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This collections represents all extant records of the Chester County Board of Relief from 1861 through 1865. The Chester County Board of Relief was set up more by the Act of May 15, 1861 P.L. 749, entitled "An Act to Create a Loan and to Provide for Arming the State" to aid local families of Civil War soldiers. Funded by state appropriations, its members included the County Commissioners and Court of Common Pleas Associate Judges. Township boards of relief were set up individually without legal precedent when townships felt the County Board did not meet the need for aid. Townships could petition the Board to assist their families although the Board did not always agree to help and the township boards assisted families without assistance from the county. The materials in this collection document the actives of the Board of Relief and provides detailed information on the families who sought its assistance. This collection is divided into four record series: account books, applications, correspondence, and administrative records. A full index to the account books, applications, and correspondence can be found here: https://www.chesco.org/1702/Board-of-Relief-1861-1865. less

The digitized account book of Ennion Cook consists of 256 scanned pages and dates from 1798 to 1836. Found within this volume are Cook’s financial records more as a school teacher, including student boarding fees, firewood purchases, and guardianship accounts. The back of the book also includes account records for the Birmingham Society of Friends’ burying grounds. Ennion Cook (1773-1841) was born to Stephen and Margaret Williams Cook in London Grove Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. A teacher by profession, Cook moved to Birmingham Township, Chester County in 1798 and was a prominent member of the Quaker community. Cook married Agnes Garrett in 1800, and, in 1802, began teaching in the four-sided school house located next to the Birmingham Meeting House. He later taught in the Octagonal Schoolhouse (known as Harmony Hall), a building recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. In 1808, Cook was appointed Librarian of the Birmingham Library, which operated out of his residence, and within the year, also began serving as the sexton of the Birmingham graveyard. Cook’s account book includes an index of 89 names followed by detailed account records that list individual items purchased and amounts paid. Typical charges to account holders include school supplies, boarding fees, clothing, shoes, firewood, tuition, and tutoring fees. A listing of Agnes Cook’s boarders from 1798-1822 is provided on pages 111-112, and a record of eight personal bond purchases is listed on page 123. In the back of the book, Cook kept separate entries relating to his role as sexton of the Birmingham graveyard from 1809 to 1834, and these entries include account records for individual plot purchases and the amounts paid. The entirety of the Ennion Cook Account Book Collection is housed and available for research use at the Chester County History Center. less

The digitization of the eight index volumes of the George Liebegott Genealogy Collection is the first stage of indexing the entire 247 volumes of the collections. more The eight volume index was compiled by Dr. Paul G. Holsinger and Dr. Helen Holsinger between 1976 and 1989. The index was willed to the Martinsburg Community Library in 1990. The eight index volumes to the Liebegott Collection contains 4,251 pages arranged alphabetically by family name and first name of family members, married names, and grandchildren. The collection is primarily a genealogical resource for the area and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but is often used by researchers outside Pennsylvania. The Liebegott Collection is represented in 247 three ring volumes and accessed by approximately 300 patrons annually. Blair County native, George Liebegott began collecting local family histories from the area as early as the 1930s and continued his work into the late 1950s. Mr. Liebegott method of data collection was to send out pre-designed forms to families asking them to record their family history. Residents of the area completed the forms and mailed them back to Mr. Liebegott. In 1959/60, Mr. Liebegott donated (willed) his collection research to the Martinsburg Community Library. His collection of family histories collected during the 30-year period is housed in 247 volumes. As funding becomes available, the next of the project will be to digitize the 247 volumes. The form contains the following categories: Name, date of birth, date of death, name of parents, vocation, religious affiliation, date of marriage, name of spouse, date of birth, name of parents, vocation, religious affiliation, address, names of children, birth dates, date of death, and married to and children. less

As part of a larger statewide effort, in 2018 the Meyersdale Public Library undertook a project to document and compile a list of known African American more burials in Somerset County. Staff and volunteers in the library's Pennsylvania Room combed state death certificates, online gravestone memorials, newspaper obituaries/articles, and additional local publications to determine as many African Americans laid to rest within this rural county as possible. The number ultimately reached nearly 350, though library researchers theorize it is substantially higher. In subsequent years the Pennsylvania Room has gained access to over 900 county death records kept from 1893 through 1905. Staff and volunteers plan to also review these records for documentation of additional African American burials. Thus this collection remains a work in progress, with updated information to be made available over time. less

This collection focuses on the heritage of African Americans in the Johnstown region.

This collection includes scans of immigration declarations registered in Cambria County from 1835-1991. Information includes name, place of departure, country of origin, and age.

The manuscript diary was recorded by the Germantown printer and Church of the Brethren pastor, Christopher Sauer, Jr. (1721-1784). Written in German script, the diary, although more small, contains a wealth of genealogical information on the early Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania, as well as important personal information about Sauer, Jr., including accounts concerning his printing business and a short entry regarding his being brought to a provisional continental court on suspicion of being a spy for England during the American Revolution. In the words of the late Brethren scholar, Dr. Donald Durnbaugh of Juniata College: “in his [Sauer’s] diary are included brief sketches of his life history and that of his family. Though terse, they are informative.” less

Welcome to the State Library of Pennsylvania's Pennsylvania Genealogy Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. Includes the Harrisburg Newspaper Index containing marriages more and deaths from four newspapers from 1799 to 1827; the Necrology Scrapbook with obituaries clipped from Pennsylvania newspapers from October 1891 to March 1904, including many Civil War veterans; and Courts & Lawyers of Pennsylvania, a History, 1623-1923, as well as a number of other family history related books and pamphlets. less

Selected Pennsylvania Regimental Histories in the Civil War, with histories of Pennsylvania units from other wars to be added.

This collection contains the grave registrations forms of veterans of the Civil War buried in Lehigh County, PA. Upon burial these forms were filed with the more local Veterans Affairs. Most records are for Lehigh County, some Berks and Northampton County records exist in this data. A few Confederate veterans are also represented. less

The Historic Books collection contains local history and books of historical nature from around the Lehigh Valley. This collection also contains unpublished family history research records more of private researchers, which are often lost with time. The Historic Books Collection preserves these vital sources of genealogical information. less