Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2004 Issue
Genealogical and Historical Reference<br>From Willow Bend Books.
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For those looking to trace their ancestry, here are some samples of the types of obscure references you may find in this catalogue. Did you have a great-great-great grandparent who was an orphan in Delaware? Here are the Orphans' Court Proceedings of New Castle County, Delaware 1742-1761. Item A1924DV. $18. How about a bastard from Baltimore? There's Bastardy Cases in Baltimore County, Maryland 1673-1783. Item 0471HB. $19. A country bastard instead of a city one? There is Bastardy Cases in Harford County, Maryland, 1744-1844. Item 2847HB. $20. Or you can read about the divorces of Harford County in Harford County, Maryland, Divorce Cases, 1827-1912. Item 9832HB. $6.75.
Did Grandpa do life at the Auburn prison in New York? You can read about him in Deaths at Auburn Prison, Cayuga County, New York 1888-1937. This book provides records of all of the approximately 700 inmates to die at this prison between 1888 and 1937. There is something very sad about the thought of spending your final years behind bars. The author of this book is the ironically named Mark DeLawyer. These prisoners needed one of those. Item 1277HB. $20.50.
If Grandma eloped from her home in Pennsylvania, you may find her here. The book is Runaway Women – Elopements and Other Miscreant Deeds as Advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1789. This is a collection of advertisements from deserted husbands, warning people not to extend credit to their runaway wives, many of whom had run off with other men and taken the children and property with them. Also included are notices from immigrants who had lost track of family members along the way. Item 5392CL. $10.95.
Here's a book you hope your grandfather isn't included in: Men I Have Met in Bed, by Lila Asher. The reason you hope he isn't in here is not the one you're thinking. This is an account by a U.S.O. artist who drew sketches of wounded soldiers to promote that organization's activities. Item A3143HB. $23.
A book for those interested in the Native American experience is The Role of Native Americans in Military Engagements by Karen Ackerman. This work covers interactions between Indians and settlers from the 17th through 19th centuries. It starts with contacts from 1609 and continues through a description of a Canadian Indian militia in 1885. At times, the Indians worked together with the Whites, at others they faced off in battle. Item H2360HB. $24.
We conclude with the History of the Lost State of Franklin, written by Samuel Cole Williams. Franklin was on the western side of the mountains in what was then part of North Carolina. North Carolina briefly ceded the territory to the federal government after the Revolution in an attempt to pay off its share of the war debt, but quickly seized it back. That didn't stop the settlers, under the leadership of John Sevier, a frontier Indian fighter, from setting up their own government. They named it after Benjamin Franklin. Franklin responded with proper thanks, but declined to become involved. Within a few years, the government fizzled, but Franklin would still become independent of North Carolina. Today it is eastern Tennessee, and Sevier would go on to be Tennessee's first governor. Item W2066HB. $31.50
If you are interested in the items in this catalogue and more genealogical works, you may find Willow Bend Books on the internet at www.willowbendbooks.com or you may reach them by phone at 410-876-6101.
