Copyright 2001, Mark W. Swarthout
Published on: July 20, 2001
In the late 1800's, America was thriving. Having made it through the Civil War and approaching the century mark, many communities where looking for ways to commemorate the event. One of the ways this was done was to put together a history of the community and publish it. The vast majority of these were done by counties, occasionally by state or territory, and even some cities would get one together.
Most of the time this was done through a publishing company that would hire an editor to do the work. A sales force would also go out and solicit subscriptions. Paying up front for a copy was one way to insure that your name would appear in the book, if nothing else, in the list of subscribers!
One of the problems with these publications is that they often do not have an index. The Table of Contents and Table of Illustrations were expected to provide the location of the information you wanted. And it was a book that was to be read, not just referenced for genealogical data! Fortunately, many genealogists, frustrated with the lack of an index, created them! Some were published through historical and genealogy societies, some are simple carbon paper copies bound into pasteboard booklets. Your local genealogical reference library may well have the key index you need to make a fast job of finding your ancestors.
My favorite place to do research, after the Internet of course, is the Burton Collection of the Detroit Public Library. It has a very comprehensive collection of these histories, and many of them have indexes. The New York Times Reference Book lists it as one of the top five locations for genealogical research in the country. If you are going to be in the Detroit area, it is well worth planning a stop here! Note: They are now charging a fee for the use of the Collection, a $10 for the day. I'd plan a full day if you can.
Prominent individuals would have a page or so of biographical information, and if you really rate, an engraving of their likeness. Their bios appear in the Table of Contents and are easy to find. The article would include that opening line or two about their parents and that vital little paragraph at the end about wife and kids. But the rest of the words will be about that person's position in the community, the organizations they belonged to, their profession and their political stance.
The other bits and pieces you will discover are much more difficult to find! If you know the relative's profession, their organizations and their religious affiliations, you may find more about them in that section of the book. Lodges and churches, their members and founders, even their officers may be detailed under the appropriate heading. The press is often detailed, giving all the newspapers, their dates of founding and how long they operated. It is a great starting place to determine what newspapers may be applicable!
I have had some success, in both the genealogical aspect and the family history through these publications. The History of Clearfield County revealed the parents of one of my 2Great Grandfather's wife, though added little to my knowledge of either of them. My biggest success has been the discovery that one of my relatives was hired by Thompson & West to edit three of these vanity history books. And of course, he was a bit partial to his cousins, resulting in my knowledge of my 5G Grandfather's brothers being very real characters in my mind, not to mention an engraved picture of one of them! My web pages on Myron Angel, this fascinating character are part of the Lander County, NevGenWeb Site. One of Myron's cousins, Mahlon D. Fairchild, and brother to my 5GGrandfather, is credited with some of the editorial work on Thompson & West's History of Nevada.
The creation of these types of histories is not a lost art! They are still being written and published. When a county or community celebrates a 200th anniversary, they will often put together a book detailing the people and businesses in the area. My parents subscribed to one such publication in the 1970's, at the time of the American Bicentennial. I even picked up a copy of one done for my current county of residence's 200th anniversary at the local library book sale.
There is no specific spot on the web to find such things. I recommend starting at the US GenWeb site for the county in question. If such books exist, it is normally referenced there, and perhaps, there is a friendly genealogist out there willing to look your ancestor up for you!
A general query with your favorite search engine can be quite revealing! Another possibility is that several of the commercial booksellers have used book sections. Search for city and county names. This can give you a starting point and help identify the existance of such a volume for your area of interest. And don't forget my friend, the Inter Library Loan! It can be an efficient way to obtain a copy for a few weeks and costs a lot less than trying to buy a copy of the book.