General
- Heritage Quest – access through Online Databases at manheimlibrary.org. Census Records, Revolutionary War records, obituaries, and histories. You can save information to your computer or email it.
- Family Search – https://www.familysearch.org/search You can search Records or Catalog. You need a free account. Records searches all indexed collections. However, approximately 70% of FamilySearch collections are digitized but not yet indexed. Search the Catalog by Place (start with county of residence), open the Category that you are interested in for available collections (such as probate, naturalization, vital records), click on the collection you are interested in for the films. If there is a camera icon on the right, you can click on it and browse the digitized film. If you are logged in and the camera has a key above it, you need to view the collection at a Family History Center. There is one on King Street in Lancaster.
- Steve Morse – stevemorse.org This search engine makes it easy to search passenger lists from a variety of sources using minimal and flexible information. Also includes census ED finders and more.
- FindaGrave – findagrave.com – cemetery listings
- Google Books – http://books.google.com/ Find family and local histories, record books, government reports and more.
Lancaster County
- Lancaster History – lancasterhistory.org – Search Collections or click on links to digitized newspapers or city directories.
- Lancaster Archive – https://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/127/Archives-Division – Click on the top menu item on the left, Genealogy Research: Historical Indexes, to view collections you can browse online including birth, death, marriage, and much more.
- Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society – lmhs.org – obits and cemetery listings, plus more if you are a member.
Pennsylvania
- Power Library – https://powerlibrary.org/collections/ – Under PA Photos and Documents, click on the categories to see the collections to browse, including genealogy and newspapers.
- Also on Power Library, click on the link below Yearbooks that says Explore other digitized collections hosted by institutions in Pennsylvania. You can view other collections. In addition, at the bottom of that page, there is a search box for the Digital Public Library of America that has some great sources, too.
- ARIAS from the Pennsylvania State Archives – http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp has archives of index cards for Pennsylvania veterans, including the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I Service Medals, and more.
Newspapers
- Chronicling America – chroniclingamerica.loc.gov Includes archived newspapers from across the country from 1777-1963.
- Google News Archive – https://news.google.com/newspapers Includes archived newspapers from across the country but is not searchable. You can browse issues by date.
- Additional Lancaster newspapers can be found through the Online Databases available through manheimlibrary.org, and Power Library and Lancaster History, as mentioned above.
- Chester and Delaware County newspapers are available with a free account at https://delawarecolib.newspaperarchive.com/ Some other libraries across the country share public access to their county’s NewspaperArchive accounts also.
Other Resources
Family Tree magazine – For free genealogy forms and resources, visit familytreemagazine.com/freeforms
Manheim Historical Society – Collection includes Records from Zion Lutheran Church, 1771-1920; List of burials at Penryn Cemetery; Booklet – Hernley Graveyard, Rapho Twp; List of burials at Hernley Mennonite Church Cemetery; Book – Grave Undertakings, Penn Twp. by Martha Xakellis; Book – Cemetery Records of Lancaster County, vol. 4, incl. Penn and Rapho Twp., transcribed by Shirley Harmon; Notebook – Cemeteries, Graveyards and Burials of Manheim Borough and Rapho Twp. by Martha Xakellis; Booklet – The Gravestones of the Reformed Graveyard, Manheim, PA; List of burials at Fairview Cemetery, Manheim; and a few family genealogy books. Visit their Facebook page for more information.
Like genealogy? Join our Facebook Group, Manheim Community Library Genealogy and Family History for ongoing discussions and live chats.