We now have a local history museum in Mansfield representing the area in and near Mansfield including Richmond, Sullivan, Rutland, Covington, Tioga and more
Visit the History Center on Main Street at 83 North Main Street where our library resources are housed. We also have a museum location at 61 North Main Street.
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If you have ancestors in our area, the History Center would like to meet you and show you what we know about your family and learn what you know that we don't. Mansfield area people are the core of what we value. Our genealogy database of nearly 100,000 individuals with local connections may include your ancestors. We also have filing cabinets full of resources and a thorough knowledge of our past residents, schools, and businesses. It's worth a visit.

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Bradford County PA
Chemung County NY
Tioga County PA
Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice
Diaries & Letters of Tri-Counties
1902
Burt Strange, Gravedigger, of Sylvania and Sullivan Township

 
1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
Diary of Burt Strange
Township: Sylvania, Columbia Township, Bradford County PA
Year: 1902
Transcribed (Extracts only) by Fay TILLER Morgan
Introduced and Annotated by Joyce M Tice 
from her Sullivan-Rutland Genealogy Project
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Photo from I.O.O.F. Collection submitted by Fay TILLER Morgan
Joyce's Search Tip - December 2010
Do You Know that you can search just the 355 pages of our
Diaries and Letters on this site  by using the Diaries button in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page? But diaries and letters are wonderful sources to understand the culture of time and place. Read them and enjoy them slowly.
Excerpts from Burt Strange diary Sylvania Pa - Burt Strange was born in Sullivan Township, Tioga County PA 1866, son of Laura Mosher and Ezekial Strange. He married Sophia Stock and they lived in Sylvania, Columbia Township, Bradford County PA. He died 1940 and is buried in the Gray Valley Cemetery in Sullivan Township. During his working life he was a gravedigger employed by the funeral buisiness of Waldo and Soper in Sylvania. Later this became Soper and Mosher. Because of his business, Bert's diaries are particularly valuable. They record more deaths and burials than most. Bert tells us who he buried but rarely the cemetery. However, we know a lot of that from other records. Since many of the "customers" were from the adjacent Sullivan and Columbia townships  we have information about many of them in my Sullivan-Rutland Genealolgy Project. I have annotated the diary entries with some of that information. Fay has extracted birth, death, marriage, and burial information form diaries that she once had available. We do not have the originals, nor do we have access to them at this time.
1902    
Events in Diary
    Commentary by Joyce M Tice SRGP ID
1902 Jan  1 went to Mrs Simerson's funeral    
1902 Jan 6 went to W L Scouten's funeral    
1902 Jan  19 I and C E Waldo buried Bradford Woodard to Lawrence Corners    
1902 Jan  21 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Net Peirce on Mountain    
1902 Feb  11 to Uncle Marcus Strange's funeral   Buried Grover Cemetery , Springfield  6944
1902 Feb 28 water was high at Miller Bridge    
1902 March 4 I and C E Waldo buried G York   Galusha Elyon York buried at Gray Valley Cemetery  4128
1902 April 7 I and C E Waldo buried Ellis Welch   Cemetery not known  4722
1902 April 16 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Ben Nevel on Ames Hill    
1902 May 10 we raised my cow stable    
1902 June  17 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Nelson Welch   Helen Welch d. of Charlotte Blilss and Elijah Welch buried King Hill Cemetery  4740
1902 June 24 rained hard at night and hailed hard     
1902 June 25 there was a cyclone took Ben Dan's barn roof    
1902 Sept 10 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Worden in forenoon and Fanny Dewey in afternoon   Fanny buried King Hill Cemetery  5758
1902 Sept  25 I and C E Waldo buried Fred Cornell    
1902 Sept 30 Hen Rexford and Eugene Thrall had a fight    
1902 Oct 7 went to Geo Monroe funeral   George Peter Monro, buried Card Cemetery, Sylvania  11016
1902 Oct 12 I and Soaf and boys went to Sylvania to have our pictures taken    
1902 Nov 10 went to Horace Steven's funeral to Sylvania    
1902 Dec 26 went to Aunt Julia Smith's funeral   Julia Mosher, wife of Isaac Smith, buried Gray Valley Cemetery 5009
1902 Dec 30 I and Rex Soper buried John Smith   John Smith, husband of Harriet Reynolds, buried Reynolds Cemetery in Rutland 1840
           
1902    
Deaths
    
1902 Jan  3 Saray Scouten died of Pneumonia    
1902 Jan  7 Frank Baker died   Buried Columbia Valley Cemetery  42210
1902 Jan 17 Bradford Woodward died    
1902 Jan  19 Mrs N (Net?) Pierce died    
1902 Jan  27 Albert Mosher died     4794
1902 Feb 2 A B Buchannan    
1902 Feb 7 Marcus Stange died   See Above  6944
1902 Feb  26 Mrs Frank Wood died    
1902 Feb 28 G York died   Galusha York - See above  4128
1902 March 5 Ira Sherman died     7397
1902 April  5 Ellis Welch died     4722
1902 April  5 Daniel Bradford died     9524
1902 April  6 Mrs Will Wood of Troy died    
1902 June  9 Mrs Humphrey Fletcher   Annie (Surname Unknown) Buried State Road Cemetery  9162
1902 June 15 Mrs Nelson Welch died   See above  4740
1902 June  26 Sadie Norman died    
1902 July  15 Clint Wolfe   Buried Columbia Valley Cemetery (Besley)  59365
1902 July  24 Or Wilson died   Buried Baptist Hill Cemetery  25359
1902 Aug  22 George Comfort died   Buried Mainesburg Cemetery  14492
1902   24 Peter Omillion baby died     17113
1902 Sept 8 Fanny Dewey    See above 5758
1902 Sept  8 Mrs C Worden    
1902 Sept  22 Floyd Baker died    
1902 Sept  23 Fred Cornell died    
1902 Oct  5 Geo P Monroe died   See above 11016
1902 Oct 6 William Webster   Buried State Road Cemetery  9344
1902 Nov  7 Horace Stevens died    
1902 Dec 24 Aunt Julia Smith died at 4 pm    See above  5009
1902 Dec  24 Aunt Julia Smith died    
1902 Dec  28 John Smith died age 88 years   See above  1840
           
  1902  
Buried
    
1902 Jan 1 I and C E Waldo buried Lib Smerson 3.00  
1902 Jan 6 I and C E Waldo buried Saray Scouten 3.00  
1902 Jan  19 I and C E Waldo buried Bradford Woodward 3.00  
1902 Jan 21 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Net Pierce 3.00  
1902 March  4 I and C E Waldo buried G York 3.00 Galusha York - See above 4128
1902 April  7 I and C E Waldo buried Ellis Welch 3.00 See above  4722
1902   16 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Ben Nevel(?) 3.00  
1902 June  17 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Nelson Welch 3.00 See above  4740
1902 Sept  10 I and C E Waldo buried Mrs Worden 3.00  
1902   10 and Fanny Dewy 3.00 See above  5758
1902 Sept  25 I and C E Waldo buried Fred Cornell 3.00  
1902 Oct  7 I and C E Waldo Geo Monroe 3.00 See above  11016
1902 Nov  10 I and R Soper buried H Stevens 3.00  
1902 Nov  26 Settlement up to date Nov 26 1902    
1902 Dec  30 I and Rexford Soper buried John Smith 3.00 See above  1840
           
1902     Will Sherman commenced work 7 of April    
           
1902    
Married
    
1902 Jan 1 Purley Ludington and Sarah Wilcox   Perley's third marriage. Given the age, Wilcox may be an earlier marrried name rather than the real name of Sarah  4786 - 74327
1902 Jan  3 Brenster Long and Addie Morse    
1902 March 19 Mame Heron and Wm Grant married    
1902 April  6 Wallace Stevens and Nellie Harvey    
1902 April 30 Frank Kennedy and M(?) Granteer    
1902 June 1 H V(?) Alexander and Marion Fosler    
1902 Sept  24 Sidney McClelland and Anna Wilson    
1902 Dec 2 Will Longwell and Nellie Smith     13312 - 3698
           
1902    
Births
    
1902 Jan  2 a son to Mr and Mrs James Rockwell    
1902 Feb  27 a boy to Mr and Mrs Frank Hagre    
1902 March  14 a boy to Mrs Leon Atwood    
1902 April 2 a boy to Mrs Charley McDowel the first    
1902 April  24 a boy to Mrs Henry Cornell    
1902 June  4 the second girl to Mrs David York    
1902 Sept  7 a boy to Mrs Adelbert Smith Mainesburg    
1902 Oct 5 a boy to Charley H Strange    

The History Center on Main Street, 83 N. Main Street, Mansfield PA 16933   histcent83@gmail.com
Published On Tri-Counties Site On 5/24/2002
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: JoyceTice@aol.com