Out on a Limb: Digital data abounds for genealogists

Here’s something guaranteed to warm the hearts of our area’s genealogists on these fearsome winter days and nights. It’s a list of free and highly valuable websites, courtesy of the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society.

Many are quite well known. Genealogists have been profitably using for years the records accessed via titans such as those of Ellis Island and Castle Garden (Ellis Island’s predecessor). Likewise, FamilySearch and the U.S. Genweb are well known. Cyndi’s List, of course, seems to have been around forever with its immense collection of data bases and websites.

But how about National Cemetery Administration, for veterans’ records? Ever hear of CanGenealogy, for Canadian records? Fulton History has more than 50 million digitized newspaper pages. Google Books has been right in front of us all along.

While there are many Civil War-themed sites, the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database could offer some new avenues. There is a Jewish Genealogy site, plus several ethnic sites keyed to New York City, long a major port of entry. The society’s quarterly newsletter, a valued source in itself, is free to members. See the related item below for information on membership.

Save the list, visit anything that looks intriguing and add to it as you find more free and useful websites.

Technology: Did any of your ancestors work at the Stegmaier Brewery in Wilkes-Barre? If so (and even if you had no one there), you’ll enjoy the new video on the now-shuttered plant. It’s narrated by historian and Wilkes-Barre City Councilman Tony Brooks, with visuals by Jonathan Edwards’ 570 Drone. Opened in 1880, it was the area’s largest brewery in its heyday, and a major employer as well. Horsedrawn wagons (and later trucks) fanned out daily for generations carrying “Stegmaier Gold Medal Beer” to taverns all over Northeastern Pennsylvania.

It was later bought out by rival The Lion, Inc. and has not operated for many years. Some of the huge complex along Wilkes-Barre Boulevard (formerly Baltimore Street) has been torn down, and the rest repurposed, the largest part a federal office building. The video is part of the series Diamond City Trail of History. Other videos in the series (free online) deal with topics such as the oldest house in Wilkes-Barre and the Market Street Bridge.

Yearbooks: The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society continues to collect and digitize high school and college yearbooks, a very good development for genealogists. So far, the society has digitized 625 yearbooks from 72 high schools in five Northeastern Pennsylvania counties. They range from an 1897 Wyoming Seminary book to the 2021 Northwest Area volume. The group digitizes the yearbooks as fast as it can collect them. Loans of yearbooks are welcome.Visit the society’s Facebook page for information on how to access the list. The digitized yearbooks themselves may be accessed only at the society’s headquarters in Annex II of the Kirby Health Center on North Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre or by having staff do it for you.

At this time, the office is open only on Thursdays, and in-person visits are for members and by appointment only. For an appointment, contact the society at nepgsmail@gmail.com. The Facebook page has information on membership and research costs as well.

Mining History: While the pandemic prevented this year’s Anthracite Mining History Month from proceeding entirely as planned, some of the projects are still available online. You can access a series of talks by experts on the region’s mining history and related historical topics by visiting the website of WVIA-TV, Channel 44, at www.wvia.org/mining.