I’m chasing her but so far she has outrun me. She & husband John lived in Muncy & are probably buried there. I’ve no idea what her maiden name is. May have to take a trip over there. Thanks for Ancestry & all you folks do for the hunters. Jane

By: TMiller1961

TMiller1961 — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:52:50 +0000

My family searches center on the City of Reading. When specifying location data in Ancestry.com forms, there is no drop-down entry for Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA. Being the seat of Berks County and currently the fifth most populated city in PA, its omission is odd.

Thank you for your work uncovering Pennsylvania’s rich heritage.

By: BEE

BEE — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:34:13 +0000

In my email box this morning: “More than 7 million NEW records from old Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985″
but no Catholic churches in Pittsburgh, PA, and not much from Fayette county, although I’m sure it’s not the fault of ancestry.
It’s very difficult to get some these records, even when writing to the diocese.
My only hope will be birth/death records, so keep them coming please.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:30:05 +0000

So, the vital records for Pennsylvania mentioned here:

http://www.ancestry.com/s49994/t25040/ancestry.com/12

Are not the birth/death records that will be made available in mid-February, but the “Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985″ collection that’s already been released – well, I have to say, that’s disappointing because even though me and 75 percent of my family (back to the immigrants) were BORN in Pennsylvania, I haven’t been able to find *anything* on my family in this collection.

This collection is essentially useless to people without Protestant family – which is silly since a large bulk of PA is Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholic (like my own family).

By: Lincoln Lowery

Lincoln Lowery — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:07:30 +0000

Thank you Crista. Someone on the forums mentioned they had talked to a Kenny Freestone at Ancestry who said they were going to be digitized by Ancestry, but I wasn’t sure of it.

By: BEE

BEE — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:59:23 +0000

Unfortunately, my earliest Pennsylvania ancestor didn’t arrive until 1890, and most of them came between 1900 and 1910, same for any other families I’m researching.

By: swayaminfotech

swayaminfotech — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:53:13 +0000

nice information….

By: Janice

Janice — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:35:13 +0000

Are there any records for Mount Pleasant, Wayne County available? I tried to find it, but without success. Suggestions? Looking for information on births from 1872-1889/

By: Joann Taylor

Joann Taylor — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:29:14 +0000

I have noticed that, in many instances, the names in the Philadelphia Death Index now on Ancestry do not match the Philadelphia Death Records found on the FamilySearch pages.

Just as one example:
your Phila. Death Index lists a Jonathan C Vanartsdalen – at
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=fsphilpadeath&h=268900&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t10940003_p328053503_kpidz0q3d328053503z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgPLz0q3dpid

He is clearly the same man who is listed in the FamilySearch Index as: Jonathan C. Fanartsdalers – same DOD, same parents (who are indexed as an’L and Maria Reanokiel).

Do you plan to add the Phila. death records to Ancestry and if so, will you be crosschecking the index?

By: Crista Cowan

Crista Cowan — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:43:10 +0000

Susan – Sometimes it helps identify the most likely candidates and then try to trace them each to see what happened to them. This will help you narrow down to YOUR Jeremiah. You might also want to check out Julianna’s tips here: http://ancstry.me/xbVqna

Lincoln – Mid-February is when the state will make these records available to researchers. I don’t know if they have plans to give Ancestry.com access to these records or not.

lbgeyer – For more information about the resources in this collection, I would contact http://hsp.org.

Bee – Me, too!

Nancy – Great catch!