Does anyone on the list have some helpful hints for long-distance researchers (I live near Boston) on locating Crawford Co. birth, marriage and death records prior to 1893 (which I understand is the earliest date available in the County Courthouse)? At the moment, I'm looking for records in the 1830's. I'm looking for the name WINTON just in case anyone out there is looking for it as well. Someone once sent me an excerpt from a book giving specific birth dates ofr certain people, but I don't know where the author got them and I'm trying to verify. Thanks in advance. Debi Ham

Debi: Marriage records begin in 1885, and continue to the present at the county court house. Birth and death records were only kept at the court house from 1893 to 1905, and after that they are with the State Dept. of Vital Statistics. There were birth death and marriage records kept from 1852-1855, but most people did not comply with the law, so they are not nearly complete. For Crawford Co. they have been published in the county genealogical society magazine, Crawford Co. Genealogy, and I understand they are available on one of the Crawford Co. websites. The cities of Meadville and Titusville also kept birth and death records beginning in 1881, and they are at the city halls. The earliest Meadville ones have also been published in Crawford Co. Genealogy, and microfilms of them are available at the Meadville Public Library. Beyond that, there are no official records. Births were rarely announced in the newspapers, so one usually has to find a family Bible or possibly a church baptismal record. [Check the county history for churches in the area where your relatives lived and then check modern telephone books to see if the churches are still there.] Crawford Co. Genealogy has published some church records, and the LDS [Mormon] Church has some on microfilm. But some church records only give the date of baptism and not the birthdate. Marriages and deaths were often published in the newspaper, and the Crawford Co. Historical Society has an index to the Meadville papers from 1805 to the 1960's. If you find a citation, you can order a microfilm of the paper through your local library's interlibrary loan from the Pa. State Library in Harrisburg. The Historical Society also has a fairly complete collection of cemetery inscriptions. They do research for $25 per hour, and could copy and send them to you. They have family histories which have been donated to them as well--but some are them are like the one you describe: information but no sources listed. Hope this helps. Bill Moore ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 12:11 PM Subject: [Crawf'rd] Seek Early Birth Records Advice > Does anyone on the list have some helpful hints for long-distance researchers > (I live near Boston) on locating Crawford Co. birth, marriage and death > records prior to 1893 (which I understand is the earliest date available in > the County Courthouse)? At the moment, I'm looking for records in the > 1830's. > > I'm looking for the name WINTON just in case anyone out there is looking for > it as well. Someone once sent me an excerpt from a book giving specific > birth dates ofr certain people, but I don't know where the author got them > and I'm trying to verify. > > Thanks in advance. > > Debi Ham > > > ==== PACRAWFO Mailing List ==== > ~*~*~*~ The Resources in the USGenWeb's Parade of States Awaits! ~*~*~*~ > -- Table of all States: http://www.usgenweb.org/statelinks-table.html > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >