Good News for Print Fans

GOOD NEWS FOR PRINT FANS A s we wrap up the Summer 2014 digital issue, the Spring/Summer 2014 issue is heading to the printer. It includes all of the articles from the Spring and Summer digital issues (available at www.genpa.org). For those of you who prefer the printed issue, we hope that having the familiar blue volume in your hands will reassure you of our continuing commitment to quality and that having access to the digital issues with their online-only bonus copy will find a spot in your heart as well. It’s with regret that we bid a fond farewell to PGM’s former editor, Aaron Goodwin. He has done a wonderful, scholarly job for several years and has been of enormous help as the Publications Committee has taken the reins. We won’t let him get far away; in fact, he contributed some bible records to this issue, and we look forward to his future contributions. In this digital issue, we share two articles about documents from 18891890, which may help fill the gap for the 1890 census. For example, take a look at the genealogical gleaning from the records of the Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon from 1889. As an added bonus, PDFs of the original biographical registers are posted online; if you discover a family member in the article, you’ll be able to learn a lot more about him in the original records. The detailed notes about these young inmates often include information you’re not likely to find elsewhere, such as details about their family (“Father was a soldier during the war”), their schooling (“Can barely read”), work (“Local mail carrier”), and religion (“Member, Moravian church”), as well as their associates (“Loose women, bad boys”). The 1890 school tax records from Colebrookdale Township, Berks County, don’t offer such interesting details about the residents, but they too may serve as a census substitute. You’ll find that they are a nice record of the families and single men who lived in Colebrookdale, as well as nonresidents, who were expected to pay their share. Also in this issue, we look at the maternal ancestry of the Palatine immigrant George Felty (Han Jerg Veltin) of Lebanon County. This article complements a 2011 PGM article that delved into Felty’s paternal origins in Wurttemburg. Plus, Aaron Goodwin shares some family bible records of the Jones family of Chester, Lancaster, and Philadelphia counties. We hope that you enjoy this issue online – and that the upcoming Spring/ Summer print issue will live up to expectations. --The Publications Committee 36 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 49 (2014)