Jeremiah Mason, owner of Castle Howe Farm on Licking Creek, has one of the biographies in Washington County, Maryland. The two-volume set written by Thomas C. Williams covers the county's history from its earliest settlements to 1968.
The item identifies Mason's parents and grandparents - including the women's maiden names - his siblings and their spouses, and provides his parents' death dates. Readers also learn that Mason married Rhuan Mills, daughter of Otho P. and Mary (Bowman) Mills of Mooresville. The couple had eight offspring. The children and their spouses are named. That's an incredible amount of genealogical information to glean from a 650-word profile.
Rooters should never underestimate the power of local histories. They can be a wellspring of information if you expand your search to include all surnames associated with your family. For example, the maiden name of my fourth great-grandmother, Eve Schneider Murray, surfaced in a brief biographical sketch of her grandson Fred Miller published in a local history book. Miller was the offspring of Eve's daughter, so their surnames were not the same.
One of the best aspects of perusing the Mason profile was that I didn't have to trek to Maryland to read it. It was at the main branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library.
The library also has a section of cemetery books.
A 10-volume set titled The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and the Confederate Navies and Soldiers of the War of 1812 Buried in Tennessee nestles among a large collection of military books.
The library also has census records and indexes from many states, Florida city directories, multivolume sets of state archives and a large collection of family lineage charts.
A similar but smaller collection can be found at the Largo Public Library.
Other resources include a 1776 census of Maryland, along with various "heads of family" censuses; bound copies of Bucks County, Pa., tax records for 1693 and court records for Chester County, Pa.; books on Swiss surnames; Pennsylvania Mennonite heritage, and archives collections for several states. Family Bible Records by Marsha Lynn Fuller contained records for a Maryland family that I've been researching for years.
The Largo library has a nifty collection of geographical tools. The Atlas of Germanic Genealogy, Historical Atlas of Central Europe, Atlas of Niagara and Orleans Counties of New York and the Atlas of Warren County, New Jersey of 1874 are among its large map and atlas collection.
Microfilmed census records, Freedman's Bank Records and military history books are also housed in the newly expanded library.
Nearly every public library has some genealogical resources. Most have computers that are linked to electronic genealogy databases you would otherwise have to pay to access. And librarians usually can give you practical advice on searching for your roots.
Read past Donna Murray Allen columns online at www.sptimes.com Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box. You can write to Allen c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com Her Web site, www.rootsdetective.com includes information on classes and lectures.
