Troy Public Library 300 N. Three Notch Street Troy AL 36081 Ph: (3340 566-1314 FAX: 566-4392 URL: http://troy.booksys.net/opac/troy/ URL for Pike County Historical and Genealogical Society's books: http://www.intersurf.com/~johnjanr/hsp.htm The library has the opportunity to expand the space for their genealogy department. A generous person has offered $75,000.00 if matching funds can be gathered from the public. To make a pledge, please contact the library. Genealogy Librarian: Karen C. Bullard This is a very important resource for anyone doing research in the Florida Panhandle! Karen knows where all the books and films are. When you are there all you need to do is to ask about your surnames and possible locations in the area and she will most likely be able to pick out any number of pertinent publications. The resources they have include marriage certificates on film that you may copy; census records both on film and in publications; family histories; cemetery surveys and church records; and most of the published papers of the Pike County Historical and Genealogical Society. As Troy was a major trade center for folks in the panhandle there was much travel between the various towns and families flowed back and forth marrying or settling along the route. According to a gentleman whose step-grandfather (if you can understand the concept) sold salt fish to folks from Troy, the reason seems to be that there were no major creeks to ford along the way. As there were no paved roads at the time and oxen, horeses and wagons were very valuable, crossing major waterways was a thing to be avoided if at all possible. I have not checked out this theory, but perhaps someone can do that and let us know. Genealogy Department They also would love to have any genealogies that folks would like to send them. Any state is eligible! Troy Public Library is home to 2,500 + publications of historical and genealogical information. The Genealogy Department is housed in two rooms on the second floor with the reference and non-fiction sections of the library and set up by state in an easy to use layout for our patron's convenience. Our largest collections are the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia and include publications full of genealogy and county history information. The Pike County section, by far the largest Alabama county source, includes birth, death, and marriage records, tomb records, census (1830-1920), wills, deeds, military records, and publications of the Pike County Historical and Genealogical Society who have been actively compiling Pike County information since 1955. The Genealogy Department has a nice assortment of microfilm and microfiche records, among them Alabama census, local newspapers (1867-1935), Pike County marriage records (1827-1929) and deeds (through 1880's). We have five microfilm and microfiche readers, three of which are print capable. 90-95% of the publications from the family history section are or have Pike County relations. We have a full-time genealogy librarian with 15 years experience. HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8-5 Tuesday & Thursday 8-8 Saturday 8-12 The Library does not interlibrary loan any genealogy. Troy Public Library genealogy collection includes about 2,500 publications with the majority of the publications covering the states of Alabama, Georgia, S.C., N.C. Tennessee and Virginia with Pike County having the most complete records of all counties. Records for Pike County include: birth records from 1920s-early 1930s; death records 1881-1891 & 1920s-early 1930s; white marriages 1828-1929; black marriages 1865-early 1930s (microfilm & abstracted). Tombstone inscriptions for the whole county; census 1830-1920 (1830-1900 in printed form); wills 1828-1922 (microfilm & abstract version); the local newspapers on microfilm from 1867-1935 (in printed form 1855-1865 and bound copies of originals July, 1969-1997. Deed records on microfilm -1898 ('Book 1 has been abstracted); military records (C.S.A. for the most part); and all publications printed by the Pike County Historical & Genealogical Society. There is a nice assortment of microfilmed census records, most of which is Alabama, as well as census indexes for Alabama (1820-1870) and for other states. The miscellaneous section houses the American State Papers, Boddies's Southern Families, White's collection of pension record abstracts from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War & the Indian Wars. Also available are Quaker records, Notable Southern Families, Colonial Families of the USA. The Compendium of American Genealogy; the Compendium of American Genealogy, Cherokee by Blood, Book of Emigrants 1607-1699; Irish Pedigrees; The Original Scot Colonist; Germans to America vols. 1-4, to name a few. PERSI is on order. Troy Public Library has an excellent reference shelf on the basics of researching your roots including the newest edition of The Source. Library hours at the present time are: 9-5, M-F; 8-12, Sat. this summer. The library might be open 2 nights a week beginning in Sept. A full-time genealogy librarian with over 15 years experience is available.