The Keystone: Essential guide to Pennsylvania Historical Records (pdf download)

The Keystone gathers into one publication the most useful historical resources for genealogical and historical research in Pennsylvania. In each of the 67 chapters (one for each county), you will:

• Learn how that county evolved around residents, allowing you to access former counties that may house records for those people (compiled from Newberry Library's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries)
• Identify the evolution of the townships, how they split apart to form new townships in a newly created county. This allows you to verify the identity of people shown as residents of a previous township as it existed at that moment in deeds and other court records. Many townships no longer exist in their previous form.
• Access 19th-century maps showing landowners to correlate entries in the 1850-1880 censuses and bios in published county histories
• Access online published county histories to correlate with maps and census records, putting residents in the context of their community. Published county histories often give township histories, so knowing
• Understand how to look up buyers and sellers in both county land records (deeds between two private parties) and the preceding state land records (transfer of land from the government to a private party)
• Much more...see https://ancestortracks.com/wp/keystone/
• Since this is a pdf download containing urls that will be updated approximately every two years, purchasers have free access to one update within 3 years from date of purchase.