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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2004-07 > 1088873106


From: "John Polk" <>
Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] You are Still On the Scotch-Irish List
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 12:45:11 -0400


Last question! Anyone have suggestions on the best places
to go -- or the sequence -- to visit genealogy libraries in
Philly? I'll be researching a family, Scotch-Irish, probably
Quaker, dropped off by flying saucers in Marple area of Chester
Co about 1740, so we're talking early to mid 1700s here. >

You certainly have to go to the Pennsylvania Historical Society of
Pennsylvania - a wonderful facility with a huge collection of Penn family
Papers, nicely indexed. It is located on Locust Street, about a block's
walk from a stop on the Mainline subway. Otherwise you need to use parking
garage.

For Chester County research you need to visit the County Archives in
Westchester - a pleasant and relaxed facility with helpful staff and easy
parking. They have all the probate and land records going back to early
1700's. They also have taxlists for most years from the 1720's on up, an
incredibly important resource for determining the years of flying saucer
landings. The taxlists are organized by township so you can get a very
definite idea of where people lived and when they moved.

The Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington is also a good place to visit
if you think you had ancestors in Newcastle County. It is located in
historic section of Wilmington, only about 15 miles from Philadelphia. For
those who have never delved into it, researching Delaware colonial records
is a real struggle. Few people are aware that the "First State" was never a
colony in its own right, but was actually a part of Pennsylvania known as
"the Lower Three Counties". Over the years there has been a lot of friction
between PA and DE over which records properly belong to Delaware and which
to Pennsylvania. The consequence for us genealogists is a real problem in
locating records, especially original land surveys and patents - Delaware
doesn't have them, and Pennsylvania doesn't feel any need to index them.


--- John Polk
--- Havre de Grace MD
---




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