Blog

One in a series highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog in WorldCat.
 
It seems that CGS must have had several members whose ancestors settled in Ohio because we have a large collection of books on our shelves for that state – 18 shelves packed with information. Our Ohio books are shelved in the section F486–500. One book at the beginning of the Ohio section is one of those “in between” books – that is, a book that does not fit neatly into a single state. It’s titled Pioneer Women of the West and includes stories about early pioneer women from the “western wilds.” Noteworthy is that it was written by a woman, Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ellet, and that it was published in 1875. While working on this blog series it has been rare to find women represented, so this is truly an exceptional book. Fifty-nine women are profiled in this 434-page book, so each is given good coverage. A book well worth looking at.

Next on the shelf is First Ownership of Ohio Lands by Albion Morris Dyer, A.M. – a thin, navy blue covered book that was published in 1982. The format of the book looks a bit tedious but for anyone with Ohio ancestors it is something to study, but be warned – there is no table of contents nor an index.

We have a complete collection of Ohio Genealogy News from 1971 to the current edition. This is an impressive journal with well-written articles and lots of photos. Through the years the size of this journal has expanded significantly – for example, one of the most recent quarterlies has 114 pages. It makes me wonder how their society manages to produce so much material so consistently.  Our shelves hold seven additional sets of journals – some from specific Ohio counties.

You can find volumes IV and V of Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy in our library. These were purchased by CGS in 1947. These tomes include 2,600 pages containing the genealogical records extracted from original books of Friends’ Meetings in Ohio and four meetings that took place in Pennsylvania. The data presented is dense consisting of lists of names and dates. Not having any Quaker connections I am unable to ascertain the value of this book but for those who do relate to Quakers, it appears to offer a wealth of information.

A large portion of our Ohio books focus on specific counties, which I find most useful. The statewide books are good for background but when looking for details about our individual families we want to focus in on the specific places where our ancestors lived – so you are in luck if you are from Ohio.

We even have books about specific places within a specific county. For example, The Foot of the Rapids: The Biography of a River Town is about Maumee, Ohio from 1838 to 1988. This reference book by Marilyn Van Voorhis Wendler is one of the more recent additions to our shelves. It presents a well-organized history of Maumee.