Tom Mooney

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Garage Sales

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Cars for Sale

City maps aid in search for marker Tom Mooney Out on a Limb

Sunday January 29, 2012 | 12:00 AM

Tom Mooney tmooney2@ptd.net

Finding a grave in the old Wilkes-Barre City Cemetery isn’t always easy, but fortunately there are helpful people in the community.

“I am trying to locate the stone or marker of Esther Minnig who is buried in the Wilkes-Barre City Cemetery,” writes Sandie Miller of South Carolina. “I would like to obtain a picture of this stone/marker. Can you guide me as to who to contact for this request? This was my Aunt.”

Sandie, you have the section number and burial permit for Esther, who died at birth. So I’m referring you to the City Clerk’s Office, which maintains the cemetery’s map and records. They’ll be glad to help you.

Additionally, the library of the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society has a 1998 plot map of the cemetery, and I’ve given you their contact information.

So if you come here to take your photo there’ll be no shortage of maps. Just call ahead. If you can’t get here, I’d suggest you try for a copy of the map to be mailed to you and look for the grave on it. Even if the exact location of the grave still eludes you, one good step would be to put all your information in a post on the Luzerne County Genweb and see if anyone can take the photo for you. I’ve seen that happen.

Library Update: The West Pittston Library, badly damaged in the September flooding, has closed its temporary location and will soon hold a grand opening in its refurbished permanent quarters on Exeter Avenue, The Pittston Sunday Dispatch reported recently. Watch your Times Leader and Pittston Sunday Dispatch for further information. The library had been operating out of temporary quarters in a shopping center. I’ve offered my genealogy classes at that library in recent years.

Resources: The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society has located two of the three volumes of The Historical Record that it needs for its project of digitizing the entire series of the local historical work. It still needs volume 12. The Historical Record is a 14-volume set of local historical material originally published in area newspapers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Recently I learned that the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh has a complete 14-volume set of the publication. That set, however, is non-circulating. The few local copies of The Historical Record are deteriorating, which makes digitizing vital.

Having concluded its long series of researching in the various states, “Family Tree” magazine is doing a series on researching ancestors in America’s major cities. Those articles could be helpful. Many local people have ancestors who lived in the big cities of the East Coast — the ones where immigrants disembarked in the 1800s and early 1900s.

News Notes:

•Praise to the Luzerne County Historical Society, which recently scheduled a round table discussion of Polish genealogy. Polish immigrants formed one of the largest European groups to come to the Wyoming Valley over the years. Genealogists tracing Polish ancestors face some tough problems. Poland has seen drastically shifting borders over the years and for a time did not even exist as an independent nation.

• The Historical Society will be closed for the month of February.

• Luzerne County continues to lag behind some other Pennsylvania counties in establishing a records center, although proposals surface from time to time. Recently county council Chairman Jim Bobeck floated the idea of moving some county offices to the former Valley Crest Nursing Home in Plains Township and perhaps including some space there for records.