My Trails into the Past

The tax records I have found for my husband’s Gorrell family have been a godsend. These are yearly records organized by township and boroughs that have helped me place his ancestors in time and place, and discover a possible generation further back than I knew. Here is one entry from 1804 that I’m trying to understand. There are no headings for the numbers, though the taxable items are labeled. The Gorrell men are marked with the yellow highlighter. This tax list even gives me a sense of how the name was pronounced back then. It didn’t have the strong first syllable accent that our family uses. These images were from the Beaver County Genealogy and History Center in Beaver, Pennsylvania. I had a volunteer there scan the pages from two different townships and one borough that listed Gorrell men in various spellings. They did not have the originals, but rather photocopies that were bound together by township and borough. I remembered seeing them when I visited in 2018 but I wasn’t ...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, lunch with friends, and an airplane ride to Pittsburgh for GRIP. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered at the History Center, working on accessions by entering them into PastPerfect. I moved the CalTrans collection to the back hall shelves and the new books from the Board of Supervisors to the County room. I also entered some books into the library database. I sent out the BCG press release.   The Writer’s group met this week and we discussed Jacqueline and Margaret’s writing samples, as well as a chance to meet in person when Jacqueline comes down to visit in September. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met and discussed our trip to Pittsburgh. Genealogy Writing/Research : I worked on Amos (1804-1890), who lived in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. It was a bit of a struggle getting all the deeds recorded and working out the tax records in two different townships. Blog Posts Published: Mam-ma’...

Amos Gorrell, Senior, was born perhaps on 7 August 1804 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. [1] He married Leah Wollam on 24 May 1827 in Columbiana County, Ohio by William Reed. [2] Columbiana County is just west of Beaver County. He died 14 September 1890 in Ross County, Ohio. [3] The questions to answer in this session are: When did he purchase real estate? When did he move to Ohio? I’ll be looking at census, tax, and deed records, and searching in full-text search. 1830s Amos did not appear in the 1830 census, even though he was married with a wife. Likely, he lived with a parent. Four Gorrell households were enumerated in 1830 Beaver County. Samuel Gorrell had one male age 30 to 39 and one female aged 40 to 49 with one male under 5. [4] James Gorrell had one male 40 to 49 and a male 15-19. [5] Sarah Gorrell had one male 15 to 19, and 20 to 29, one female 15 to 19, 20 to 29, and 50 to 59. [6] And on the previous page: Joseph Gorrell had one male 20 to 29, 3 males under 5, and ...