Genealogical Research at
the
Kutztown Area Historical Society
Among the many components of its overall
mission, the Kutztown Area Historical Society supports genealogical
research throughout Berks and adjacent counties. While our long-range
plans include a searchable on-line database to provide substantial
information for local surnames of interest, for now, we provide a fairly
comprehensive list of websites at which individual researchers stand the
greatest chance of success for locating Berks-area information. We hope
that the recommendations provided below will encourage further
investigation throughout the area. If you have a site to add to our list,
please contact us. To see the resources available in our library at the
1892 Public School Building in Kutztown, go to our
Library page.
At this site, scroll down the left-hand column
to "The Census": click on this link, and then look for the several entries
for the 1876 Kutztown census at the bottom of the page. Originally
recorded by James F. Wagenhorst, transcribed by Brendan D. Strasser from
the original document, this census is the most complete known record of
the Borough of Kutztown in the mid to late 19th century.
Complete transcription of the Register of the Reformed Congregation
of Ziegel's Union Church, located in Weisenberg Twp., Lehigh Co., PA.
Includes many surnames from the Maxatawny area of Berks County, only
about 1.5 miles away. Of definite interest to Kutztown area research.
Translation from the German courtesy of Randall T. Wert.
Ludwick Funeral Home Obituaries
St. John's Cemetery, Kutztown
Hope Cemetery, Kutztown
Fairview Cemetery, Maxatawny Township
Far and away the best genealogical collection
for the greater Berks County area. Contact this society, located in the Goggle Works at 201 Washington St., Reading, PA, for hours and directions.
Maintains a non-circulating library & archive
to aid Berks-related genealogical research. Not as complete as the
collection of the Berks County Genealogical Society, but more readily
available due to greater hours of operation.
General information on the resources of the
Register of Wills office. Searchable indexes of birth, death, and
marriage registers for the City of Reading and County of Berks.
(Extremely helpful office at which to conduct research in person, as
well.)
The BCAGP's mission is to preserve and maintain historic graveyards in Berks County and throughout eastern Pennsylvania, many of which suffer from neglect and vandalism, eroded headstones, etc. Research supports the existence of more than 300 historic graveyards in Berks County, with approximately 120 showing some sort of visible surface evidence. This updated and expanded site includes membership information, photographs, and contact information.
A superlative resource for census information,
church & cemetery records, tax records, wills, deeds, obituaries,
immigration & naturalization, military, pensions, history, townships &
boroughs, etc. A bit random because all information is submitted by
volunteers and individual researchers, but filled with surprises as well.
Index site with links to the three censuses
indicated, with plans for more to be added in the future.
Highly recommended site with links to family
genealogy pages, including Gehris, Zettlemoyer, Yoder, Bieber, Brobst, and
more.
An excellent site with many unexpected
miscellaneous references and sources, including tax lists, church &
cemetery records, will abstracts, etc.
The main index page for the Reading Eagle's series of articles on boroughs, towns, and townships throughout Berks County to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the county's founding in 1752. Download individual files readable using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Genealogical site maintained by John William Bieber of Claymont,
Delaware.
Much information on Albany Twp., but also
including Greenwich, Maxatawny Twps. and other local names.
Genealogical site for the Gehris/Gehres/Geres name, including many other
surnames, maintained by Roy Gehris.
Site maintained by Kraig Ruckel of Texas,
with many links especially to Lehigh & Carbon County resources.
Database for RUCKEL, BATTERTON, and other families of Pennsylvania
German descent.
Quaker family from the Hopewell Furnace area of southern Berks and
northern Montgomery Counties.
Includes the listed surnames plus many
other early northern and eastern Berks County names and lines. Home
page also includes many links to local genealogical websites. The
family genealogical website of society librarian Brendan D. Strasser.
Maintained by Chris Yoder.
Website on Zettlemoyer and variant spellings maintained by Harry
Wilson of North Carolina.
Founded in 1892, among the oldest and best
established genealogical societies in the United States.
PAfamily.net: The Pennsylvania
Genealogy Web Page
One of the most thorough websites on
Pennsylvania genealogy, with links to all 67 counties.
State and county searches available from the
main page.
The main Roots-List website for Pennsylvania, with major topics including Daily Life, Geography, History, Military, and so forth.
This site examines a collection of PA German gravestones erected from the 1740s to the late 1800s which provide a unique view of the culture, including a chronology of how choices in gravestone imagery evolved from the early German settlement of Pennsylvania, through the Civil War time period and into the 1900s. It is an introduction to these stones, and some of the people who erected them, with an emphasis on the 1700s, when the iconography and folk art of the Pennsylvania Germans were unique to their communities and independent of their English neighbors
Founded in 1977, the AGS is an international organization that exists to further the study and preservation of gravestones. While not specific to Pennsylvania or Berks County history, this site includes very helpful information for genealogists and researchers on such topics as "Gravestone Rubbing Do's and Don'ts," "Tools and Materials for Gravestone Cleaning Projects," and "Symbolism on Gravemarkers."
Other Recommended Genealogy Sites:
Not specific to Berks County, but containing
more than 168,000 links in more than 150 categories, making it one of the
most thorough meta-sites for genealogy on the World Wide Web. Highly
recommended for beginning genealogists, and very user-friendly.
The oldest and largest free genealogy site,
supported by Ancestry.com.
The main site for USGenWeb, the most
comprehensive genealogical volunteer project ever attempted. Go here for
links to sites throughout the United States.
An ongoing project to transcribe federal
censuses from throughout the country.