|
|
RI-COUNTIES
Genealogy & History
by Joyce M. Tice Chemung County NY Bradford County PA Tioga County PA WELCOME
|
The CORE of the site are the eighty town/township pages. Every Township in the whole three counties has its own page. On the main site page is the TRI-COUNTY TOWNSHIP INDEX which links to each of the many township pages of all three counties. They include cemetery records, family histories, township histories, census records, anything that relates to that township. Additionally the Online Research Library discussed above has links to Township Indices that list the township for one county only. When I announce a new addition on the mail list and refer you to the Township Pages, you can find it easily on the Township Index even if you do not know the county. You can also link to all the townships in the three counties from the right sidebar of any current What's New Page which is designed as your central navigational launch pad. The townsjhips are color coded to tellyou the county it is in.
A fundamental part of The Site is the ONLINE RESEARCH LIBRARY which is arranged in columns, one general column and one for each county where materials are county specific. This will link you to whatever is available, whole reference books, hundreds of pages of obituaries, family histories submitted by other guests, information about research facilities and vital records. Its front door is right on the main page and it has many, many rooms that you will want to explore. Don't forget to go all the way to the bottom as there are additional county sections further down the page, links to other resources of interest, and lots of treasures.
Additionally we have the Tri Counties Cemetery Index and the Tri-County Census Index. These link to nothing that the township pages do not, but if you don't know what township a cemetery is in you can find it and link to it from the Cemetery List which includes all of the 700 plus cemeteries in the region.
Other features include the Search Engines which link from the main page as well. The search engine is at the bootom of the current What's New Page and it is paritioned to allow you to search a single segement (category) of the site at a time.
A repeat from above - The easiest way to navigate this massive site is via the Site Map bars on any What's New page. The left bar lists all subject areas and the right bar lists all place areas. For those who don't like words, graphic buttons are at the bottoms of the What's New pages.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE - This site, which is founded, maintained, and developed by Joyce M. Tice, (with a LOT of help from her friends) is dedicated to preserving the memory of our pioneer ancestors and the history of the area in which they lived. I do it for them. Additionally, I want to encourage people to look at the whole environment to understand the lives these women and men lived, the hardships they endured when our area was under development, and the lasting contributions they made in their lives to the world in which we now live. The function of the site is education, preservation of historic materials, and distribution with ease to the public. My process for doing that is to build an electronic library which people can both use independently and add to with their own submissions. While the role of our local historical societies and libraries in preserving historical artifacts is unquestionably invaluable, many thousands of people, with an interest in our area and its history, will never have the opportunity or the money to come here and visit them. This site is their only available and affordable window to our part of the world. Also many valuable local artifacts have been carried all over the country by the descendants of our emmigrants. Those people do not want to give their family artifact to an organization back here, but they will welcome the opportunity to share its image or content with this electronic library, thereby preserving its historic value from the dangers of fire and deterioration and discarding by those not recognizing its significance. It gives many of our materials an opportunity to be displayed among other artifacts from the place of origin without giving them up. This site is a library, a museum, a central repository in electronic format for our history. While some pages of the site represent my own research and authorship, my main role is as editor and publisher of materials sent in by others.
In my approach to history, I don't believe that you can study people without an understanding of the TIME and PLACE in which they lived, and you can not understand communities without understanding the people who created and lived in them. So Tri-Counties site is structured around the COMMUNITIES of this three county area. To fulfill this purpose it is necessary to motivate present day members of these communities to share their knowledge and artifacts with us. There are many communities within this large area, and I am not personally an expert on all of them. To develop all the many local community collections as they deserve, requires those who know them better than I to come forward and help us help you and help them in return. People from all over the country also have memorabilia that has passed through their families and which reflect these communities in an earlier era. They too can be part of this project by submitting what they have, by sending it "back home" via the electronic media we now rely on for our presentation. Haul it out of your attic where its value is hidden and share it with us. Don't be a squirrel hiding away your interesting historical items. For information on how to do that just click the SUBMIT button on the left bar of any What's New page. The stated purpose of this site can only be fulfilled with the help of many hundreds of people with an attitude of preservation and sharing.
A particular focus is intended for the women. Many present day researchers, using the example given them in the nineteenth century histories, tend to focus on their male ancestry and minimize the contributions of their female ancestors. Genealogy is about genes, not names, so don't forget the women even though our marriage customs take most of their names from them. Hopefully, with an occasional reminder, we can restore these women to their rightful place in history and give them respect they have always deserved. If you submit family hstories entitled in the format of Descendants of John Doe, I will as editor change the title to include the female progenitor in equal status.
This is also intended as a communication forum for present day descendants of these pioneers to get together to exchange information, learn about the area, and have a good time doing it. Photos of the area not only decorate the pages, but are intended to give those of you from other areas, a feel for the geography and culture of this area past and present as well as its flora and fauna. This is a place to do your research and enjoy yourself at the same time. Those who volunteer their time to site development have the most fun of all, and we learn the most.
Enjoy yourself as a guest at my site and good luck researching. This site, just like my own Sullivan-Rutland Genealogy Project, takes a community focus. It is not only about individual people, but also the community in which they lived and the people they lived with and near. If your own research has not expanded to that community level, I'd recommend that you consider it. You will never understand your ancestor until you understand the world in which she lived.
Poet and novelist, Thomas Hardy, has expressed they WHY of this site far
better than I have. His message follows.
|
|
| I saw a dead man's finer part
Shining within each faithful heart Of those bereft. Then said I: "This must be His immortality." I looked there as the seasons wore,
His fellow yearsmen passed and then
Lastly I ask - now old and chill -
1899, 1902 |
|
|||
|
