The Historical Society of York County; now the York County Heritage Trust, compiled family reports on over 500 families. They appear to have been created in response to research mail requests. Abstractions were made from church records, wills, bonds, orphans court dockets, deeds, mortgages and numerous other sources. They can vary in the types of items abstracted.

This process began with George R. Prowell and his staff during the 1920s. The first two volumes, labeled “Prowell, Sanders and Lee”, contain reports on over 60 York County families. These are identified in the index with an  “*”. As the title page describes,  “ Mr. Prowell made few formal reports and those in narrative form, for he apparently preferred to give the information and opinion in the course of his letters to his clients. Mrs. Sanders originated the more scientific arrangement, and when Miss Lee came to the Society she followed the same system.”

Henry James Young and his staff continued this process during the 1930s. These were bound into a series of 35 black volumes and receive no specific identification in the index. If a year of compilation was given, it was noted in parenthesis in the index. The staff continued these reports in the 1950s and copies of the additional reports were photocopied and placed in a series of Blue Binders. They will be identified as such in the index.

Contents of these reports contain what was available in the year of compilation. Many years have passed and numerous church records and other sources have been added to our family collections, but have not been added to these reports.

These reports can be photocopied in their entirety for personal use only. There is a $15.00 minimum request fee plus a charge of $.50 per page. Enter the interested surname below. If a report is available, complete the research request order form on the results pages with the appropriate volume and page total. Send check or money order to York County Heritage Trust 250 E. Market Street, York, PA 17403 and upon receipt of full payment, the request will be processed. Allow two to four weeks for processing.