Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
These five consolidated volumes constitute a surname index, with corresponding microfilm locations, to the residents of the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Bucks, Lancaster, Luzerne/Wyoming, and Northampton respectively, in the year 1850. (Wyoming County was formed from Luzerne in 1842.) Although it was not possible, for reasons of economy, to list every person appearing in the census by given name, each book lists all the surnames appearing in the census for the county(ies) in question (i.e., Berks, 7,000; Bucks, 8,000; Lancaster, 15,000; Luzerne/Wyoming: 10,000; and Northampton, 5,000). The arrangement of each volume is alphabetical by surname, with corresponding code numbers keyed to the borough or township and to the house numbers within the borough or township in which were residing individuals of a particular surname. Thus, for purposes of obtaining a copy of the original census page, both the area number and the house number are conveniently specified.
Synopsis
While Mr. Featherston's annals of old Appomattox are not without historical interest, genealogists will surely wish to pour over the family histories for clues to their own ancestry. Featured in the historical narrative are sketches of Appomattox's ante bellum leadership, a first-hand account of the Confederate surrender from the diary of the author's grandmother, a map which reconstructs the buildings of the county seat in 1865, treatises on the county's businesses, educational system and churches, and brief biographies of the white and African-American civic leaders of the author's day. Of still greater interest, of course, are the 125 genealogies of varying length of Appomattox County families.
Table of Contents
1 Berks County -- 2 Bucks County -- 3 Lancaster County -- 4 Luzerne and Wyoming counties -- 5 Northampton County.