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Traffic congestion at a minimum this morning.

Some in GOP start seeing Cruz as best alternative to Trump

<p>Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if you, a genealogist, could just send a letter to that oh-so elusive Wyoming Valley ancestor from a century or more ago, asking him or her for all the information you haven&#8217;t been able to find on your own?</p><p>Unfortunately, your missive might well end up in the dead letter office. That&#8217;s because there has been so much street name changing and rerouting, along with huge redevelopment programs and everyday growth and movement throughout the region.</p><p>In some cases, it would be a minor miracle if you could even make sense of an ancestor&#8217;s local address in a city directory.</p><p>Here&#8217;s an example. Suppose your ancestor worked in the South Side Bank, listed in old city directories at 1 Hazle Ave., Wilkes-Barre. It&#8217;s still standing (as an apartment building), but finding it today is a chore because &#8211; believe it or not &#8211; the street was moved. Hazle, thanks to urban redevelopment, now begins at South Main a block below the pre-1960s intersection. So the building, which did not move, has a new address.</p><p>Most changes are not this dramatic. Many other old blocks of homes and businesses are gone as well, their addresses now ancient history. In some cases, whole new streets have replaced the old ones, while in other cases the streets have disappeared.</p><p>Consolidation of communities, largely in the 1920s, brought street name changes galore as municipalities suddenly had to deal with two streets with the same name. Other causes include a desire to honor early residents by renaming a street, the turning of a small street into a larger one, or a switchover from pole numbers or rural routes to house numbers.</p><p>There are other ways old addresses can vanish. Over the past 150 years, Luzerne County has seen new towns develop by splitting off from other towns, a phenomenon that puts a street in a different municipality or brings about a rerouting, perhaps with a name change.</p><p>So here&#8217;s the bottom line: If you can&#8217;t find an ancestor&#8217;s old address today, you need an older map. Local libraries and historical societies have many, and some of those places (see their websites) will look queries up for you. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the late 1800s and early 1900s exist for a lot of towns. Search for that name online, and you&#8217;ll find them (for Pennsylvania) on the Penn State University Library website.</p><p>News Notes: The Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre continues to add to its genealogical materials. Check out their U.S. Census for Luzerne County on microfilm from 1790 to 1930. Likewise the library now has local city directories going back to the 1880s and some huge databases available through the library website of www.osterhout.lib.pa.us. Stop by, or visit the website, for a complete list of valuable resources for genealogists.</p><p>Unsure if any one of the popular commercial genealogy websites is for you? Unwilling to spend the cash unless you know exactly what you&#8217;re getting? The March issue of &#8220;Family Tree Magazine&#8221; offers a point-by-point comparison of ancestry.com, findmypast.com and myheritage.com. Take a look.</p><p>Speaking of knowing your local communities, the West Pittston Library has a fascinating program coming up at 10:30 a.m. on April 23. Wyoming Seminary History Teacher Clark Switzer will present a chapter from his documentary &#8220;Scratching the Surface: 300 Years of Wyoming Valley History, 1675-1975.&#8221; Also on tap is guest historian Tony Brooks. Go to www.wplibrary.org for a list of dates when other chapters will be shown.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TOM_MOONEY.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: No GPS will help find these address in NEPA