Linda, when you get a chance, could you please look for this marriage on your CDs? I've been unable to find it in published records - and I've looked at a lot of them - but I've not had access to any CDs. John Martin was Scots-Irish, born in "Little York" county PA around 1774. Exact township and parents unknown. John Martin and Susanna Ourie/Owrey/Urey/Ury/Ulrich married about 1797-98, possibly in York County, PA. It's also possible they married in Lancaster Co. since I have found Martins and Ureys living in both York & Lancaster counties. One clue to their marriage: The first known child of John & Susanna was Samuel Martin, b. 1 April 1799 and baptized 30 August 1800 in the records of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, York, PA. The 17-month gap between birth and Baptism puzzles me. The staff at the York County Historical Society told me the gap might indicate that John & Susanna Martin may not have lived near York, PA and that Samuel might have been baptized by a traveling preacher who, 17 months later, recorded Samuel's birth and baptism in the records of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church. Linda, if you could find the marriage record for John and Susanna (Ourie/etc.) Martin it would be a real breakthrough for me. -Bill Martin Denver, CO -----Original Message----- From: scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of lmerle@comcast.net Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 4:28 PM To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [S-I] PA marriage records! Hi Martha, most of the ones that survive have been published in a series of periodicals. Then republished in large volumes. You check the large volumes. They are fried into CDs. I believe I got one collection. There are three volumes of Pennsylvania vital records at Ancestry too. If you post the name I'll see if I can check my CDs. (Translation: We'll find out if my current PC reads my old CDs <grin>). There are no township or county records. These will be church records. No state church in PA so no records like in Massachusetts, Maryland, lowland areas of Virginia with functional parishes (unlike where our ancestors lived...). If that turns up nothing, then you can check at the county level to see if the county archive has records that were not aggregated in the various collections. You can also check the state level at the Pennysylvania Archive website. I do not believe their collection is on line (but they are always surprising me). The names may also be in the diaries of itinerating preachers. Generally there wasn't always a church, just a group of people who were serviced once a year or less by a traveling minister. So...in this case, where would they record the event? They had no time travel machine to warp forward to the point where church registers (and a church) existed. So the minister's diary might be the only place. These are often aggregated, above. If you want to spend a few lifetimes, you can embark on a crusade by checking Presbyterian repositories. Don't think if you do the one in Philly you're through. Nope, several groups of Presbyterians would never deposit there. If you know the denomination, you can determine who 'serviced' them. Recall if there were 3 types of Presbyterians: normal (I guess 'orthodox' is a better term <grin>), Reformed/Covenantors, and Associate Reformed. Often in the early days they all met in the same place but of course knew the other two groups were hell bound. A! nd so wouldn't send records to their archive. It's usually more efficient to stick with published sources, taking careful records of what you have and haven't searched, for a very long time, before spending vacations in musty archives. For one thing, you don't know when the church may have deposited the records. The Presbyterians groups joined and split frequently. You may have to visit six or more -- to start! The later it is and the further from the frontier the better off you are. Desperate to avoid embarrassment, Ulster Scots married in German churches. People living in New York, likewise employed the handy Dutch Reformed church. Heading first for a aggregation of records means you'll hit them all (unless they got married in Maryland!). Ones close to Philly, full of churches, might be found in any of them. It isn't an easy life searching for colonial vital records in Pennsylvania, as you can see. Most Scotch Irish, esp. in the early years, are not likely to have any record of a marriage. All a few centuries of persecution makes one a bit paranoid and caused them to fall out of the habit of recording vital records. Where you can find info on the marriage, if you can't find a marriage record, is military pension records (state and federal - if Revolutionary War), for starters. Post the names and we'lll check out our private collections of CDs, books, etc. Linda Merle ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martha Davis" <marthadavis1@mindspring.com> To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 5:36:13 PM Subject: [S-I] PA marriage records! To all you PA researchers - can anyone tell me how to find 1700s PA marriage records (if they exist), specifically for Shrewsbury Township which was in Lancaster Co., now York? Thanks, Martha ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message