Genealogy Focus Group Mar 27, 2008
Cathy Pappas
Jim Julian
Cecilia Wenschhoff
Barbara McKay – visitor from Delaware
Curtis Wright
MaryEllen memichael@fredco-md.net
Serendipity!! – Just before our meeting this evening, Barbara Mckay and her husband came into the library looking for a book about Lewistown history. They currently live in Lewes, Deleware but Barbara grew up in Baltimore. I invited her to our meeting and she was delighted. So we had our puzzler for the evening and it was great fun talking with Barbara while her husband searched our library collection.
Barbara and her husband had spent the day in Emmitsburg and the surrounding area looking for property once owned by one of her relatives. She was also looking for information on Martin Kerney (also Carney or Kearney) who she knows lived in Lewistown at some point. Martin’s father, James, died when Martin was 2 years old and she is trying to find out what happened to Martin.
We showed her our FCPL website with Heritage Quest and Ancestry. She has an Ancestry account but she is still very new with genealogy. Curt showed us some of his searching techniques and we went looking for Martin and James. Curt first searched for any Martin Kerney in a census record and when that was too many, we limited the search to Maryland. Barbara knows James Kerney was a lawyer and a legislator so there is plenty of information on him. We did identify James in several censuses but did not have much luck with his son, Martin. Barbara knows Martin died in 1860 and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery.
One interesting thing we talked about is that the census record indicates James was born in Ireland but Barbara has several family documents that dispute that. He was born in Lewistown by all accounts she can find. It is proof, as we all are too well aware, that the census is a great place to fine clues but it is by no means accurate in every case.
Barbara said she was searching for wills to help her solve some of the mysteries but she was not having much luck with that effort. Curt suggested that if wills were not available that land records could also be very helpful. The land records usually list all living descendants.
That led into Barbara’s next quest, a search for a particular piece of property once owned by a Kerney on Tract Road in what is now in Fairfield, PA. Cecelia mentioned that her relatives, the Overholtzer family had owned property in that area and BINGO, Barbara lit up because she discovered that Cecelia has a wealth of information about the families in the Tract area. Cecelia is a Wenschhoff and she grew up right there. Barbara and Cecelia exchanged information and plan to keep in touch. Cecelia has a very old book at home with a great deal of information on the Overholtzers that will be very helpful to Barbara. Barbara had spent the day knocking on doors trying to get information on a particular 50-acre tract of land that was purchased by James from Christian Overholtzer. She wanted to locate the property specifically.
Curt brought up GOOGLE Maps of the area so we could look see the roads and structures that Barbara was telling us about. We went on to talk about the Dougherty family who also owned property there, the historical houses and the McDivit Mill in the Tract area.
All in all, it was an unexpected surprise that worked out well for everyone. We wish Barbara luck with her search and hope she will come back to visit.
Meanwhile, we did not get a chance to talk about the free database and the NBN bookseller that Cathy G. wants to share with us so here’s the info:
http://www.myheritage.com/download-family-tree-builder
This site is myheritage.com and the database is Family Tree Builder.
Here’s a bookseller that Cathy recommends (they have clearance sales from time to time where you can pick up books at bargain prices):
http://www.nbnbooks.com/
DIRECTIONS TO THE DISTRIBUTION CENTER, BLUE RIDGE SUMMIT, PA
Follow Route 15 to Thurmont, Maryland.
Exit at Route 550 and proceed north toward Ft. Richie and Sabillasville.
After 4.2 miles you will come to a stop sign. Go through the stop sign.
Go 2.5 miles to the Sabillasville Post Office (red brick building on the right).
Route 550 splits at a fork. Veer right onto Old Sabillasville Road (passes immediately under a railroad overpass).
Stay on Old Sabillasville Road a ¼ mile, to Blue Ridge Summit, PA.
Old Sabillasville Road ends at Monterey Lane (Blue Ridge Summit library on the left).
At this intersection, turn right onto Monterey Lane.
After you cross the railroad tracks, take the first left onto NBN Way.
At the stop sign, go straight.
The NBN/R&L warehouse buildings are straight ahead of you. Look for the sign for visitor parking adjacent to the entrance of Building B.
15200 NBN Way
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214
(717) 794-3800
See you next time :)
Cathy Pappas
Jim Julian
Cecilia Wenschhoff
Barbara McKay – visitor from Delaware
Curtis Wright
MaryEllen memichael@fredco-md.net
Serendipity!! – Just before our meeting this evening, Barbara Mckay and her husband came into the library looking for a book about Lewistown history. They currently live in Lewes, Deleware but Barbara grew up in Baltimore. I invited her to our meeting and she was delighted. So we had our puzzler for the evening and it was great fun talking with Barbara while her husband searched our library collection.
Barbara and her husband had spent the day in Emmitsburg and the surrounding area looking for property once owned by one of her relatives. She was also looking for information on Martin Kerney (also Carney or Kearney) who she knows lived in Lewistown at some point. Martin’s father, James, died when Martin was 2 years old and she is trying to find out what happened to Martin.
We showed her our FCPL website with Heritage Quest and Ancestry. She has an Ancestry account but she is still very new with genealogy. Curt showed us some of his searching techniques and we went looking for Martin and James. Curt first searched for any Martin Kerney in a census record and when that was too many, we limited the search to Maryland. Barbara knows James Kerney was a lawyer and a legislator so there is plenty of information on him. We did identify James in several censuses but did not have much luck with his son, Martin. Barbara knows Martin died in 1860 and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery.
One interesting thing we talked about is that the census record indicates James was born in Ireland but Barbara has several family documents that dispute that. He was born in Lewistown by all accounts she can find. It is proof, as we all are too well aware, that the census is a great place to fine clues but it is by no means accurate in every case.
Barbara said she was searching for wills to help her solve some of the mysteries but she was not having much luck with that effort. Curt suggested that if wills were not available that land records could also be very helpful. The land records usually list all living descendants.
That led into Barbara’s next quest, a search for a particular piece of property once owned by a Kerney on Tract Road in what is now in Fairfield, PA. Cecelia mentioned that her relatives, the Overholtzer family had owned property in that area and BINGO, Barbara lit up because she discovered that Cecelia has a wealth of information about the families in the Tract area. Cecelia is a Wenschhoff and she grew up right there. Barbara and Cecelia exchanged information and plan to keep in touch. Cecelia has a very old book at home with a great deal of information on the Overholtzers that will be very helpful to Barbara. Barbara had spent the day knocking on doors trying to get information on a particular 50-acre tract of land that was purchased by James from Christian Overholtzer. She wanted to locate the property specifically.
Curt brought up GOOGLE Maps of the area so we could look see the roads and structures that Barbara was telling us about. We went on to talk about the Dougherty family who also owned property there, the historical houses and the McDivit Mill in the Tract area.
All in all, it was an unexpected surprise that worked out well for everyone. We wish Barbara luck with her search and hope she will come back to visit.
Meanwhile, we did not get a chance to talk about the free database and the NBN bookseller that Cathy G. wants to share with us so here’s the info:
http://www.myheritage.com/download-family-tree-builder
This site is myheritage.com and the database is Family Tree Builder.
Here’s a bookseller that Cathy recommends (they have clearance sales from time to time where you can pick up books at bargain prices):
http://www.nbnbooks.com/
DIRECTIONS TO THE DISTRIBUTION CENTER, BLUE RIDGE SUMMIT, PA
Follow Route 15 to Thurmont, Maryland.
Exit at Route 550 and proceed north toward Ft. Richie and Sabillasville.
After 4.2 miles you will come to a stop sign. Go through the stop sign.
Go 2.5 miles to the Sabillasville Post Office (red brick building on the right).
Route 550 splits at a fork. Veer right onto Old Sabillasville Road (passes immediately under a railroad overpass).
Stay on Old Sabillasville Road a ¼ mile, to Blue Ridge Summit, PA.
Old Sabillasville Road ends at Monterey Lane (Blue Ridge Summit library on the left).
At this intersection, turn right onto Monterey Lane.
After you cross the railroad tracks, take the first left onto NBN Way.
At the stop sign, go straight.
The NBN/R&L warehouse buildings are straight ahead of you. Look for the sign for visitor parking adjacent to the entrance of Building B.
15200 NBN Way
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214
(717) 794-3800
See you next time :)
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