| When: | Saturday, September 8, 11 am to 1 pm |
| Where: | David Library of the American Revolution |
| Subject: | Bastards, Bridges, and Bawdy Houses: Using Quarter Session Records in Genealogy |
| Quarter Session Records are an under-used genealogical resource. Bucks County is one of the few Pennsylvania Counties for which abstracts are available as a finding aid. Learn about the history of this court, the administrative and criminal responsibilities of the court, and the genealogical information the records contain. Quarter Session Records span all levels of society: prominent office and commission holders; common citizens as jurors or victims; and the indigent and miscreants. The records show our ancestors as participants in important historical events. The variety of information in these records spans appointments, occupational licenses, waterway rights, road petitions, criminal charges (and sentences!), illegitimate children, support for the indigent, and insights into slavery. Discussion of the court's operation and record-keeping facilitates your research. Presentation includes examples from records and research case studies from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. |
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| Speaker: | Gerald H. "Jerry" Smith, Certified Genealogist |
| Jerry Smith specializes in Pennsylvania research prior to 1900. He is the author of several books and a number of journal articles, including Bedford County, Pennsylvania, Quarter Sessions 1771-1801, and recent journal articles in Western Pennsylvania Genealogy Quarterly and Vermont Genealogy.
Jerry has lectured and taught a variety of topics at national, regional, and local genealogical venues including the Institute for Historic and Genealogical Research at Samford University, the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, the annual Genealogical Society of New Jersey meeting, and various local societies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. |