Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb will be discontinued. Users will no longer be able to send outgoing emails or accept incoming emails. Additionally, administration tools will no longer be available to list administrators and mailing lists will be put into an archival state.
Administrators may save the emails in their list prior to March 2nd. After that, mailing list archives will remain available and searchable on RootsWeb
This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/FhI.2ACEB/147.1
Message Board Post:
I wish I had an easy answer, but I don't. Jacob, John, and William were the popular Chronister first names in PA. There was a branch of Chronisters who went to Cumberland County, but that doesn't help much. In those days, there were large families--five brothers might marry and have children at about the same time, so you might find 5 cousins born within several years of each other who all have the same first name.
As far as a starting point that might save you some grief later on...don't rely on census. Sometimes it was a neighbor or an older child giving the census taker the information if the head of household wasn't home at the time. Also, women were able to lie about their ages, and boy did they!
Suggestion: start with the people you have personal knowledge of. I am presuming that you are certain who your grandparents are, because you probably know them or knew them. If you are very fortunate, maybe you have personal knowledge of your great-grandparents. Find the oldest folks that you know for sure (without relying on census or published sources) and look for the personal records that those people created when they were alive. Did they own land? Did they die in Cumberland Co. and maybe have a will? If they died young, perhaps there were minor children who needed to be provided for and you can find guardianship records. All of these records will give you more information, and hopefully take you to the next step.
Also, don't neglect to order death certificates for any of your people who died in PA after 1906. There is lots of information on those, including the names of the deceased's parents. You can type "Pennsylvania Vital Records" into your search engine and find the form to fill out to send away for copies.
If you live close enough to Cumberland Co. to make a trip to the courthouse, do it. It's fun, and you don't have to rely on a clerk to mail back your requests. You can look at many different indexes and things in one day, and they will let you make copies of documents if you want to. Take along some rolls of change in case you need it for their copiers. Some places just count the copies and bill you when you're ready to leave, others have coin-operated copiers. I have not yet been to the Cumberland courthouse, but it's on my list for a number of reasons. If you get there before I do, let me know how it goes. Good luck!
This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Chronister, Cronister
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/FhI.2ACEB/147
Message Board Post:
I posted much of this query a couple of years ago and still haven't gotten any information. Does anyone know anything about this particular Chronister? Peggy, I know you are a knowledgeable source, can you help me? Thanks!
Does anyone have any information on the CHRONISTERS/CRONISTERS in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania?
I believe my great-great-grandfather is Jacob Chronister, d. 1896, age 43, who was buried at the Hoover farm graveyard in Hopewell, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. (I believe he was married to my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Chronister (nee Hoover).
I would like any information anyone might have on this family. I have dug up some census data (but not much else) and would certainly share. I am getting ready to embark on a more comprehensive research effort -- mailing out requests, hitting the records offices and other locations, etc. But if anybody already has some information that could put me on track and at a minimum give me a good starting point, I'd appreciate it.
I was told they were "Plain People" by my grandmother.
Any information at all would be appreciated! Thanks so much!
-- Sarah Stevens
According to The Handybook For Genealogists, The Continental Congress demanded a census of the inhabitants of NC in 1784. Supposedly, there is a book entitled State Censuses of North Carolina, 1784-1787, put out by Genealogical Publishing Company, where these state censuses are published.
Has anyone seen these censuses, either the originals on microfilm, or the book abstract? I am wondering if this is a general census to number the inhabitants of certain counties, or if it will have individual names on it. Obviously, if it names individuals it would be invaluable to sort out the early Chronisters who went to NC in the 1760s.
Peggy Reeves
Burtonsville, MD