pahistory

Pennsylvania had a few attempts at birth records and death records that didn't work out as expected. Some failed, and some.....well, I explain what happened in this episode. Genealogists can use these record attempts to find their ancestors in PA.

Pennsylvania Archives Series (books) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Archives 

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Music: *My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free*, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, [www.amclassical.com](http://www.amclassical.com/), Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Genealogists get to research in a variety of records. But I have one absolute favorite record, and its a hard-to-find vital record. Listen in to what it is and where to find it.

Subscribe to **PA Ancestors Discoveries** Newsletter  [https://welcome.paancestors.com](https://welcome.paancestors.com/)

Make a discovery about your ancestors? I’d love to hear about it! [https://paancestors.com/testimonials/](https://paancestors.com/testimonials/) 

Become an **Inner Circle Member** [https://www.paancestors.com/members/](https://www.paancestors.com/members/)

Music: *My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free*, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, [www.amclassical.com](http://www.amclassical.com/), Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Genealogists don't need to order certified copies or pay monthly subscription fees to get the records they want. Here are three ways to get birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses for free.

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Make a discovery about your ancestors? I’d love to hear about it!

Have a question on how research in PA? Submit it here for the Research Q & A

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Music: My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, www.amclassical.com, Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Looking in PA county histories is often recommended for genealogists. But how useful are these books? What will I find in county history books and is it useful for my research of John Curry's ancestors?

Links:

Find county histories for any county on the Internet Archive

Read my blog post on 9 Ways to Use County Histories in Genealogy

Subscribe to PA Ancestors Discoveries Newsletter  

Make a discovery about your ancestors? I’d love to hear about it! 

Have a question on how research in PA? Submit it here for the Research Q & A 

Become an Inner Circle Member and get exclusive content while supporting the podcast 

Catch-up on all the past episodes 

Music: My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, www.amclassical.com, Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Denys spent the winter doing a lot of reading and has two history books to recommend. Ready to break the narrative of what you know about American history? These books will do it!

Sometimes when you can’t make progress in genealogy research, its because you don’t understand the history of the time and place you are searching. In public schools we learned a simple version of history because every school used the same textbooks across all states.

Fortunately we have authors who look at the historical record and can tell us what happened in our past in new ways. Check out the books below and give them a try to get new insight into Pennsylvania history and your ancestors.

Links:

American Nations, by Colin Woodward

(link to bookshop.org where you can support local independent bookstores with your purchase)

The Making of Pennsylvania, by Sidney George Fisher

(link to betterworldbooks.com where you can buy discards from libraries, but you can also find the book on Internet Archive for free https://archive.org/details/makingofpennsyl00fish)

Subscribe to PA Ancestors Discoveries Newsletter

Make a discovery about your ancestors? I’d love to hear about it!

Have a question on how research in PA? Submit it here for the Research Q & A

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Catch-up on all the past episodes

Music: My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, www.amclassical.com, Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

To understand Pennsylvania’s past, genealogists need knowledge of PA farming. Most of PA’s first immigrants were farmers and agriculture dominated the economy for 200 years. Dr. Sally McMurry, professor emerita of history of Penn State University shares highlights from her comprehensive book, Pennsylvania Farming: A History in Landscapes.

Topics Discussed:

• The impact of agriculture on the PA economy
• How farms operated - indentures, tenancy, redemptioner, and slaves
• The impact of women’s labor on the household
• What farmer’s produced to get hard currency
• The myths of PA farming busted

The whole book is essential reading if you are researching early PA ancestors who lived in the vast rural areas of Pennsylvania.

Links:

Pennsylvania Farming: A History in Landscapes can be purchased from the publisher University of Pittsburgh Press or Amazon.

Subscribe to PA Ancestors Discoveries Newsletter

Make a discovery about your ancestors? I’d love to hear about it!

Have a question on how research in PA? Submit it here for the Research Q & A

Become an Inner Circle Member and get exclusive content while supporting the podcast

Catch-up on all the past episodes

Music: My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, www.amclassical.com, Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

At the request of the author, this episode is not on YouTube.