Submitted by geewhizliz t3_z0admt in Pennsylvania
Through some genealogy research I have found that I am a descendant of Dr. Thomas Wynne and a John Goheen (Chester County). I’d love to know more about them and wanted to know where I could do some research. Thanks!
Yup. The Chester County historical society is located in West Chester and has some really helpful and knowledgeable staff.
That's great for OP and kudos to Chester County. Good staff in any library or society represent such an underappreciated resource in any community.
I grew up in a very rural PA community with no library whatsoever at a time that the internet wasn't yet in widespread use and from personal experience libraries and historical/genealogical societies matter.
Oh for sure. Especially because those are the kinds of people that will fight for the history of the area to be preserved in a way beyond just files in a room.
Second this. I worked there for a bit and the librarians truly care so much and will help you find what you’re looking for!
Thanks everyone! I’ve never been there in person but it seems like it would be worth the trip
The Chester County archives are also great- I’ve been there so do research and the folks there are incredibly helpful.
Thank you!
Chester County Historical Society
Just sent a research request to them! Thanks!
Your local library may have some old local history books, might not hurt stopping in and asking.
Great idea
Curious what the Chester County connection is?
West Philly and Lower MontCo have a million things named after Wynne. In fact I live a few blocks from his colonial home.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynnestay
You should check some Philadelphia archives
That’s wild. My mom grew up in Ohio and my dad in New York. I happened to end up in Chester county. What are the chances that I had roots here? Wild
That’s really cool. In the area I live in there’s a TON of things named after Wynne.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynnefield,_Philadelphia
Thanks! I’m going to dig around more. Seems almost too unbelievable. I’ve requested some genealogical research with some historical societies.
You're related to the personal physician to William Penn?
Another branch has me related to some early settlers in the Virginia colony and Jamestown. History is wild
I'm related to George Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence on my paternal grandmother's side.
That’s so cool!
If my research is correct. I’ve had some other family do some genealogy research and they came to the same findings.
Hey man, I just got my MA in History this year and the best place to look for information on local history and specifically people is the local universities libraries. I'm sure they'd be ok letting you read a little bit even if you don't have a student ID, but you couldn't go home with any books most likely. Maybe a librarian could help you do a digital database search as well, you never know what may have been digitized these days.
Another thing you can do is use Familysearch.org to look documents pertinent to their lives. it's like Ancestry but it's free to use.
Thanks!! I use ancestry but since finding out I actually have local ancestors I was wondering if local places would have more insight. Love history but don’t know what I’m doing haha
History is all around you, it just takes some dedicated focused effort to find it, and a little luck too.
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Allemaengel t1_ix4g954 wrote
I'm from northeastern PA but work in nearby Bucks County and am into history.
Not super-familiar with Chester County but as a very large and prosperous county I'm fairly confident that they'd have a sizable historical and/or genealogical society down that way in the West Chester area that would be able to help you out.
Good luck!