PA birth and death certificates

The PA birth (1906 only) and death indices (1906-1961) are at http://www.portal.health.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/public_records/20686 Cost is only $3 to obtain a copy once you find the State File Number in the online index.

Each index is separated by year and you can't do a keyword search, you must scroll down through each index but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie, PA is the proud home to perhaps the most intact GAR Post in the nation. Long story short, the members of the Captain Thomas Espy Post left their artifacts and documents to the library. Sadly forgotten, the ceremonial room and artifacts were preserved over the years, locked away. In 2010, the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall received a donation to restore the Post to its original grandeur. This room is so unique -- as it is a snapshot of the esteemed GAR organization. Tours are free. The room is open every Saturday from 11 to 3, or by special appointment. More importantly, in terms of a genealogist, we have battlefield sketches and GAR applications online! This is a rare glimpse into the men of the Post: the men explain battles, wounds, close comrades, etc. This information is too good to keep quiet, so please help us get the word out! Below are links to different sites that provide more information about this very unique and rare national treasure.

• Here is a list of the veterans who were members at our Post: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11091/1136287-506.stm


• To see the GAR documents, go to http://www.carnegiecarnegie.org/espycollectionmanuscripts.html


• Please visit our You Tube channel and learn more about the room! www.youtube.com/AndrewCarnegieFree


• Also, we are having a sesquicentennial living history weekend. To learn specifics about the event, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSF86iEbK8&feature=related


• To learn about the Civil War ball, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gUUynVPAzE


• We even have a facebook page. We enjoy uploading documents, facts, and pictures, so it is well worth joining as well https://www.facebook.com/pages/Captain-Thomas-Espy-GAR-Post-153-Union-Civil-War-Veterans-Organization/195146597183118?ref=ts

Washington County newspapers online

Great news for those of you wanting access to Washington County Newspapers. You can now find many scanned images of several of the old Washington papers at

http://news.google.com/newspapers#W


...
Washington Reporter: 1845-1985

Washington Daily Reporter: 1884-1896

Washington Semi-Weekly Reporter 1889-1891

Washington Observer 1851-1967

Washington Daily News 1918-1919

Washington Weekly Reporter 1883-1888

The search function doesn't work well so you really have to look at each paper but in just one evening of looking, I was able to find 4 obituaries for people in my family tree and 7 more for the Beallsville Cemetery website - and that was just in Jan - June of 1960 ! I'm excited that I don't have to travel all the way to Washington PA to look through microfilm (I detest microfilm). Hope this helps !

Memory Medallions for tombstones

This is a very interesting article on technology called a Memory Medallion that can be attached to a tombstone, accessed by a smart phone. The bar code directs you to a website that is constructed for the particular individual and contains photos, histories and even videos of the person. What an interesting way to memorialize a person.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/10218/1078084-455.stm

more additions to the Beallsville website

Last night I finished posting the 1977 - 1981 name indexes. I also added about 50 more obituaries to the 730 that I had added last month. It is amazing how many of these I've been able to locate in the online newspaper database on Ancestry.com. If only they would digitize the Washington Observer Reporter newspaper, I'd be in business !

Another good resource for newspaper articles (and one that is free) is Google. Just go to the "news" tab and start your search. I have actually found quite a few there as well. Portions of old Pittsburgh Post Gazettes are available there.

I haven't had much time for genealogy research or blogging lately since I've been spending as much time on the Beallsville website as I can in an effort to finish it up. Now that I have all of the tombstone photos taken, I'd like to get them posted soon.

I have also started working on the next years of the name index. I almost have 1982 - 1984 transcribed and will be ready to add those to the indexes soon. The interment listings that I have scanned images of, stop at 1994 so there are only about 10 more years to go and that part will be completed.

Hope all of your summer research projoects are going well. Thanks again to everyone who is sending me photos, article, obituaries, etc for the site. Keep 'em coming ! They are great additions.

new name index added to the Beallsville website

I am just getting ready to post the new name index for burials from 1975 - 1977. I haven't added any new indexes for quite a while. I still need to type up and organize the indexes from 1978 - 1994. That is where the indexes that I have stop.

I also added a few hundred more obituaries and still have a stack left to go. It keep finding things that I want to add, redo or improve on the site so it seems endless but I am making some progress.

Hoping to take another trip to the cemetery maybe next weekend if the weather cooperates to try to get some more mapping done and photographs taken.

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there - enjoy the day !

obituaries posted

Hi Everyone,
It has been awhile since I posted. I have discovered the Newspaper collection on Ancestry.com. I have been searching in the Morning Herald from Uniontown PA and the Charleroi Mail from Charleroi, PA. I have found almost 200 articles and obituaries connected with the people who are buried in Beallsville Cemetery. I have posted about half of them and will try to get to the other half in the next few days.

As I've been scanning these papers that go back to 1914, I have noticed that in almost every paper there used to be at least one plane crash, many, many car crashed, mine accidents (not surprising for the Washington PA area since there were so many mines.) I guess it just never occured to me how many people used to die in these types of accidents before the advent of the safety measures we have today. Some of the stories I've found are very sad but I hope that the addition of these to the website, helps shed some light on what life was like in this area all those years ago.