Western PA Family History Centers

The Family History Library, located in Salt Lake City, is the main repository for most of the genealogical information the Church has collected. Family history centers (more than 3,500 around the world) are branches of the Family History Library. These centers eliminate the need to travel to Salt Lake City to use the record collection. Most of the microfilm and electronic data collections are accessible at centers around the world. There is no charge for use of the Family History Library or family history centers.

Volunteer staffs are on hand to lend assistancehowever Center staff members will not do research for you. Instead they will help you use center resources so that you can do your own research. Some lineage-linked family history information is available in computer databases at the center.

When you go, bring the name of an ancestor you wish to research and information you know about the person (such as birth, death, or marriage information). The more information you have about your ancestor, the better your chances for successful research. It may also be helpful to bring a completed pedigree chart.

There is no fee to visit a family history center or to use most of its resources. Research outlines and resource guides may be sold at cost. There are small fees for:

• Photocopies
• Computer printouts
• Microfilms or microfiche loaned to the center from the Family History Library to cover postage

Here is a list of the Family History Centers in our Pittsburgh Area:

Beaver Valley Pennsylvania

114 Church DrMonaca, Beaver, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 724-774-3670Hours: W-Th 10am-9pm

Cranberry Twp Pennsylvania

2771 Rochester RdCranberry, Butler, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 724-742-0922Hours: Sept-May: T, W, Th 9am-3pm; W, 6:30-8:30pm June-Aug T&Th 9am-3pm; W 6:30pm-8:30pmClosed: Wednesday 21st & Thursday 22 November. Last week of December & first week of JanuaryAttention: In the winter months, our hours may be impacted by delays or closures in the Seneca Valley School District. Please call ahead.

Greensburg Pennsylvania

Twin Run RdGreensburg, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 724-836-0648Hours: T 1pm-3pm; W 7pm-9pm, Sat 10am-12noon

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

46 School StreetPittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 412-921-2115Hours: T,Th 10am-8pm; Sat 10am-1pmClosed: August, Thanksgiving Week, Christmas & New Year's Weeks

3rd 710 New Texas RoadPlum Borough, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 724-327-1818Hours: T 9am-2pm; Th 6pm-9pm; Sat 8am-12pmClosed: when weather is snowy or icy.

Washington Pennsylvania

525 Fairway DriveWashington, Washington, Pennsylvania, United StatesPhone: 724-222-9474Hours: T,Th,10am-3pm; W 12pm-3pm & 6:30pm-8:30pmClosed: Mon, Fri, Sat

Note: These are not mailing addresses. Due to limited staff, Family History Centers are unable to respond to mail inquiries

Western Pennsylvania Genealogy and Historical Resources
Beaver County
Beaver county Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation
699 5th Street
P.O. Box 1
Freedom, PA 15042-0001
724-775-1848

The Beaver County Genealogical Society
C/o Nancy Y. Lindemann
3225 Dutch Ridge Road
Beaver, PA 15009
www.rootsweb.com/~pabecgs/history.htm

Clarion County
Clarion county Historical Society
17 south Fifth Avenue
Clarion, PA 16214-1015
814-226-4450
www.cspm;ome.net/cchs/

Clarion Free Library
644 Main Street
Clarion, PA 16214
814-226-7172
www.clarionfreelibrary.org/

Crawford County
Crawford County Historical Society
(located at the Meadville Public Library)
848 North Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335
814-724-6080
http://ccfs.org/historical/

Meadville Public Library
848 North Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335
814-336-1773
www.meadvillelibrary.org/

Erie County
Erie County Historical society and Museums
419 State Street
Erie, PA 16501-1106
814-454-1813

Erie County Public Library
160 East Front Street
Erie, PA 16507
814-451-6900
www.ecls.lib.pa.us/

Erie Society for Genealogical Research
P.O. Box 1403
Erie, PA 16512-1403
www.pa-roots.com/~erie/

Fayette County
Fayette County Historical society
P.O. Box 193
Uniontown, PA 15401-0193
724-439-4422

The Pennsylvania room at the Uniontown Public Library &
The Fayette County Genealogical Society
24 Jefferson Street
Uniontown, PA 15401
412-437-1165
www.fforward.com/gene/pennroom.htm

Greene County
The Greene County Historical society and Museum
P.O. box 127 Waynesburg, PA 15370-0127
724-627-3204
www.greenepa.net/~museum/

Cornerstone Genealogical Society
(located at the Bowlby Public Library)
P.O. Box 547
311 North West Street
724-627-5653
www.pa.roots.com/~greene/society.htm

Lawrence County
Lawrence County Historical Society
P.O. box 1745
408 North Jefferson Street
New Castle, PA 16103-1745
724-658-4022
www.ilovehistory.com

Somerset County
Historical And Genealogical Society of Somerset County
10649 Somerset Pike
Somerset, PA 15501
814-445-6077
www.rootsweb.com/pasomers/schs/

Washington County
Citizens Library
55 College Street
Washingotn, PA 15301
724-222-2400
www.citilib.org/

Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania
(located at the Citizens Library)
P.O. Box 894
55 College Street
Washington, PA 15301-0894
724-222-2400
www.citilib.org/

The Washington County Historical Society
LeMoyne House
49 East Maiden Street
Washington, PA 15301
724-225-6740
www.wchspa.org/

Washington and Jefferson Library
East Wheeling and Lincoln Streets
Washington, PA 15301
724-223-6070

Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County Historical Society
951 Old Salem Road
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-836-1800
www.wchspa.com

Greensburg Hempfield Area Library
237 South Pennsylvania Avenue
Greensburg, PA 15601
www.ghal.org

Family History Centres in the British Isles

Most Family History Centres (FHCs) are located in church buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and are staffed by volunteers. Each FHC offers the possibility of ordering resources from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. By this means you can have access to over two million microfilms and hundreds of thousands of fiche through a loan programme between the Family History Library and FHCs.

Use of every FHC is available to everyone. There is no charge for use of a Family History Centre, although there are modest charges for copying or ordering loans of microfilms or fiche.

Click Here For the Long List!

Using Batch Numbers in the LDS International Genealogical Index

Using Batch Numbers in the LDS International Genealogical Index

Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Blog
From Kimberly Powell,
Your Guide to Genealogy.
Stay up to date!

I've been doing a lot of English research lately which, of course, means a lot of time spent sorting out families in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) online at FamilySearch. To take full advantage of this database of transcribed parish records, however, it really helps to understand and make use of batch numbers.

Using a batch number in conjunction with the Custom Search page allows you to limit your name search to a particular locality or parish, something not available in the standard search options. It also allows you to search by surname only, which is only available at the countrywide level using the standard search feature. In other words, the batch number allows you to easily search the IGI for all occurences of your family surname within a specific parish.

So, what is a batch number?
Entries in the IGI come from two major sources of information:

1. individual submissions submitted by members of the LDS church and
2. information extracted by volunteers from parish records and other vital records of birth, marriage and death from around the world.

Each group of records submitted is assigned a specific batch number. Records from a specific parish will generally be grouped into anywhere from one to several batches. If a batch number begins with an M (marriage) or C (christening), then it usually means the information was extracted from original parish records.

It is important to understand that a "batch" doesn't always include all records from the original source or even the LDS microfilm copy of the source - it may only cover a specific range of years. All parish records were not fully included as part of the official LDS extraction program. Batched records for Sapcote parish in Leicestershire, for example, include christenings from 1807-1852 and marriages from 1754-1842, while the original source microfilm references Sapcote parish registers from 1564-1875.

Read More....

Requesting Genealogists/Researchers/Historians Lobbying Participation

People For Better Access To Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR)

We are asking for your help in a grassroots lobbying campaign to make older Pennsylvania state death certificates available on-line. As you may already know, all death certificates recorded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1906 have restricted access and require the knowledge of when and where the person died, the expenditure of $9 and a wait of 5 weeks or longer for each and every death certificate, regardless of how long ago the person died. Because of the restrictions, the public is not able to use these historic records as much as they should be able to. And we’re sure many of you have experienced the frustration of either being told they couldn’t find the death certificate or being sent the wrong death certificate.

We understand the concerns about privacy, identity theft and terrorism. However, there is no reason to keep all of these records restricted indefinitely. Therefore, our basic proposal is that the death certificates that would be accessible on-line would have to be at least 50 years old (and, if necessary for extra security, only for persons born more than 100 years ago). Currently that would mean only persons who died before 1957 (and if necessary were born before 1907) would be made accessible on-line. As each year passes the next year in line would be added to this on-line database.

Several other states have already made their older death certificates available on-line, including Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Utah and West Virginia. But Pennsylvania continues its outdated and costly process of issuing these older death certificates one at a time.

Federal census records are available after 72 years. The Social Security death index (with dates, places and numbers) is very recent. There are already numerous other records available on-line that are far more worrisome than our proposal could ever be.
We are asking you to contact certain Pennsylvania state officials, preferably in writing or in person since it will have the most impact, but at least by phone or email. As we understand it only the Pennsylvania State Legislature can change the law. The governor would have to approve this change and the Pennsylvania Department of Health would have to implement any change. If you live in Pennsylvania please contact your representatives in the state legislature in person, by letter, by phone or at the very least by email. Everyone, including out of state residents, should write, phone or at the very least email the governor and even the Division of Vital Records. Naturally the more letters and other forms of contact that are made and the more people involved the better.
Talking points:

In the long run, having older death certificates available on-line would be a cost savings to the state and the state gets away from the antiquated system of searching for each record one at a time.

The public would be much better served and easier access would allow far greater utilization of these historic records by the public.

Year of birth and death guidelines will prevent identity theft and guard against terrorism.

There is no practical reason all of these records should be kept confidential indefinitely especially after a fairly long lapse of time.

Other states have already made death certificates available on-line. Why not, Pennsylvania?

Contact person for People For Better Access To Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR)

Tim Gruber: timarg@rcn.com

So far, no sign he's related to Hillary

September 9, 2007

BY SCOTT FORNEK Political Editor

It sure would be an awkward family reunion. But, believe it or not, Barack Obama is related to both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

OK, distantly related: Obama and Bush are 11th cousins.

That's because they share the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents -- Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole Hinckley of 17th century Massachusetts.

Barack Obama is distantly related to former President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush.
(AP file)

Barack Obama is distantly related to Vice President Dick Cheney.
(AP file)

That means Obama and former President George Herbert Walker Bush are 10th cousins once removed.

Obama is related to Cheney through Mareen Duvall, a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mareen and Susannah Duvall were Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents and Cheney's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

That makes Obama and Cheney ninth cousins once removed.

Cheney and Bush are related to one another by a completely different common ancestor.

We leave it to you to figure out their relationship.

SOURCE: The Chicago Sun Times

Interview Tips!

http://www.genealogy.com/95_carmack.html

TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE HISTORY PROJECT (TST)

UNESCO


-THE PURPOSE OF THIS EVENT IS TO CONTINUE THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNSECO TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE (TST) PROJECT THAT WAS STARTED IN 1998.
THE TST PROJECT EMBODIES A PROVEN CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK WITH A DEMONSTRATED LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPACT IN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES.
WE AIM TO ENRICH THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF HISTORY THROUGH THE INCLUSION OF A MORE THOROUGH EXAMINATION OF THE FOUNDATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY IMPLICATIONS OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE INDUSTRY, AS WELL AS ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR CURRENT SOCIETY.

ROOTS 30TH ANNIVERSARY

TV One’s 30th anniversary telecast of the epic mini-series Roots will be a week-long television event hosted by cast members of the award-winning production.


The Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Peabody Award-winning miniseries, which follows several generations of an enslaved family from Africa in the 1700s to emancipation during the Civil War, will air in six parts from 8-10 PM Sunday, April 8-Thursday, April 13, repeating each evening at 10 PM and the following day at noon, with the finale airing on Sunday, April 15, at 8 and 10 PM, repeating on April 16 at noon (all times ET).


The hosts for the week-long event are LeVar Burton (Kunta Kinte) on Sunday, April 8 and Monday, April 9, Lou Gossett, Jr. (Fiddler) on Tuesday, April 10, Richard Roundtree (Sam Bennett) on Wednesday, April 11, Leslie Uggams (Kizzy) on Thursday, April 12 and Ben Vereen (Chicken George) for the final episode on Sunday, April 15. The five former cast members will all be on hand Sunday, April 15 for a closing tribute to the late author and creator of Roots, Alex Haley.


Leading up to and through the week of the Roots telecast, TV One is also airing vignettes from notable African Americans of all ages about the significance of Roots in their lives and African American culture. Among those featured in the vignettes are the hosts mentioned above, as well as Rev. Al Sharpton, Quincy Jones, Queen Latifah, Alex Haley’s brothers George and Julian Haley, Regina King, Dick Gregory, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Jermaine Dupri, Jasmine Guy, Vanessa Williams and Malinda Williams, among others.


This historic series, based on the late Alex Haley’s best-selling book about his ancestors, begins with the harrowing story of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton), a young West African who is captured by slave traders in 1750 and sold into slavery in America, and the saga continues through the emancipation of Chicken George (Ben Vereen), Kunta Kinte’s grandson.


Still the top-rated mini-series of all time, Roots in its initial airing on ABC was watched - in full or in part - in 85 percent of U.S. homes, a staggering number even in an era when there were only three television networks. The mini-series captivated the American television audience and became a social phenomenon unlike any other program of its time. Roots served as a catalyst for national discussions about race, the legacy of slavery, African American history and launched a new passion for family history and genealogy, especially among African Americans.


Aside from its social impact, Roots established the mini-series as a format and featured a distinguished cast, many of whose careers were launched by the mini-series. Featured in the all-star cast are LeVar Burton, Ben Vereen, Louis Gossett Jr., Leslie Uggams, Ed Asner, John Amos, Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Georg Stanford Brown, Moses Gunn, Richard Roundtree, Olivia Cole, Ian McShane, Lorne Greene, Lloyd Bridges and Todd Bridges, among others.


An award-winning producer and director, Burton, who portrayed Kunta Kinte in the mini-series, is working with TV One on developing original content to support TV One’s telecast of the mini-series, including interstitial vignettes, online elements for www.tvoneonline.com and content designed for the education community.



“I’m thrilled that TV One has become the new home for Roots,” said Burton. “Roots is part of our common history, and is as relevant today as when it was first broadcast 30 years ago.”



“Roots was landmark television for all of American society, but especially for African Americans, for we had never before seen our story on television, and rarely even seen ourselves portrayed as multi-dimensional individuals,” said TV One President and CEO Johnathan Rodgers. “While a lot has changed in 30 years, Roots continues to be powerful television and an important lesson in our country’s history. We are delighted to bring it back to viewers who remember it as children and young adults, as well as introduce this groundbreaking saga to a whole new generation of viewers of all ethnicities.”

Black Star News

Resorces by State

Ancestors--BYU

"FamilySearch and the Georgia Archives announced today that Georgia's
death index from 1919 to 1927 can be accessed for free online. The online
index is linked to digital images of the original death certificates. This
free database will open doors to additional information for family
historians and genealogists with Georgia ties. The index and images can be
searched and viewed at www.GeorgiaArchives.org .