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Hi! I'm Denyse Allen, Founder of PA Ancestors L.L.C.

The Best PA History Books and Easy Bio Writing

Published over 1 year ago • 3 min read

How to Learn the History of PA and How to Write a Bio of Your Ancestors

Hello PA Friends,

I went to a fun event this week - a nighttime tour of Kelpius’s Cave in Philadelphia! Brought my flashlight and bug spray to see the fabled hangout of one of the Hermits of the Wissahickon Creek. Kelpius came to Philadelphia in 1694 to await the End of Days as predicted in Revelation (William Penn, PA’s founder shared the same belief!). I expected the cave to have much more of a spooky vibe - especially seeing it at night - but sadly, I think what I toured is a root cellar from the mid-19th century. It’s the same structure as the beer cellars built at that time (see the catacombs photo inside Bube’s Brewery as an example). I suspect Kelpius and the other 40 monks lived in some more natural type caves and their location is a secret. Many such cases!

🗺 History Highlight

If you have Pennsylvania ancestors and want some general state history books, here’s my favorites. All of these are out-of-print so you can find them on used book sites, such as Better World Books, or Internet Archive.

A History of Pennsylvania, by Philip S. Klein and Ari Hoogenboom, published 1973 - A comprehensive history of the state from its indigenous peoples through the 1960’s. A lot of emphasis on the politics, industries, and economics of PA which is helpful to understand pushes and pulls for immigration and emigration.

Pennsylvania: Keystone to Progress, an Illustrated History, by E. Willard Miller, published 1986 - An image based overview of the history of PA, helpful in developing mental pictures of life in the past. The last 200 pages are about major companies around the state in the mid-20th century. Very helpful since most don’t have Wikipedia pages.

The Making of Pennsylvania, by Sidney George Fisher, published in 1896 - An eye-opening account of colonial times. No other history book goes into as much detail on conflicts and disagreements within PA during this period. Helpful for anyone with ancestors here prior to 1820.

Next week I’ll share some journals and magazines which are mostly online.

🔖 Featured Genealogy Record

The featured genealogy record this week is the one you create! It’s possible to write a short biographical sketch of an ancestor based on census records and vital records. Census records tell you where you ancestor lived and who they lived with. Vital records give you birth dates, death dates, and marriage dates.

Here’s a quick bio I did on my great grandmother Anna Curry, my only great grandparent I knew:

Anna Heberling was born in Scotia, also known as Benore, in Centre County on January 28, 1890. She was the youngest child of William F. Heberling and Rebecca (Lauck) Hicks. Her mother died when she 5 years old, and her father died when she was 16. Anna married John Robert Curry in 1909 and they had 7 children together: William in 1909, Helen in 1912, Grace in 1914 who at age 18 months, Margaret in 1917, Ethel in 1919 who died at age 2 weeks, Ruth in 1920, and Anna in 1923. The family lived in Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County. Anna’s husband John died on March 17, 1923 from a pulmonary embolism after several weeks of influenza. She never re-married, and raised 5 children on her own through the Great Depression. She died on June 17, 1979, outliving all her siblings.

Not a bad bio! These are all facts from the vital records and census records I collected on Anna and John and their children. It's a nice step beyond just names and dates in a list.

To build it out further, I can use newspapers, local history from the historical societies, and mention the major national historical events and how the family was effected.

If you want help writing short bios on your ancestors, my Inner Circle will be holding Writing Hour, several times a month. It meets on Zoom and acts as an accountability group to get our writing done. If you interested in learning more, I wrote about it here.

🎙 What’s New on the Podcast

The podcast is on hiatus while I particpate in Ship 30 for 30, a fast-paced digital writing program. I'm both writing and mentoring for August. It's my second time doing it and I'll be posting short essays to Twitter @paancestors (PA genealogy and history) and @ggparentshouse (Life of your great grandparents turn of the 20th century). I'll be sure to cross post them to Facebook too if you aren't on Twitter.

🍬 Most Popular Tweet of the Week

This tweet of mine was popular this week. If you done genealogy for decades, you get where I am coming from. Remember when everyone had a family crest?

⭐️ New Optional Newsletter Feedback

I'm adding an easy way to send me feedback on the newsletter each week. It's a simple 1, 3, or 5 star rating and you can leave comments and suggestions. You can try it now if you like! You'll see it in the email footer starting next week.

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Hi! I'm Denyse Allen, Founder of PA Ancestors L.L.C.

I help genealogists research their ancestors in Pennsylvania through books, workshops, and webinars.

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