thank you for the timeline, Justin, I was interested to see how the area was settled over time, especially in relation to my PA Dutch people....now I wonder if it's possible to narrow it down a bit more...is there a list of people who settled in Centre Co. in the 1830's? preferably in Spring or Bellefonte, but that may be asking to much. especially the early half of the 1800'a? I'm wondering if other German's came with my elusive ancestors, and may either be related or at least from the same town. I did find, from a German archivist, that Schiechen and Schweigen were the same place (a lucky break for me, to pick the right town out of hundreds simply by considering what Schiechen may have been as spoken with a heavy German accent) but that they weren't documented there...a pity, I'm back to square one. and a pity that the naturalization records can't be scanned through, you have to know the individual's name...and guess the spelling used in the record. Cornelia >Message: 21 >Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2007 22:48:42 -0500 >From: Justin Kirk Houser [email protected]> >Subject: Re: [PACENTRE] what counties considered to be Pennsylvania > Dutch >To: [email protected] >Message-ID: [email protected]> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > >Centre County's settlement can be understood, briefly, in this way: > >1700s - initial influx of Scots-Irish (Presbyterian) settlers in the valleys >1790s-1840s - "Pennsylvania Dutch" (Lutheran and Reformed, >Evangelical/United Brethren, a few Mennonite) move into the valleys >from the southeastern counties; Scots-Irish push westward and up into >mountainous areas (Snow Shoe, Philipsburg, etc. areas) >c.1800-c.1865 - Many African Americans pass through on the >"Underground Railroad;" a considerable portion stay so that there is >a sizable African American population in Bellefonte by the time of >the Civil War >1830s-1860s - Irish (Roman Catholic) come into the area to work on >the canals, and stay; waves of Irish immigrants follow; newer German >immigrants come into parts of the county, including a small colony >called "Germania" in Burnside Twp. and a number of farming families >in Halfmoon Valley; other nationalities arrive in small numbers (English, etc.) >1880-1920 - Tremendous influx of Italian and Slavic settlers of >various nationalities, settling chiefly around Bellefonte and in the >Snow Shoe/Philipsburg regions, and changing the ethnic composition of >those areas drastically >Post WWII - Penn State attracts residents from all over the world, >particularly to the State College area; moderate numbers of Asians, >Middle Eastern residents, etc., increasing as time continues >1990s - Russian Baptist immigrants begin settlement in Pleasant Gap >and State College areas >

There is no such list, but you can consult tax records to see who was living in any given municipality in a given year. These are in the basement of the library at Bellefonte and are not indexed, but are alphabetical within each year, filed by municipality. The early census would also tell you names of families living here (every ten years) if you went page-by-page. You can do wildcard searches on the Centre County naturalization records using the * character which should give you considerable latitude. Justin At 02:43 AM 1/8/2007, you wrote: >thank you for the timeline, Justin, I was interested to see how the >area was settled over time, >especially in relation to my PA Dutch people....now I wonder if it's >possible to narrow it down a >bit more...is there a list of people who settled in Centre Co. in >the 1830's? preferably in Spring >or Bellefonte, but that may be asking to much. especially the early >half of the 1800'a? I'm >wondering if other German's came with my elusive ancestors, and may >either be related or at least >from the same town. >I did find, from a German archivist, that Schiechen and Schweigen >were the same place (a lucky >break for me, to pick the right town out of hundreds simply by >considering what Schiechen may have >been as spoken with a heavy German accent) but that they weren't >documented there...a pity, I'm >back to square one. and a pity that the naturalization records can't >be scanned through, you have >to know the individual's name...and guess the spelling used in the record. >Cornelia > > >Message: 21 > >Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2007 22:48:42 -0500 > >From: Justin Kirk Houser [email protected]> > >Subject: Re: [PACENTRE] what counties considered to be Pennsylvania > > Dutch > >To: [email protected] > >Message-ID: [email protected]> > >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > > > >Centre County's settlement can be understood, briefly, in this way: > > > >1700s - initial influx of Scots-Irish (Presbyterian) settlers in the valleys > >1790s-1840s - "Pennsylvania Dutch" (Lutheran and Reformed, > >Evangelical/United Brethren, a few Mennonite) move into the valleys > >from the southeastern counties; Scots-Irish push westward and up into > >mountainous areas (Snow Shoe, Philipsburg, etc. areas) > >c.1800-c.1865 - Many African Americans pass through on the > >"Underground Railroad;" a considerable portion stay so that there is > >a sizable African American population in Bellefonte by the time of > >the Civil War > >1830s-1860s - Irish (Roman Catholic) come into the area to work on > >the canals, and stay; waves of Irish immigrants follow; newer German > >immigrants come into parts of the county, including a small colony > >called "Germania" in Burnside Twp. and a number of farming families > >in Halfmoon Valley; other nationalities arrive in small numbers > (English, etc.) > >1880-1920 - Tremendous influx of Italian and Slavic settlers of > >various nationalities, settling chiefly around Bellefonte and in the > >Snow Shoe/Philipsburg regions, and changing the ethnic composition of > >those areas drastically > >Post WWII - Penn State attracts residents from all over the world, > >particularly to the State College area; moderate numbers of Asians, > >Middle Eastern residents, etc., increasing as time continues > >1990s - Russian Baptist immigrants begin settlement in Pleasant Gap > >and State College areas > > > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >[email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >the quotes in the subject and the body of the message