John Sanford Brown’s Family Reunion

Shirley Brown hosted another John Sanford Brown family reunion at her lovely cabin on Armenia Mountain, Bradford County, Pennsylvania again this year.  The showing was a little slim, but everyone seemed to be enjoying the gathering.  The weather was perfect to share a meal, collect newts and visit the windmill farm on the mountain.

I collected the latest family additions and got to meet some of my newer cousins.  Funny how some of these connects were there all along, but I never made them.  As I’m growing older, I seem to become wiser about my relatives.  The Brown’s didn’t move far from Bradford and Sullivan Counties, so many of my high school classmates were distant cousins.  It’s only through the reunions that I put two and two together.

While at the New England Historic Genealogical Society conference, I was able to get some of my family lines back very far and now know where John got his Sanford name.  I hope to have this all put together by next year so the Brown’s will know their glorious heritage.

I hope the Brown’s continue to get together and thank Shirley for making this happen.

See you next year.

Snedekerville School No. 3 Bell At Historical Society

Today Al and I returned the Snedekerville (PA) School No. 3 bell to Bradford County.  The bell was in Grandma White’s house for many years until it was given to Grandpa White’s nephew, Bob Spencer in Wallingford PA.  Bob and Mid used the bell for many years, then gave it to their daughter who has now given the bell back to me.  I thought the most fitting place to put the bell is back in Bradford County.  The Bradford County Historical Society was happy to get something for their museum from Snedekerville.  If anyone has anything from Sned that they would like to contribute, please notify the Historical Society.  They have a wonderful museum in the former Bradford County Prison.  Their genealogical collections are equally as terrific.  Check their website for visiting hours and information about their collections.  http://www.bradfordhistory.com

Search and share

I work on many lineage society applications, so do research  on the NSDAR website and am amazed what connections I find in my research for others.  Today I need to send a birthday card to a “daughter” in my local DAR chapter, looked her up on the NSDAR website  and lo and behold, she was from the area where I grew up.  Many of her ancestors have similar last names to my ancestors.  Today will be spent researching our possible connections. Is there another supplement in the works here?

I’ll begin my research on the Bradford County (PA) website that Joyce Tice hosts.  This is the best county website I have ever found.  All the folks in Bradford County graciously offer historical records and their own research, to Joyce, for the website.  If every county would be so generous, we would have so much more information available and so many records would not be destroyed.

On another similar topic, that I have mentioned before, don’t hoard those records you find, share them with a local historical society or submit them to the web for your local county site.  You can find a good repository by going to www.uswebgen.org and click on your State and county.  You will find many volunteers ready to help.

Getting Started With Generations Remembered Blog

I will try to give you some tips about Genealogy, family history, miscellaneous Lineage society information, and new books that I have found/purchased in my periodic blogs.
For the newest book on my shelf, I’m pretty excited about a Christmas gift from my nephew, Jeffrey. The Bradford County, PA Historical Society reprinted the Maps of Bradford County from 1858. It is very colorful, but you better have a magnifying glass handy. Many of my early families are listed, making this a little more interesting to me than someone who hasn’t a clue where Bradford County is located. They have an index that gives names, Township and page numbers, but from there you are on your own to locate them. You can order your copy of the book on their website: www.bradfordhistory.com.
While I’m talking about Bradford Co., PA, if you get up that way (Northern PA), be sure you visit their Research Library and Museum. It is located in the old County jail on Pine Street, Towanda, PA.