THEFTS AT TWO LARGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARIES
Brenda Kellow
August 7, 2011
Libraries are available to all of us and everyone uses them. We check out our books and return them by the due date or pay a fine. Using the computer bank in libraries with online subscriptions saves many dollars from our strained budgets. They stock their shelves to accommodate their patrons at the expense of the local taxpayers. Nevertheless, there are unscrupulous people who steal from the collections.
Maryland police arrested two such people for stealing valuable documents at the Maryland Historical Society. Both men were indicted federally on July 27.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania suspect these men may have taken from their vast collection. Records show both men visited the library many times recently. When arrested, the younger of the two had stolen documents in his bag. One item was a copy of a signed document by President Abraham Lincoln valued at $300,000 dollars. There was also a land grant signed by Abraham Lincoln along with a letter to John Paul Jones.
Many years ago the Plano genealogy library recorded several thefts while it was located in the Harrington Library. Nothing of that significance was stolen, but the five popular resource books were in constant use by genealogists. Among the items stolen from the genealogy collection were the The Source and Redbook.
If you see a theft in progress please report it. Thefts stymie our research and inhibit our reading material until money is appropriated to replace the items.
There is more on the federal indictment of these New York men concerning the Maryland and Pennsylvania thefts ot the Baltimore Sun newspaper site, dated July 27, at http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-07-28/news/bs-md-landau-indictment-20110728_1_federal-charges-men-face-barry-h-landau. I found the occupation and identification of the older man to be interesting. You might also.
GENEALOGY COURSE AT COLLIN COLLEGE: She is back! Barbara Coakley’s Genealogy II—Intermediate Genealogy course is once again on Tuesday nights starting September 20 and continuing until November 8. She offers it at Courtyard Campus from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
In Intermediate Genealogy, Barbara dives into records we use to piece together our family history. Learn how to find and evaluate land records, immigration and naturalization records, court records, probate records and wills, military records, and more. To register visit www.collin.edu/ce/ or call 972-985-3711.
MARKER DEDICATION: You are cordially invited to attend the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and United States Daughters of 1812 for Sylvia Beth Kennedy, Friday Aug 12, 4:30, at the gravesite at Norwood Cemetery, near Talpa, Texas.
Directions from Brownwood to the cemetery: take 67 toward Ballinger; turn north onto CR 157; there is a cemetery sign on the south side of 67 but turn north; CR 157 is a gravel road all the way to the cemetery. For more information, contact Faye Elder, 817-312-1356 or [email protected].
STATE, TERRITORIAL CENSUSES AT FAMILYSEARCH.ORG: You can access them now. The new recently entered data on FamilySearch.com covers 37 territorial censuses and now states, plus tax records. Genealogists need these for research because they are usually taken in the middle of a decade, before the territory became a state. The federal census was taken at the beginning of the decade. The states covered so far are Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Wisconsin. This census collection includes the population census, agriculture census, manufacturing census and the mortality census.
Tax records are important to us because these were often used as a census substitute. Texas and Ohio tax lists are available. Sometimes tax records are the only way to find our elusive ancestors. The images are by county and year. Indexes will be added as they are completed.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].