More than 250 years of documented Cumberland County history is now available online. Barbara Bartos, county archivist, said nearly 13,000 historical documents dating from the county's founding in 1750 have been placed on the county Web site. The Cumberland County Archives is dedicated to preserving, protecting and making accessible archival records created by the various county government offices.
Entries include slave returns, bastardy bonds, debtor petitions, pension applications for Revolutionary War soldiers, prison calendars and bolter and baker brand marks. The help file on the site does state that active and non-active, permanent and non-permanent records from 1750 to the present in volume or loose paper format still maintained by the various Offices and Departments are not available on the site.
To access the documents, go to http://www.ccpa.net/index.aspx?nid=2675.
Thanks for posting this. I have elusive Scotch-Irish ancestors who lived in Cumberland County.
However, I am getting hopelessly lost on this site. Have others found what they were looking for? I may do some user testing on this site with the aim to pass it back to them to improve usability and findability...
Posted by: Lisa Rex | July 15, 2009 at 01:40 PM
Although Gov. Granholm has ended that dept. the library and archives will remain open under different departments starting in September. We don't if there will be closures in the future because of our mandate to balance the budget. Hours and personnel have been cut.
Posted by: Mary Hutchins | July 15, 2009 at 08:46 PM
If they have 13,000 records there, I'm not sure where. It's very confusing. I did finally find "Archival Holdings" and where there is a camera icon, you can click and get a list of records. I did manage to open a few, but could not find what I needed. I already have access to Rev. War Pension records through wonderful Footnote. It seems like all those have "camera" icons by them, but maybe they are using what Footnote did.
Hopefully, it will improve.
Duh--Here's what it says: "Additional Record Series for volumes and papers will be added as prepared." It's in progress. Well, at least it's a start.
Posted by: Cheryl | July 15, 2009 at 09:30 PM
This is mostly an inventory, which is quite welcome. The actual document images are not extensive, but if you're lucky enough to find your person, there is some good stuff here. The search engine does not work very well, at least on an initial quick test.
Do not assume that because you have images from Footnote that the images here are the same documents; in all likelihood they are not.
Posted by: Connie | July 16, 2009 at 07:48 AM
Who is Gov. "Granholm"? Our governor is Gov. Rendell.
Posted by: Linda Waha | July 16, 2009 at 09:35 AM
Also, I, too, am lost on this site. I cannot find any actual document images. I've clicked on different things and am bewildered. I read the instructions, and still can't find anything.
Posted by: Linda Waha | July 16, 2009 at 09:48 AM
Connie, I took your challenge. I, too, wanted to know if the images on Cumberland were like the ones in the NA. Since I have researched the files in Washington, I thought maybe the Cumberland records were a portion of the larger file.
Yes, they are. For example, I found the record of Edward Cavenaugh [not related--just used as an example]. On the Cumberland site there are four pages of records, three of which are an affadavit attesting to who he is, etc.
That very affadavit is present in images 7,8, and 9 of Cavenaugh's Footnote file. The words are not in the same place, and the handwriting is different, but that is because it is a handwritten copy of the record. It is actually much more readable in Footnote than in Cumberland, but would be useful for comparison.
Having these available on both sites is extremely positive, in my opinion, but the records in the NA are much more complete.
Posted by: Cheryl | July 16, 2009 at 10:22 AM
I waded through the site and, once I figured out how to use it, was very helpful. As an example I found the slave record that my ancestor had filed in the early 1800's. Did not have the document but other entries did.
I am hopeful that they will continue to add more material and images.
Posted by: Doug | July 16, 2009 at 06:29 PM
I also find this site very confusing and not user friendly at all. I did not find what I was looking for but hope others will be successful.
Chris
Posted by: Christine Loeser | July 16, 2009 at 06:45 PM
Dear All-
Appreciated your comments regarding the Cumberland County Archival Web Site. They will be of help when we review the site.
One proposal is to a "For Genealogists" paragraph after the first paragraph on the Archival Home Page to alert genealogists that the site is the result of an ongoing inventory of county records and was not developed with genealogists in mind.
As to the camera: an image can only be accessed by clicking "inventory" with Paper Series if a camera is next to it or "holdings" for Volume Series if a camera is next to it.
The image count in the news article was incorrect - a tech report error.
Your suggestions and comments welcome.
Cordially,
Barbara Bartos
Cumberland County Archivist
Posted by: Barbara Bartos | August 24, 2009 at 10:36 AM