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The ten books included on this CD--which were originally published or reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Company--contain newspaper abstracts, naturalization records, land records, court records, and family histories which identify approximately 200,000 people who lived in Pennsylvania during the colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Compared with that of its neighbors, Pennsylvania's colonial population was extraordinarily diverse, featuring not only a broad mixture of national cultures (Welsh, Irish, Scotch-Irish, German, Swiss, English, etc.), but a vibrant mix of religions--Quakers, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Pietists, Lutherans, Anglicans, and so on. This diversity, accounted for by the large number of "foreigners" in its population, has always set Pennsylvania apart, especially in terms of its early records and documents. For example, its colonial archives, for example, many more records of naturalization and oaths of allegiance than any other colony; and at least three of the books featured on this CD are devoted to naturalizations, denizations, and oaths of allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania.

Among other well-known Pennsylvania record sources captured here are genealogical abstracts from Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette, the most influential newspaper of the 18th century; land records compiled by William Penn's Commissioners of Property, naming tenants and owners; indexes to the minutes of the Provincial Council and the Supreme Executive Council, Pennsylvania's earliest official records; lists of Germans who arrived in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1775 and from 1786 to 1808; and genealogies of colonial and Revolutionary families, each starting with the first known Pennsylvania settler and proceeding in a direct line of descent to family members who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Books included on this CD:

*Virginia Court Records in Southwestern Pennsylvania
*Index to Pennsylvania's Colonial Records Series
*Early Pennsylvania Land Records
*Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania
*Names of Foreigners Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775
*Persons Naturalized in the Province of Pennsylvania, 1740-1773
*Names of Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania Between the Years 1777 and 1789
*Abstracts from Ben Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette," 1728-1748
*Abstracts from "The Pennsylvania Gazette," 1748-1755
*Genealogical Abstracts from "The American Weekly Mercury," 1719-1746

System Requirements: You must have a CD-ROM drive, and in order to read the CD you must use either the Family Archive Viewer (version 4.0 or higher), which is available as a free download at http://www.genealogical.com/content/dlfav6.html, or Family Tree Maker for Windows, version 4.0 or higher (Family Tree Maker software can be ordered from www.FamilyTreeMaker.com).

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using the Family Archive Viewer:

1. Install the Family Archive Viewer CD or download it from http://www.genealogy.com/dlfav6.html.
2. Start the Viewer if it is not already running
3. Insert the CD you wish to view into the CD-ROM drive. If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.
4. The CD should open automatically, but users of later versions of the Family Archive Viewer must click the CD/magnifying glass icon in the top toolbar (above the template in some versions) to read the CD.
5. When the screen entitled "About this Family Archive" appears, click OK where prompted.

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using Family Tree Maker:

1. Start your Family Tree Maker and open a Family File. (If the program is already running, skip to Step 2.)
2. Insert the CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive. (If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.)
3. From the View menu, select Family Finder, or select the Family Finder icon from the toolbar.
4. For FTM 2005, FTM 2006, or Version 16, you must go to the View menu, select Data CD, then View CD. For FTM 2008 or higher, you must download the Family Archive Viewer.

To search the CD for names, select the Search Expert button in the top right of your screen, then select "Search this archive for someone NOT from your Family File." You can also search for names by using the Index.

Note: If a window opens that contains a list of files on the CD, simply close it.