GSP Books

The books below and others may be ordered online from the GSP Store.

Colonial Philadelphians

Hannah Josephine Benner Roach (1907-1976) was a distinguished genealogist & also an architect & historian. This volume of selected examples of her published articles represents something of the breadth of her interests & abilities, as well as her meticulous care as a researcher in genealogy.

Contents: The Blackwell Rent Roll, 1689; Philadelphia Business Directory, 1690; Taxables in Chestnut, Middle & South Wards Philadelphia, 1754; Taxables in the City of Philadelphia, 1756; Philadelphia’s Colonial Poor Laws, & Taxables in Chestnut, Walnut & Lower Delaware Wards, Philadelphia, 1767; & Genealogical Gleanings from Dr. Rush’s Ledger A. (Philadelphia: Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1999)

 Early Members of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1: 1896-1899

In the mid-1890s, not long after GSP was founded, members shared their pedigrees on forms the society sent out. In most cases, members’ shared their names, birthdate, and birthplace, along with their parents’ names, birthdates, and birthplaces, and their paternal and maternal grandparents’ names. Members’ wives were listed with their maiden name and parents as well as the couple’s children. In some cases, children from previous marriages also were listed. This new publication includes this basic information for almost 100 early members, and the listings are supplemented by the families’ 1900 census data.

According to Doug Nicol, who reviewed the publication for GSP: This handy booklet is an alphabetical enumeration of some of the first members of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. The information contained therein is derived from original pedigree charts and other information submitted by a number of those early members to the Society. To the data from the surviving charts and forms, the compilers have appended enumeration information extracted from the 1900 Federal Census for each member and his or her family. An every-name index is included following the main entries. It comes as no surprise that the dean of early Pennsylvania genealogical studies, William H. Egle, is found among the early members of the Society.

The usefulness of the family history information provided in the booklet is grounded in the time period focused on the membership rolls of the late nineteenth century. As most of the persons listed were in the prime years of their lives or later and had already been active in their careers for several decades or more, the records of their own births and their parentage extend back to the early part of that century and even into the late eighteenth century. Much of the vital details of the members, their parents and siblings may have no other source than these records constructed by themselves. Although many of the early members were living in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the broader membership was drawn from all parts of the state. Anyone with even the slightest interest in earlier Pennsylvania family history would do well to add this title to his or her bookshelf.

Pennsylvania German Roots Across the Ocean

Marion Egge, author

The goal of this book is to provide the reader with information on the origins of many Pennsylvania German pioneers and, in addition, to furnish concepts and sources that will help to facilitate research related to early German immigration to America.

The German-speaking people of Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland comprised one of the largest ethnic groups to migrate to America. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries most of the immigrants from this group landed at the Port of Philadelphia. This influx of people to the New World resulted from radical changes or upheavals taking place in Europe during this time period. The ravages of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1647) and other wars fought in the area over an approximate hundred-year period, combined with famine, plague, and unusually severe winter weather, spurred the depopulation of Europe. In some instances, inhabitants of whole villages fled. Those few who remained made efforts to repopulate the region.

Pennsylvania German Roots Across the Ocean is a compilation of various articles previously published in the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine and its predecessor, Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Included in some of these articles are references to, as well as abstracts of archival records from Europe, some of which contain information on people who applied for manumission and, therefore, emigrated with permission. Those who left without permission are not listed in archival records; they may be found only in the published ships’ lists. Archival records, probate records, and searches for missing heirs often contain personal information about some of these immigrants.

There are 292 pages, a table of contents and the publication is Indexed. This copy is printed from the original proof and spiral bound.

Contents: Problems & Resources in Pennsylvania German Genealogy Research; Palatine & Palatinate; German Qual. for Naturalization in PA, 1728; Advice to German Immigrants, 1749; Annotations to Strassburger & Hinke’s Pennsylvania German Pioneers; Palatines & Servants Imported on the King of Prussia; Ancestry of the 13 Krefeld Emigrants of 1683; An Emigrant to America in 1749 from Rhodt (Palatinate); Emigrants to America from Zweibrucken; Survey of Immigrants of the Haldeman Family of Switzerland to Montgomery, Chester, & Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania, before 1750; Clues Hidden in Administration Papers; Emigrants from Hesse, Germany, 1748-1766; 18th-Century Emigrants from Hochst in dem Odenwald; Estab. the German Origins of Northampton County Settlers; Name Index.

Pennsylvania Land Applications: Volume 2: New Purchase Applications, 1769-1773

Kenneth D. McCrea, author

Often overlooked or ignored by genealogists, records of land transactions frequently provide valuable clues to family relationships, social status, and stage of life. Land records enable researchers to better understand the lives & communities of their ancestors. The area of PA covered by the New Purchase formed a strip across the State from the SW corner to the NE corner. It included all or part of 26 of the 67 present-day counties in PA. At the time of the purchase, the new land was annexed to the existing counties of Cumberland, Berks & Northampton. Illustrations.

The Pennsylvania Militia in 1777

Hannah Benner Roach, F.G.S.P., F.A.S.G., author
The organization of the Pennsylvania militia, as established under the act passed 17 March 1777,1 has never been adequately explained or fully understood. Complete records pertaining to the militia have not survived. Those which have been published in the various series of the. Pennsylvania Archives are, in many instances, incorrectly identified and arranged in a confused manner.

Too often, as a result, the fact that a man’s name appears in those records has been accepted as prima facie evidence that the man was a patriot who served his country faithfully and diligently. The dual purpose of this study, therefore, is to render intelligible the meaning of those records, and then to relate them to the actual operation of the militia, with particular reference to the first year of its operation under the act.

In histories of the American Revolution, the emphasis has always been on the Continental Army. It was composed of volunteers from the thirteen colonies who had enlisted for varying terms of service—six months, a year, three years, or for the duration. These men were the backbone of Washington’s army. They were the men who marched back and forth, north and south, for seven long years throughout the thirteen states.

Between the summer of 1775 and the end of 1776, Pennsylvania sent twelve battalions or regiments of volunteers to that army. These were recruited for the service of the United Colonies, and furnished Pennsylvania’s quota of men requested by Congress. They were known as the Pennsylvania Line of the Continental Army.

In addition, other men throughout Pennsylvania in 1775 banded together of their own accord to form fifty-three battalions of military “Associators,” as they called themselves. Volunteers from these “associated” battalions, singly and in companies, formed part of the Flying Camp sent to New Jersey in the summer of 1776. These “Associators,” and the Pennsylvania Line, all of whom were volunteers, were the men who bore the burden of war in Pennsylvania until the passage of the militia act of 1777, when the State for the first time had a draft law.

Philadelphia Maps, 1682-1982: Townships — Districts — Wards

John Daly, editor, and Allen Weinberg, editor

This reprinted volume contains a valuable collection of city ward maps that trace the changes in ward boundaries beginning in 1682, and also includes a map of the city wards as of 1982. Included in this book is the original preface to Ward Genealogy of the City and County of Philadelphia, which explains in detail the laws and divisions of the political boundaries affecting Philadelphia from 1691 through 1965.

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