Thomas Downing Swank was the brother of my great grandfather, and thus one of my great uncles. He lived most of his life between the three counties of Lycoming, Sullivan and Columbia. Except for his obituary and a mention of when he was called to be a juror in 1910, he did not appear in any newspaper articles. To learn a little about his life, I looked at the census and other documents I could find. Continue reading
Reese
Family Reunions: Past and Present
September is Brown family reunion time. A couple of weeks ago my family gathered for our annual gathering in Indiana County PA. Despite the cool rainy start of the day, almost 40 descendants of Charles and Lucy Brown were in attendance. This marked the 24th consecutive year, excluding 2020 when it was cancelled due to Covid. Continue reading
Census Through the Years: Mary Alice Reese
Mary Alice Reese, my 2nd great grand aunt, was born 143 years ago on June 30, 1878 in Lycoming County, PA to Josiah and Effie Reese; she was the tenth of their twelve children. Most of her life was spent in Lycoming and its surrounding counties. What I know of her comes from the information I gathered from the U.S. Census and other documents from 1880 through 1948 to help piece together a few details about her life. Continue reading
Census Through the Years: Peter M. Reese
The Reese family has been in Lycoming County and its bordering counties for over 200 years as evidenced by the U.S. census. My great grand uncle Peter Milton Reese, Milton as he was often called, was among this family’s descendants who lived his entire life in these counties. Except for information in a few vital records, most of what I know of my great grand uncle is from the U.S. census. Continue reading
Census Through the Years: Henry Swank
Although the United States Census is a useful means to gather information about families, the recorded information could contain misspelled or inaccurate names, age differences—sometimes drastic—from one census to the next, misidentified gender or misattributed relationships between household members. This is one reason researchers do not take the census data as fact until other documents have been located to validate the enumerated information. Continue reading
Misc. Tax Rolls — Columbia County PA
As in I had done previously in 2016 and 2017, April’s post includes some extracts from early tax rolls, this time featuring Columbia County, PA. Since April 15th is the deadline to file tax forms for individual earned income, April is considered by many to be “Tax Month”. Besides earned income, citizens must also pay taxes to their county municipalities for real or personal property they own. The records below capture Real Estate (R), Personal (P), and Other (O) taxes for the listed individuals. Continue reading
Census Through the Years: Josiah Reese
The federal census was instituted by the U.S. constitution to count population to determine the number of representatives each state would receive. It is also a useful tool for the family researcher, even though the enumerated data can contain errors. The census has been conducted every ten years beginning in 1790, but some of the early enumerations for several states, like New Jersey, are no longer extant and much of the 1890 census was damaged in a fire. However, the census records that do survive can give insight into the lives of one’s ancestors. Continue reading
Cemetery Citings: Stone Heap
When I was in college—before my passion for genealogy developed—my walks to town took a shortcut through a cemetery. However, I ended up lingering to read the inscriptions on the stones, identifying who was related and imagining what these people’s lives might have been like. I remember a row of markers from the 1860s for one family: a father, a mother and several of their infant children who died within a few years of each other. I considered the sorrow this family felt and wondered whether illness or accident caused the children’s deaths. Continue reading
Cousin Connections: Blanche
One of the joys of genealogy has been connecting with cousins, close and distant, who share an interest in researching the family. Over the years, I have made a number of wonderful connections on both sides of my family, with relatives as well as non-relatives with whom I have joined forces to fill in gaps on a mutual tree. Thinking about some of the family associations I’ve made, one special person comes to mind, my cousin Blanche. Continue reading
Relatively Speaking Blog 