Sources of Information

If you're searching for more information on any of the families described in these pages, you may find the following links helpful...

Please be aware that a site which is described as an index is just that - an index to actual records or sources of data which exist elsewhere.


The following books are also excellent resources...

IRVINS, DOAKS, LOGANS AND McCAMPBELLS OF KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA, privately published by Sarah Margaret (Logan) Morris about 1915. My grandmother, Alice (Seward) Walker, gave me this book, in which she made a number of pencilled notations correcting Mrs. Morris' errors. It contains a great deal of information on grandmother's Irvin and Seward ancestors, as well as other lines, from the time of their arrival in America down to the early 20th century. The entire book has been scanned and is now available in this family album.

AMISH AND AMISH MENNONITE GENEALOGIES, Hugh E. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider, published 1986 by Pequea Publishers, Gordonsville, PA. This monumental and authoritative tome traces many of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" lines from their arrival in the New World in the middle of the 18th Century down to the mid-19th Century. Its 858 pages are indexed to make it possible to locate individuals more or less easily. It traces my line as far down as my great grandparents, Samuel and Elizabeth (Wilhelm) Plank, who were born in 1850 and 1852 respectively. Rachel Kreider and her work were the subject of a May 2004 article in the Goshen News.

AAMG was reprinted in 2003. In March 2007, Masthof Press of Morgantown, PA, announced the availability of a "revised and updated" second edition, 955 pages long. According to the publisher:

This volume contains all known Amish immigrants living in the United States with some information provided on their European roots. Families are carried through the generations up to 1850, and ends when couples are married in the mid-1850s. Corrections will be printed in future issues of Mennonite Family History, including new information on later families for a future second volume.

Much of the information in AAMG was once available in a data base at the Swiss Anabaptist Genealogical Association (SAGA) web site. However, we were unable to locate that data base in May 2016.

OUR HUDSON FAMILY HISTORY: fourteen generations of the family of Abraham Hudson (1750-1829) of Morristown, New Jersey, Sergeant in the American Revolution, compiled by H. Ezra Eberhardt & Robert M. Hudson, 2 volumes published 1989 by Gateway Press, Inc. Although the primary focus is the Hudson family, there are two excellent chapters featuring my great-great-grandfather's siblings, Isaac Carey and Sarah (Carey) Hudson. The books are well-researched and heavily annotated and are excellent sources of information on our families' Ohio and New Jersey roots.

WESTWARD, HO! Genealogy of Scott, Davis, Perry, and Kuhns, by Nancy Scott. I bought this excellent book from Nancy in 2003. It contains 270 pages, including indices. If you're descended from the Perrys of Venango county, PA, the book will definitely interest you. Nancy informs us the book sold out its first edition, but is available at the following libraries:

WINANS FAMILY, Genealogy and History of Descendants of John Winans and Susanna Melyn, compiled in 1983 by Orin Clifford Winans, Paris, Illinois, and published in 1993 by his daughter, Harriet Winans Arland. Both are now deceased. I acquired my copy from Mrs. Arland's daughter Susan Arland. The book contains more than 700 pages of information on many Winans descendants. Unfortunately, it has no index, which makes it somewhat difficult to use. While there is extensive information on John Winans and other early ancestors, it only goes as far down my own line as my great-great-grandmother, about whom it says merely "Hannah Winans. Married ? Carey. Issue and further information unknown."

WINANS FAMILY GENEALOGY, by Alice Winans Egy Woolley, 1987. This book has a lot more information than O. C. Winans' book on the lines that interest us, e.g. it traces John Winans' descendants all the way down through my great grandfather, David Clark Carey (1838-1921). It is indexed, which makes it fairly easy to locate people in it. It is out of print, but is available from the LDS Family History Library on microfiche #6088122.1 I acquired a copy from another researcher in Feb 2007. The information on persons listed in this book has been collected into a web site in GED2HTML format by a fellow Winans researcher. I have transcribed many pages of this book and made them available in this family album. (See list of available pages.)

County histories. From 1880 to 1920, nearly every county across the United States was the subject of one or more histories or Who's Who-type publications. These were produced by many different firms, and probably were sold mostly to the residents of each county. They may also have been sold to public libraries in other areas. I found hundreds of such publications in the Los Angeles Public Library's big downtown branch. Quite a few of our ancestors were written up in a county history. I have yet to read an uncomplimentary biography, so have drawn the conclusion that most of the information in the biographies was supplied by the subjects themselves. Neverthess, they are wonderful sources of information. Be sure to read County History Books: Can We Trust Them? for more on this subject.


A visitor to our site, Mary Wilson, who is a tutor for Northern Mentors, and her young student, Amanda, recommended this article as a good source of general information on genealogy...

History at Home: A Guide to Genealogy, by Andrea Davis

We heartily agree, and thank Mary and Amanda for their input. The article is a good starting point for those who are just getting started tracing their origins, and need to know some of the principles of family history research. It contains links to many helpful articles and web sites.

Another visitor, Steve Anastasiadis, wrote to us about the publication of which he is the founder:

A Guide To Free Genealogy & Family History Books

Steve says "I believe that readers will find it very useful." After having browsed around Steve's "Home Advice Guide", I must say that I agree, 100 per cent. There is a great store of good advice and information there!

Steve also told us about a wonderful resource for teaching children about family history, saying "It looks very interesting, because with this kind of advice parents can help their children connect with previous generations. It also touches on autistic children":

How To Teach Kids About Family History and Genealogy

New in November 2017:

Here's another interesting site, which is a blog maintained by Mark Orwig. If you are just "getting started with genealogy", you will definitely find it of value...

Ultimate Beginners Guide to Genealogy

Did your ancestors enter our country through Ellis Island? Here is a source of a lot of information which might be of interest, which was called to our attention by Steve Neale, whose son Garrett discovered it while working on a genealogy project at school:

New York City and the History of Ellis Island



PAF? At this point, you used to see a few lines lauding the LDS (Mormon) Church's Personal Ancestral File program, which we've been using for more than a quarter century. But, in July 2013, the LDS' FamilySearch announced that it was no longer making PAF available. FYI, I still use the DOS version (3.01m) of PAF, to keep track of my family members' names, dates and places, and don't plan to change.


We'll be happy to provide files containing all the vital stats on the families we're researching to anybody who is interested. These files will be in the "Gedcom" format, which is recognizable to most genealogy programs on the market. If you're interested in sending us, or in receiving, family history data, please let us know.


1 If a book is available on microfiche at the LDS Church's Family History Library in Salt Lake City, it may be copied and shipped to any local Family History Center within a few days at nominal cost. The person who requests the fiche must pay shipping charges. Once a fiche reaches an FHC, it remains there and is available, free of charge, to anybody who wishes to see it. For more details, please contact a Family History Center.
This page was last updated 9 Nov 2017.