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General William A Petrikin 1829 To 1865 Court Docket Book, Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
This is a fantastic original court docket book that belonged to General William A Petrikin. General William Alexander Petrikin was one of Muncy's most influential citizens. This book contains records of minor court cases - those heard by a Justice of the Peace. Cases involved such things as payment of taxes - school taxes, town taxes etc. There are records of judgements for monies owed, and for many other types of minor court offenses and proceedings. Most of the docket notes have case numbers assigned to them. and the name of the Justice of the Peace who gave the judgement. The cases provide varying amounts of information but in general have the name of the plaintiff and the defendant, judgement for or against, money owed or paid and a summary of the case. Some of the Justice's names I spotted as I browsed through the book were J. P. Crouse, S. S. Schuyler,
John Crouse, Thomas King
The docket book is fantastic genealogy resource for early Muncy and Lycoming County. It contains 337 entries starting in the year 1829 and ending in 1865. The entries contain the names of hundreds of Muncy and Lycoming County's early citizens and provideds details on the lives they lived. This book is is one of a kind and it contains genealogy information that can only be found within its pages.
In addition to the book itself I also have many loose papers that were found in the ledger book. They too contain many names and records of transactions. The docket book was very hard to read at first - General Petrikin used abbreviations and his handwriting was small, but once I picked up on his style of writing it became clear what the abbreviations were. I made up a sheet of his abbreviations, with scans showing his handwriting and what the word really is, and will include it with any lookup request. It will help you interpret the records. It is possible that you might be able to use Petrikin's Docket/Case numbers, the Justice's name and the date of the case, to find more details in a local archives or court house. I don't live in Pennsylvania so I can't find out, but if anyone does, please let me know!
Here's an example of one of the cases:
Transcript of Judgment & Note. Wm. A. Petrikin vs Wm. Whitlock & John Whitlock
Wm. A. Petrikin 2205 vs Wm. Whitlock & John Whitlock. Debt on Single Bill dated 20 Feb. 1837 due two days after date. Summons [--] and returned served, on oath by Constable L G Goodall as thereon ordered - to wit [-] appearance day Sept 18, 1840. Aforesaid Jno. Whitlock appears and confesses Judgement declaring payment of $11.00 dated Feb. 18, 1838.
September 18, 1840 Judgement that defedants pay the above debts, costs of such
Debt $14.95
Justice pd by plaintiff 35 3/4
Cons. Goodall 8
Transcript 18 3/4
Lycoming County. I do hereby certify that the above is a transcript of a Judgement as recorded on my docket. Witness my hand & seal the 5 day of July 1855. Jno. Crouse, Late Justice of the Peace
Brief Biography of William A. Petrikin
William A. Petrikin came to Muncy as a young man and succeeded in establishing himself in business. He married the widow of John Brindle and they had six children: Elizabeth, who married Adolphus D. Wilson, Esq., and died in Williamsport; Hon. J. M. B. Petrikin, R. Bruce Petrikin, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; Margaret M., widow of Charles Dunning, Hon. Henry W. Petrikin, of Montoursville; and Jeanette C., wife of Rev. Stewart Mitchell, D. D.
William A. Petrikin held many offices during his life. He was postmaster of Muncy from March 22, 1822, to December 31, 1841. On the 4th of July, 1842, he was appointed major general of the Ninth division, Pennsylvania Militia. He was a founder of the Muncy Female Seminary established in 1840. He was also one of the originators of the Lycoming Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and was its first secretary. He was a prominent politician in the Democratic party, and only through dissension in his party was he defeated when twice a candidate for Congress. He died on December 20, 1867, at the age of seventy-four.
I am pleased to announce that I am slowly scanning all of these wonderful Ledger Books. Each book will be published as a downloadable PDF file on AncestorsAtRest website so that genealogists and historians can access them freely. Please be patient as I work towards bringing them all online.
Go to the
Index to List of available Ledger Books
Meantime if you wish to help with the expense of my purchasing these invaluable one-of-a-kind Ledger Books please consider contributing. No amount is too small. The books are very expensive and I want to bring as many online for researchers to access for free. I hate to think of these wonderful books, chock full of our ancestors' names, disappearing!
If you would like to help, just use the PayPal button below. Choose from $5.00, $10.00, $15.00, $20.00 or $25.00 to go towards the costs of purchasing more ledger books.
Go back to the
Index to List of Ledger Books
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Find your ancestors in death records. Search free genealogy death records such as coffin plates, death cards, funeral cards, wills, church records, family bibles, cenotaphs and tombstone inscriptions on AncestorsAtRest.com Find links to other genealogy death records like cemeteries, vital stats, and obituaries.
Death Finds a Way: A Janie Riley Mystery by Lorine McGinnis Schulze
