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collection highlights

Our collection, located in the Pennsylvania Room, is open for in-person research. The archives staff also accepts research queries and provide information via phone, email, and postal mail during library hours.
 

Our Pennsylvania Room is a welcoming research environment used by genealogists from across the United States. Our primary focus is Somerset County with an emphasis on the Meyersdale area, although we also have some materials on adjacent counties, including those across the state line.

 

This is a listing of the highlights of our collection:

Marguerite Cockley Collection –  contains an extensive number of family files representing decades of research and correspondence.

Harvey Shumaker Collection – a collection totaling over 700 volumes of information on countless families.

Local History Microfilm Holdings

  • Various Pennsylvania and Maryland Census Records

  • National Archives Agriculture, Industry and Manufacturing, and Social Statistics and Supplemental Schedules for Somerset
    and Other Pennsylvania Counties – 1850-1880

  • Reich Funeral Home Records, Meyersdale – 1885-1960

  • Tressler/Konhaus Funeral Home Records, Meyersdale – 1930-1974

  • Somerset County Native William H. Welfley’s Marriage – 1904-1910 – and Obituary – 10 Volumes, 1894-1918 – Scrapbooks

  • Somerset County Survey Warrants – 1700s-1800s

  • Somerset County Tax Assessments – 1795-1854

  • Somerset County Wills/Estates – 1797-1895; 1922-1960

  • Somerset County Orphans’ Court Dockets – 1793-1846

  • Tombstone Inscriptions (Somerset, Bedford, Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, Pennsylvania; Ashtabula County, Ohio) – Miscellaneous Years

  • Civil War Veterans and Widows (Somerset and Washington Counties) – 1890

  • Revolutionary War Soldiers (Somerset County and Beyond in Pennsylvania)

  • Berlin Muster Roll – 1813

  • Various Local Church Records – Including Reformed, Lutheran and Brethren

  • Local Marriage and Death/Funeral Records – Including Those of Bishop Conrad Lint and Rev. Benjamin Knepper

  • Somerset County Family Bible Records (Over 300 Names) Gathered by County Native E.C. Saylor – Late 1700s-Mid 1800s

Somerset County Newspapers

  • Meyersdale Commercial Newspaper – 1881-1912 (microfilm); 1913-1918 & 1929 (scattered issues; limited access to hard copies due to age, rarity, and fragility) NOW AVAILABLE ON MICROFILM and ONLINE at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive! (See link under Local History Digital Collections: Online.)

  • Meyersdale Republican Newspaper – 1900-1990 (microfilm)

  • The New Republic (Meyersdale) Newspaper – 1991-2017 (microfilm); 2018-2022 (hard copies)

  • Somerset County Star (Salisbury) Newspaper – 1899, May 1909-1929 (microfilm); 1891-1893, 1900-1904 & 1907-April 1909 (hard copies; scattered issues; limited access to hard copies due to age, rarity, and fragility) NOW AVAILABLE ON MICROFILM and ONLINE at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive! (See link under Local History Digital Collections: Online.)

  • The Turkeyfoot News – 1905-1912 (microfilm)

  • Somerset Herald Newspaper – 1828-1845 (microfilm; incomplete collection)

Local History Digital Collections: online

Our Library's Online Collections
PA Gen Web, hosts our Cemeteries, Obituaries, and Civil War Veterans projects. 
The Somerset County PA Gen Web collection is currently undergoing an update
which has changed how these collections are accessed.  
Click HERE for the Somerset County PA Gen Web collections.
Somerset County Obituaries Special Projects Collection
Somerset County Civil War Veterans Project

Somerset County Pa Genweb Archives WPA Records​​​

The Cemeteries of Somerset County Project – 

Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award-Winning Cemetery Location Project completed by Cynthia Mason, Carolyn McKinney and dedicated volunteer, the late Barry Christy, who contributed ten years of volunteer service to our library

 If you need help accessing these resources, please call Jen at (814) 634-0512, menu item 2.

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The Meyersdale Commercial newspaper, 1913-1918 & 1929 (scattered issues) in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

The Somerset County Star newspaper,  1891-1893, 1900-1904 & 1907-April 1909 (scattered issues) in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

Local History Digital Collections: on-site use

  • Early Vital Records of Somerset County Families, Compiled by Genealogist Ora L. Flaningam – 1700s-1900s

  • Somerset County Naturalization Records – 1802-1854

  • Springs Area Oral Histories Recorded by Beth Holler Page of the Springs Historical Society

  • B&O Railroad Employee Oral Histories Recorded by Carolyn McKinney

  • Pennsylvania Maple Festival Photograph Collection

  • Reich Family (Meyersdale) Collection of Photographs, Store Ledgers and Other Memorabilia

  • Digitized Videos of Local Events, Historical Milestones, Speeches/Presentations, and Interviews

Books and Other Resources

  • Early Vital Records of Somerset County Families, Compiled by Genealogist Ora L. Flaningam – 1700s-1900s

  • Somerset County Naturalization Records – 1802-1854

  • Springs Area Oral Histories Recorded by Beth Holler Page of the Springs Historical Society

  • B&O Railroad Employee Oral Histories Recorded by Carolyn McKinney

  • Pennsylvania Maple Festival Photograph Collection

  • Reich Family (Meyersdale) Collection of Photographs, Store Ledgers and Other Memorabilia

  • Digitized Videos of Local Events, Historical Milestones, Speeches/Presentations, and Interviews

Thanks to the efforts and generosity of Mrs. Marguerite Cockley, the Pennsylvania Room is home to the Cockley Collection mentioned above. Charter members of the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County, the late Mrs. Cockley and her husband Eber served as the organization’s genealogists for many years. Also remembered as a beloved librarian at the Meyersdale Public Library, Mrs. Cockley was responsible for the creation of our Pennsylvania Room. We will always pay tribute to this respected Meyersdale historian and genealogist, her talent, and her commitment to our community.

 

We at the Meyersdale Public Library also fondly remember archivist and avid genealogist Cynthia Mason, who served as director of the Pennsylvania Room for over 17 years. A member of the Meyersdale Area Historical Society’s Board of Directors, Cynthia’s invaluable contributions to the preservation of information about this area and its people will forever benefit those seeking more knowledge about our past and those who shaped it.

 

A native of Meyersdale who moved on to reside in Ohio, the late Harvey Shumaker was a United States Marine Corps veteran and high school teacher of both history and English. Mr. Shumaker had a genuine fondness for libraries, history, and genealogical research. We are most fortunate to now provide a home for his life’s work related to genealogical research.

 

Our eternal thanks to devoted volunteer, the late Keith Petenbrink, for his compilation of over 3,000 records pertaining to county veterans of this war.

 

None of this would be here without the foresight of Frances Livengood Imler, who pioneered the idea of founding a public library in Meyersdale.

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Research help via email is available. Please contact jhurl@meyersdalelibrary.org

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Please be sure to email us at the address provided on this page.

The old meyersdalelibrary.com addresses are no longer valid

as that web domain is no longer owned nor operated by our library.

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