PENNSYLVANIA
HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
INDEX PAGE
A website for free online access
to the history and genealogy of
Carbon County, Pennsylvania
Carbon
Co. Pa. is located in the eastern part of the state, about half way between the
cities of Allentown and Wilkes Barre.
It was one of the birthplaces of the industrial revolution in America;
its rich deposits of anthracite coal sparked that revolution and are still
fueling American industry today.
1.
Major addition of the marrages and baptisms at St. Paul’s M. E. Church of Mauch Chunk. Marriages now cover 1860 to 1925, the
baptisms cover from 1860 to 1872, with more to come! The list of ministers who served at the church now runs up
to the 1920s. (Online Dec. 23,
2007)
2.
A list of the 58 Charter
Members of the First Presbyterian Church of
Lansford (online Dec. 9, 2007)
3.
An important new site
has been opened which should be of special interest to all those doing
genealogical research in Pennsylvania.
Check the link below for People for Better
Pennsylvania Historical Records Access! (Online Dec. 6, 2007)
4.
An updated link to St. John’s Towamensing Church baptisms has been
added (online Dec. 6, 2007).
5.
Over a dozen names have
been added (Nov. 27, 2006) to the Parryville
Cemetery site thanks to Donna George
And check the links below to other Carbon Co. related sites
New stuff being added as time allows, so stay tuned for new
developments!
Formed in 1843 from Northampton and Monroe Co., Carbon at that time
consisted of the townships of
Ø
Towamensing
Ø Mahoning
Ø
East Penn
Ø
Penn Forest
Ø
Mauch Chunk
Ø
Lausanne
Ø
Banks
A
good place to start in understanding Carbon County
Boroughs
and Townships of Carbon County
Beers’ 1875 Atlas of Carbon County
Here are the property owners
and their addresses taken from the atlas along with most of the maps. Most of the county is now online!
Camp Correspondence
Letters home from local soldiers
Carbon County Courthouse Records
Immigration
& Naturalization Records
Some Irish, German, English,
Welsh & Scottish immigrants
From the research of
Charlotte Ronemus
Many cemeteries in Carbon
County are fully recorded and online.
Also, several partial listings of burials from other cemeteries are
included.
The Churches of Carbon County
Ø
The
First Presbyterian Church of Mauch Chunk
Ø The First Presbyterian Church of Summit Hill
Ø The First Presbyterian Church of Lansford – Original Trustees & Charter Members
Ø St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church of Mauch Chunk
Marriage
records from 1860 to 1925 now online with more records to come
Baptisms
from 1860 to 1872
Ministers
from 1830 to 1920
Church
history
ØSt. John’s
Union Church of Towamensing Twp. Baptismal Records
This site has been around for
a while at different URLs. I don’t
know who did all the work of transcribing this, but it is a wonderful resource
for the early families of lower Carbon County.
Following the flood, a fight
to keep the new bridges free of tolls.
Meetings held in Mauch Chunk and Towamensing Twps., a list of over 100
leading citizens.
Newspaper News
Greatly expanded in January
2004, marriage and obit extracts taken from the first 23 years of Mauch Chunk
newspapers, starting with mid 1829 up to and including 1850.
Mathews & Hungerford’s 1884 "History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon"
The histories of the
boroughs and townships, plus biographies of prominent people and other chapters
on Carbon County history are now completed and online. Some chapters and biographies on Lehigh
County have also been added. Many
thanks to those who have helped with the transcription!
Rupp’s 1845 Subscriber List
This 1845 “History of Northampton,
Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon & Schuylkill Counties” has a long list of
subscribers from the various counties.
This is a list of those subscribers from Carbon County.
1836 Voter
List for Mauch Chunk Twp.
A
list of those who voted in the 1836 Presidential Election
a ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ b
Below are links to other web
sites concerned with Carbon County.
The Society’s web page has
been remodeled and improved. Besides
having some additional information pertaining to area history, you can find out
what is happening at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, the society’s main venue
The Mauch Chunk Historical Society of
Carbon County
America’s first significant
railroad and later our first roller coaster ride, the Switchback Gravity
Railroad ran in a figure-8 over 18 miles and was a major tourist attraction for
over a century. Many early Chunkers
were employed on the Switchback, used it for transportation, and rode it just
for the sheer thrill of the ride.
Visit our site for information on preserving and protecting this
important part of American Heritage.
Members needed!
The Switchback Gravity Railroad
Foundation
Planning genealogical or historical research in
Carbon County? The Dimmick Library
is the place to visit! Resources
include a complete collection of Carbon Federal censuses (1790 to 1930), plus a nearly complete set of Mauch Chunk
newspapers on microfilm from 1829 to the present and The Valley Gazette
(a local monthly paper devoted to the area’s history). In addition to this
microfilm collection, there are many books pertaining to Carbon Co. History,
plus a cheerful and helpful staff of experts!
Dimmick Memorial Library in Jim Thorpe
For visitors to learn more on the history and
culture of early Mauch Chunk and the industrial improvements of the area, the
best place to visit is
Mauch Chunk Museum & Cultural
Center
One of the prime sources for
doing genealogical research involves the complicated and time-consuming job of
sending for Pa. State Death Certificates.
Imagine if there was a way to access this information online and for
free! Please visit this site and
join in the effort today!
People for
Better Pennsylvania Historical
Records
Access
(PaHR-Access)
From the 1820s until after
the Civil War there was a flood of immigrants from Bann Valley of Co. Derry,
Ireland to Carbon County, settling mainly in Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill. Many of these Scotch-Irish names can be
found in the Immigration and Naturalization records shown elsewhere in this
site. The majority of these
immigrants came from the Parish of Dunboe near the city of Coleraine. Check this transcription of
the 1831 Dunboe census for your Scotch-Irish ancestors
1831
Census of the Parish of Dunboe, Co. Derry, Ireland
Will Brown’s treasure trove of photos includes other families connected
to this old Mauch Chunk family.
Other families pictured include Esser, MacFarlane, Moore, Hutchinson,
Swank, Bennett, Barber and others.
An absolute gem of early and pre-1900 photography. Be sure to visit the
Hyndman Family
Photo Album (with index)
Two great sites for census research, these are
transcribed from the actual census pages.
That means they are in text files, and download very fast (no waiting
for images of the census page).
They are also completely indexed!
The 1850
Carbon County Census FTP site
The 1860
Carbon County Census FTP site
Panther
Valley Coal miners among your family ancestry?
Take
a look at this site devoted to the mines at Lansford
The No. 9 Mine
& Museum Lansford, Pa.
Here are three sites where you can post queries
about Carbon County.
GenForum’s Carbon County Query
site
Cousin Connection.com Query
Site
RootsWeb’s
Carbon Co. Query site
A
site full of local information and plenty of links.
Definitely one of the “Crown Jewels” of
Carbon County,
visit the
Dalice
Fadden’s site, one of the busiest places on the Internet. New info posted daily, includes
biographies, obits, marriages and cemetery info.
The society promotes Summit
Hill’s important place as one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution in
America. Join now!
Summit Hill Historical Society
There are several interesting files on Carbon County
history and genealogy.
Information on this old time “suburb” of Mauch
Chunk, this village was founded shortly afterwards and inhabited for close to
80 years.
Here is a site with photos and a history of this
historic borough.
There are many historic
images of old-time Summit Hill.
These four sites provide up to date information on
the town formerly known as Mauch Chunk.
Check these sites for information on events, lodging, restaurants, local
news and people, street maps and more!
to visit this page since August 2001
This web site was constructed using Microsoft software and checked with
Internet Explorer.
Web
page, text and research by
2001