Call Number:

06

Repository:

Limerick Township Historical Society

Extent:

16.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1900-2012

Creator:

Limerick Township Historical Society (Pa.).

Abstract:

The Limerick Township Historical Society genealogy research collection, circa 1900-2012, is comprised of genealogical resources collected by the Limerick Township Historical Society that relate to local residents: research files on Limerick families, transcribed cemetery records, obituaries/memorial cards, and funeral home records. The collection includes photographs, research notes, ephemera, cemetery records, obituaries, and the records of a local funeral director.

Limerick Township, in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was incorporated in 1726. It originally included the river crossing community of Royersford (established as a separate borough in 1879). In 1777, George Washington passed through the area, staying at the Mordecai Evans house in Linfield in 1777. In the 1810s, its population surpassed 1,000 people and its first permanent church edifice, the Limerick Union Church (hosting the Lutheran and Reformed (UCC) denominations), was dedicated. Limerick's first public school district was formed in 1852. In 1866, the first major industrial presence in Limerick Township, March, Sisler & Co., moved its factory to the area. Later significant factories in the area included the Kinsey Distillery and the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant.

Bibliography:

Limerick Township Historical Society. "Limerick History." 2009-2010. Accessed May 9, 2012. http://www.limerickpahistory.org/timeline.html.

This collection is comprised of genealogical resources collected by the Limerick Township Historical Society that relate to local residents: research files on Limerick families, transcribed cemetery records, obituaries/memorial cards, and funeral home records.

At the core of the collection are family files in alphabetical order, containing original and copy photographs, clippings, ephemera, research notes, and family trees. A large section of materials pertains to the Hood and Fry families. There is also a group of research materials compiled by James Wright on his family, who lived in Limerick before moving to the West Coast of the United States. A card index of family names is available on-site.

The collection also includes 28 binders, circa 1973, compiled by Edgar B. Grubb, Abram C. Hunsicker, and Raymond E. Hollenbach. These binders include copies of church records, tombstone inscriptions, and family histories. An index of the cemeteries in this collection is available on-site.

The historical society has also compiled four binders of photocopied obituaries (1938-2012) and two binders of memorial cards (1944-2007), organized alphabetically. There is a partial index for the memorial cards.

Of special interest in the collection are the funeral records of Frank W. Shalkop and Charles J. Franks, Sr., Undertakers, Trappe, PA. These computer print-outs include information on decedents in alphabetical order: name, race, gender, birth date and place, parents' names, death date and place, marital status/spouse's name, cause of death, doctor, place of funeral and burial, occupation, etc. The records cover burials from about 1900 to 1950, in alphabetical order by decedent name.

Also on-site (not included in measurement) are narrative family genealogies, some published and some un-published; and a few dozen oversize marriage certificates, diplomas, family charts, and family trees (stored in a flat file in the library, or on display throughout building).