Thank you for sharing your experience, I plan on making a trip there also and it's always good to hear of another's "tips". Thanks again, Beverly ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara" <brivas1@cox.net> To: <PAPERRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 12:24 PM Subject: [PA-Perry] Trip to Juniata, Perry, Mifflin, and Cumberland Co > I would like to thank all of you who so kindly responded to my appeal > (through Larry Snyder, bless his heart) about lodging in the Mifflintown > area, Juniata Co. > > I did find the Econo-Lodge. Don't be put off by a price quoted on the > internet. I called them and got a substantially lower quote. They are > still a good place: clean, friendly, etc. They also now have a laptop > in their lobby connected to the internet, plus a connection if you have > your own laptop. The use is free. > > I did have problems finding places to eat. Being from the > South/Southwest, I didn't find the food at the two nearest places to > really be that good, according to my tastes. Unless you want to drive > to Lewistown, I just didn't find that many places to eat around there, > especially if you're staying for some time. > > However, I have to repeat that the ladies in the Juniata Co courthouse > are among the friendliest and nicest I've ever encountered. This holds > true through the years. I certainly owe them a big thanks for their > help. > > The young lady in the Perry county courthouse was also a very friendly, > helpful person. Perry county now has their records on computers in the > records office, and it's really easy to look them up and print them > out. I just wish I could access them from my home. > > I did go to Cumberland county also. Now that was harder. Some of the > people were nice, but then some of them made me feel as if I were an > intruder and had no right there. Perhaps they are just busier? I don't > know, but it was hard getting anything there. I had to lug big books > from one end of a room to another to get someone to make me copies, and > then lug the books back to their place. No one offered to help > either. After about 10 such trips, your energy and eagerness to > research are both starting to wilt. They have some new "button" system > for recording? the copies you make, and in order to be able to use one, > I had to give over my carkeys as security. I'm not quite sure just > what those buttons do, but I still ended up paying by check. > > Not to leave out Mifflin county either. The ladies are nice and > willing to help. They were working on installing that new button system > on their microfiche readers so the access was a little limited. The > only bad part is going down to the vault when you can't find the records > on a microfiche. > > It was a great trip and I did find some crucial information. I would > advise anyone going to make sure of the dates they are looking for. The > mish-mash mess of those 4 counties is terrible. If you need something > from 1830 in Juniata county, you had better look in Mifflin or > Cumberland, depending on which part of the county you need. Then > there's the difference between 1819 and 1820 as far as items in Perry > county. Often, something may have been recorded in an older county > anyway. I guess what I'm saying is that the further back you go, the > more you need to be willing to check out all four counties. There is a > book I'd recommend as a guide to all the splits and new counties, > townships, etc. It's called "Mother Cumberland - Tracing Your > Ancestorsin South-Central Pennsylvania" and it is available in at least > the 3 Historical Societies I visited. It's not expensive, and it does a > good job of explaining the different geographical realignings. > > Barbara Rivas > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >