Sometimes I just want to give the mailman a hug!

hehe, that's a funny title. Anyhoo, today is officially "Day of Records". First, I received the will and inventory of Elias Bromagen from Greene County, OH today, and it's a great one. Pretty close to the ideal record. The only thing better is if he would have just randomly decided to tell us about his birth and parents. Not only does he list his sons, and give them each large tracts of land which is all described for later land platting, he also lists his daughters. That is not something commonly seen. Even those daughters with whom he had already settled his affairs were mentioned. Then, to top it off, he named his son Simon as his eldest and then had to amend his will at a later date because he said that Simon, whom he had appointed his executor, had died. So that narrows down the death range for Simon too. The inventory was pretty interesting also, pretty common stuff but reading about his "beloved" cows and his flock of geese was fun to read.

Moving on to the McKeevers, Pennsylvania is one of those states that requires you to make a copy of your driver's license to confirm your current address when you order copies of death records. Here's another instance where being a military family, with a driver's license that almost never matches where you're currently living, is not conducive to long-distance genealogy. So, I had to have a relative order the records for me and I got the great news today. The death record for my Great Great Great Grandmother's brother had the name of their mother, her full name including her maiden name, which I did not previously have. A search of newspaper entries a while back had given her first name as Elizabeth but now we know her name as Elizabeth Saunders. The informant for the info on the death record was a McKeever cousin who would have known this so I find it to be pretty reliable information. So now I have a new name to start going after which is always fun.

So it was a great day for records! I love days like this, whenever records come it's always a good day. Now I need to update my own records!

Happy Hunting Friday to everyone!

Working my through the ins and outs of tax lists

So I'm currently attempting to get copies of tax lists from two different time frames from two different states. New Hampshire tax lists (I'm specifically looking for tax lists for Dover, NH 1800-abt 1817) remain in the town/city clerk's office while Pennsylvania tax lists (specifically for Delaware Co, PA between about 1840-1875) appear to be kept at the county level. Both are proving to be difficult to access from outside their respective states. For the NH part of the problem the familysearch.org lists a film including land grants and tax lists for Dover/Strafford Co in general, however these relate to the 17th and 18th centuries. They also have a film with the lists from the 1798 tax but Dover was not among those towns included in the lists. On the PA side, the following are the list of films available under the heading "taxation":
Additional tax transcripts of townships formerly in Chester County, Pennsylvania and now in Delaware County, Pennsylvania from 1781-1789 Chester County (Pennsylvania). Board of County Commissioners
Chester County taxes, 1781-1789, for that part of the county which became Delaware County Chester County (Pennsylvania). Collectors
Delaware County, Pennsylvania; the taxables in the assessment list of 1715 and Swedish inhabitants 1693 Williams, Richard T., d. 1983
Delaware County, the Delaware Bay and early settlers in the seventeenth century Williams, Mildred C. (Mildred Corson)
Index of wills and administration records of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 1789-1850 Williams, Richard T., d. 1983
Listing of inhabitants in 1722, Dalaware County, Pennsylvania Iscrupe, William L
Tax list of Chester County, 1768 : pertaining to the inhabitants of Chester County, including the present-day county of Delaware

None of which pertain to the time frame I'm looking for, abt 1840-1875. So pretty much, as I have been unable to location published indexes for tax lists fitting my time frame, it looks like my only option in both cases is to hire someone to go through the index for me. For those who may also be searching for an on-location professional researcher, the following sites are the best places to find them:

The Association of Professional Genealogists
http://www.apgen.org/

Board for Certification of Genealogists
http://www.bcgcertification.org/associates/index.php

Through these two sites, you will be able to location highly trained and qualified genealogists with varying rates who will give you the best results in your search.

Great site for Eastern PA research

The Delaware Co, PA Archives office has a pretty decent website with the ability to search for administration files, wills, Orphan's Court files, marriages, and naturalizations. The site is located at http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/depts/archives.html and the staff there is really helpful and will answer questions via email, which is really handy. I've ordered several copies from them with no trouble, plus the prices and wait-times are reasonable. Considering the close proximity to Philadelphia, the Delaware Co Archives may be worth checking into for those researching in Eastern PA.