Pennsylvania Research Resource

Occasionally I am asked to review various books and other genealogy products.  Recently I was invited to review a brand new research guide for Pennsylvania genealogy published by The In-Depth Genealogist

Pennsylvania Genealogy by Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL. Published by The In-Depth Genealogist, http://theindepthgenealogist.com; 2017. 4 pp.
 
Elissa Scalise Powell has created a new Pennsylvania research guide for The In-Depth Genealogist’s “In Brief With IDG” series.  It includes a brief timeline of Pennsylvania history and followed by some research strategies.  The sections on “Brick-wall Buster Records” and “Migration Routes & Motivations” provide some helpful information on what other kinds of records besides the basics of vitals and census might be available.  The specific motivations of migration for Pennsylvania residents helped me to think about my ancestors in a different way using historical context.
 
The value of the guide comes from the healthy list of links from general ones including“State History” and “Basic Resources” to more specific topics including “Cemeteries,” “Military Records” and “Directories.”  The lists were helpful and I discovered many new resources.  So many in fact, that I had difficulty staying on task to review the whole guide – I found myself clicking on links and diving down rabbit-holes of research on my own 18th and 19th ancestors. 
 
Pennsylvania Genealogy is also helpful as general list of links for many states.  For instance in the “Geography and Maps” section there are links to Pennsylvania specific resources, but by following the links up a level or two, one can find similar resources for all the states.
 
A few of my favorite links were omitted but the new content I learned about more than made up for it.  Since Pennsylvania was one of those critical states in which so many of our ancestors either spent generations in or passed through on their way westward, Pennsylvania Genealogy  will prove a valuable resource in the libraries of many genealogists.
 
For more information about this guide see The In-Depth Genealogist.