The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 68

D2 THE MORNING CALL, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1989 nrnmm 1 into account the many different spellings of family surnames. This is One guffaw after another at Peddler's as always correct, for often census takers would use information taken from neighbors or other family members. Like a good reporter, good genealogists use more than one source to verify a fact. Newspapers from the period in question are often a good place to start. These steps would be repeated for each new name the genealogist comes across.

Genealogists suggest that amateur genealogists start with themselves and work backwards. Others suggest that an amateur genealogist research either the maternal (mother's side) or paternal (father's side) of the family first, rather than jumping from maternal to paternal sides of the family. Besides U.S. Census records, other resources are available. The State Library in Harrisburg and the National Archives branch office in Philadelphia have records from special census that concern agriculture and commerce.

Another such special census details the inmates of prisons and insane asylums for several decades in the late 1800s. These documents help genealogists flesh out their own family history. "I'm seeing that more and more," says Moyer of the Northampton County Historical Society. "People, especially younger people, are interested in what their ancestors did, what kind of people they were." Some of this social history is contained in later U.S. Census forms, but most of this type of information is available in other documents.

These other sources are important, because a good genealogist will cross-check his or her research. The best place to look for records on births and deaths or information on naturalization ceremonies and land purchases or sales is the county where the family member lived or sold land, according to those familiar with the genealogical process. To do this well, it is important to know something of the history of a locale. Lehigh County, for example, was part of Northampton County until 1812. Persons wishing to search for the birth of a particular person born in 1810, for instance, would research Northampton County records rather than Lehigh County records.

The state library has vital statistics (births and deaths, etcetera) dating from 1906 to the present day, but that is usually not much help to genealogists, who often are interested in dates well before 1906. It is generally accepted that as a genealogist travels farther and far ANCESTRY Continued From Page D1 and time consuming, those familiar with the search process say. Amateur genealogists sometimes can work intermittently for years before they can successfully trace their family history. There are rewards, however. "It is frustrating and exhilarating," says Janice Newman, head genealogist for the State Library at Harrisburg, an important depository of historical and state records that can help genealogists.

"People work and work and get a clue about someone they have been looking for. Sometimes, they jump up and yell, they are so happy." There are no set steps one can take for searching a family history, because every family history is different. However, there are certain suggestions genealogists offer for amateur genealogists. The first, and perhaps the most important step is to talk to older family members. Write down everything they say, even if their information conflicts with research or information already gathered.

Check, too, to see if anyone has ever done a family history on your family before, to avoid repeating research already done. Family records, in particular family Bibles, can offer some help, but a word of caution is in order. Historians have a standard rule that documents are usually considered more accurate if they are completed or recorded as close as possible to the date of the actual event. If a genealogist comes across a family Bible and all the entries appear to be written by the same hand at the same time, that information is considered less reliable than a Bible where each birth and death was recorded near the time of the event. After talking to older family members and researching the family's own documents, most genealogists then begin searching U.S.

Census records. The state library in Harrisburg has U.S. Census records from 1790 until 1910, the last year when the census records were opened to the public. There are no census records for 1890; these were lost in a fire. The 1920 U.S.

Census will be opened to researchers in 1992. Lehigh University's Fairchild-Martindale Library, which is also a government document repository, also has some census records, according to Government Documents Librarian Roseann Bowerman. But, Bowerman said, the Census records that the library has focus primarily on Lehigh and Northampton counties, and no index based on the sounds of names in the census (called a Soundex) is available. And, unlike the State Library at Harrisburg, the Fairchild-Martin-dale has no genealogy specialists who could help amateur genealo- fists with research and suggestions, he government documents at Lehigh are open to the public, however. Soundex helps researchers take torical societies will perform some genealogical research for a nominal fee, this varies from county to county.

In Pennsylvania, most but not all counties have historical societies. And some of those emphasize genealogical research, while others have specific genealogical societies. In Lehigh County, for example, the county historical society keeps local history and other genealogical data in the Scott Andrew Trexler II Memorial Library in the old Lehigh County Court House at 4th and Hamilton streets, Allentown. In Easton, much of the local genealogical reference material is kept in the main office of the Easton Public Library's Henry F. Marx Room, according to special collections curator Barbara Bailey Bauer.

The Marx room has several important indexes of local wills and church records that may assist researchers. The indexes were done under the direction of Henry Marx, the Easton librarian from 1903 to 1936 using library staff and, during the Depression, workers from the Works Progress Administration. In addition to some of the obvious sources of genealogical information, there are other, less obvious spots to check. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has extensive research available on family histories. The main library in Salt Lake City has one of the most wide-ranging collections of family history information in the world, and about 1,200 Family History Centers have some of that information on microfilm and microfiche.

The centers are typically attached to Latter Day Saints churches. Two centers are in the Lehigh Valley area. One is in South Whitehall Township, at the end of an unincorporated road that begins in the Peach Tree Village housing development just off Mauch Chunk Road. A second center is in Reading. The centers are a good place to see if anyone is currently doing family history on a particular name, and a good place to find out if any historical research has been done on a particular family name, according to Anne Young, who heads the Family History Center in South Whitehall Township.

(For more information, contact Young at 799-3523. The Center is open Thursday mornings and evenings.) While finding the best place to look for records and documents is important, genealogists say patience and detailed record keeping are just as important. Newman, the genealogist at the State Library in Harrisburg, sees more and more people using personal computers to record their genealogical work. The Easton Library also has a computer software program in the general circulation collection that helps people compile their genealogical information, according to Bailey Bauer. for the hour or so he's entertaining his uncle.

Evelyn is willing to go along, Claude is jealously suspicious. Then a tropical storm blows up and uncle has to stay overnight. Three other characters contribute to the madness: Marie Bishop as the nephew's housekeeper, Reina Spec-tor as the nephew's fiancee who isn't in on the scheming, and Jack McGa-vin as a neighbor who habitually copes with his own domestic tension by getting drunk and crawling through the nephew's bedroom window to sleep it off. Farce calls for pace and timing, and the entire cast supplies both in glorious plenty. The women manage to infuse a considerable touch of character into their parts, too, and that's delightful icing on the cake.

But while the men fire off dialogue, run into each other, pop in and out of doors, and generally neglect subtle depth of character, it isn't in the least injurious to the play. What it is, is one guffaw after another. Mary-Kathleen Gordon directed and has kept the action in high gear from curtain to curtain. "Right Bed, Wrong Husband" continues through Sept. 24 at Peddler's Village Dinner Theatre, Cock 'n' Bull Restaurant, Rt.

263, Lahaska. For ticket information, call 215 794-4000. John Flautz is a free-lance theater reviewer for The Morning Call. along with local sports and weather. Richard C.

Dean, the station's general manager, said the expansion is part of the station's "long-term commitment to news" as part of its service to the community. The added 5 p.m. telecast has been nearly a year in the planning, according to station operations manager Barry Fisher. "We've been making many technical additions since January to accommodate increased production requirements for the 5 o'clock news," he said. Viewer requests as well as the large news volume generated in a 10-county area brought about the change, he added.

ple. If they had had television when I was in top form, I'd be a household word today. I was the best at one time. Everybody said so." His career isn't over, Ginsberg says, although he concedes time has turned against him and all the fancy security and electronic devices have made it harder for anyone to crash a gate. "If it's big enough, I could still come up with something.

I still like a challenge. You know, they tell me that St. Peter is a hard man to con and that's a hard gate to crash. Hell, I guess I'll give it a try, though, when the time comes." By JOHN FLAUTZ A very funny farce is playing at Peddler's Village Dinner Theatre. All subsequent information contained in this review, including even the name of the play, is pretty much filler.

The name is "Right Bed, Wrong Husband," and the authors are Neil and Caroline Schaffner. If you never heard of the play or playwrights you are likely in a majority. This play makes no statement about the condition of society or the future of civilization. Unless there's a hidden profundity in "A man who tries to mislead his uncle by claiming to be married to a woman who's really his best friend's wife is kicking off a row of dominoes that won't quit." With farce, even plot summary isn't much help. If it really good, it gives too much away, and if it isn't it just sounds silly.

In this one, a young man (Larry McClenney) whose considerable fortune is stingily managed by his uncle (Paul Ber-ger), has conned the uncle into doubling his allowance by telling the old boy he's married. The sly nephew lives in Florida, the uncle in New York, and all goes well until one day uncle drops in unexpectedly. Nephew happens to have house guests, Claude (Joe Doyle) and his wife Evelyn (Colleen M. McGuire). He asks to borrow Evelyn AMECHE Continued From Page D1 casts are live.

Channel 69 has broadcast the nightly news at 7 and 10 p.m. since first reaching the air in 1976. The station believes it may be the only independent station in the United States to air three locally produced newscasts each weekday evening. The station also presents local news at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 5 p.m.

Sunday. Rinehart said "Channel 69 News at 5" will maintain the station's current mix of local and world news. CRASHER Continued From Page D1 He got into a lot of Sugar Bowls and a couple of Cotton Bowls with a $2 camera and a "Press" button he says he got off a Coke machine. But his best ploys won't work for him anymore, he says. Nobody will believe an 84-year-old fireman, or cop or doctor might be rushing into an event.

"I always had an angle." he says. "I had a knack for getting along with people and for getting by peo ther back into time, records become more rare. At times, they are nonexistent. Past the late 1700s, for example, church records become very important. Here, these records would take the place of state or national birth, death and marriage information.

Many families came through the eastern Pennsylvania area at some point in their migration westward, so it is not uncommon for genealogists working with historical societies in Lehigh or Northampton counties to receive queries from out-of-state genealogists. While both the Lehigh and Northampton county his- particularly important for doing genealogical work. Many of this country's early residents could neither read nor write. Names were often changed to make the family name more like other Anglo-American names. "You've got to keep an open mind," Griffiths, the Lehigh County Historical Society librarian, says.

Some people insist that the family name was spelled one way when, in reality, it might have been spelled several different ways, she adds. Soundex assigns each name a letter and four numbers. Several letters, including all the vowels of a name, are eliminated. The Soundex designation for Johnson, for example, is 525. Libraries with Soundex also have instructions on how to determine the Soundex designation for any name.

With a Soundex designation, genealogists are ready to begin searching the Soundex for a particular census year. A rule of thumb for this is to search the most recent applicable census first, and then work backwards. The 1850 U.S. Census, for example, is the first to list the names of all family members. Previous censuses had listed only the head of a household and the number of male and female children whose ages fell within a series of age ranges.

The 1910 Census has the most information, including such information as the person's occupation, place of birth, the year the person was naturalized (if appropriate), the language the person spoke, the number of farm animals owned, and the number of days the person was out of work during the previous year, to mention just a few. Each Soundex entry for a given name includes references to sets of numbers that refer to actual locations in the census itself. Using the name Johnson as an example, let's say a genealogist is looking for a Samuel Johnson who was married to a Sarah Johnson. Both would have been in their 50s at the time of the 1910 Census. In looking through the Soundex groupings for 525, there might be several references to a Samuel Johnson who married a Sarah Johnson.

A good genealogist would note the numerical references for each. Each set of numbers (and every census differs in this regard) refers to a specific spot on the actual census schedule. Genealogists use the numbers found on the Soundex to refer to the appropriate spot on copies of the original census schedules. Usually, each census is broken down into a volume number and an enumeration district number, which refers to a specific geographic location, say, for example, the South Side of Bethlehem. Once a researcher knows where to look in a census, he or she can begin to copy information contained in the actual schedule of the census.

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