I'm trying to help my wife learn more about her grandfather, Fred Shearer, a mysterious man for whom we have little solid birth information, and who disappeared in the 30's so we know nothing about his death. For his birth, we have his date of birth (Sept. 26 1884) from his WW1 draft registration, but for his place of birth on various other documents he usually gave either IL or PA. However, on the birth certificate for one of his daughters, he listed "Pitsen, PA" as his birthplace, so I've been focusing on Pittston, figuring that's what was meant (anyone know of a town named Pitsen in PA?) Her grandfather spelled his last name Shearer in later life, but in earlier documents it's spelled Scherer, and there was a Scherer family in Pitsten in the late 1800s/early 1900s, so that seems plausible. However, it seems most of the records have been destroyed, and I haven't had any success in reaching any of the Scherers I see that live in the Pittston area today. Research I've done (or had done) ... * Newspapers. The researcher I hired said "there is a large gap in the surviving issues of the Pittston Gazette from 1874 to 1889", and the "Wilkes-Barre papers probably would be of no help either because they contained very few birth notices at the time except for a few more prominent families in the city itself." * Had the Wyoming Historical & Geological Society do a search (though on Shearer, not Scherer, I'll contact them again) * Contacted the state for birth records (they didn't start state birth records until 1906) * Contacted the county for birth records (courthouse burned down during the flood of 1893) * Contacted the local Catholic diocese (we believe he was Catholic), no success. * The researcher explored other avenues without success. Any suggestions on how I can learn more about Fred and his possible Pittston roots? Thanks! Chris

Do you have any censuses ? What was his wife's name and additional info also children names and info? Debby Malecki surmay@sccoast.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Shearer Cooper" <chris@sc3.net> To: <PALUZERN@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 9:11 AM Subject: [PALUZERN] Need Help Locating Scherer Family from Pittston > I'm trying to help my wife learn more about her grandfather, Fred Shearer, a > mysterious man for whom we have little solid birth information, and who > disappeared in the 30's so we know nothing about his death. > > For his birth, we have his date of birth (Sept. 26 1884) from his WW1 draft > registration, but for his place of birth on various other documents he > usually gave either IL or PA. However, on the birth certificate for one of > his daughters, he listed "Pitsen, PA" as his birthplace, so I've been > focusing on Pittston, figuring that's what was meant (anyone know of a town > named Pitsen in PA?) > > Her grandfather spelled his last name Shearer in later life, but in earlier > documents it's spelled Scherer, and there was a Scherer family in Pitsten in > the late 1800s/early 1900s, so that seems plausible. However, it seems most > of the records have been destroyed, and I haven't had any success in > reaching any of the Scherers I see that live in the Pittston area today. > > Research I've done (or had done) ... > * Newspapers. The researcher I hired said "there is a large gap in the > surviving issues of the Pittston Gazette from 1874 to 1889", and the > "Wilkes-Barre papers probably would be of no help either because they > contained very few birth notices at the time except for a few more prominent > families in the city itself." > * Had the Wyoming Historical & Geological Society do a search (though on > Shearer, not Scherer, I'll contact them again) > * Contacted the state for birth records (they didn't start state birth > records until 1906) > * Contacted the county for birth records (courthouse burned down during the > flood of 1893) > * Contacted the local Catholic diocese (we believe he was Catholic), no > success. > * The researcher explored other avenues without success. > > Any suggestions on how I can learn more about Fred and his possible Pittston > roots? > > Thanks! > Chris > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PALUZERN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >