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Sullivan County, NY history

Sullivan County, NY:  Childs Gazetteer and Business Directory

 

Child's Gazetteer and Business Directory of Sullivan County, NY for 1872 - 1873   


Once available as a CD-ROM, and now available as a high-resolution download

Hamilton Child's 1872 Gazetteer may be the single most important history and genealogy book about Sullivan County ever published.  It appeared a few months before Quinlan's justly famous  History.   While Quinlan's has all of the legends of Sullivan County lore, Child's Gazetteer has the facts and the lists of names and occupations (as well as a generous helping of the lore, too!).  

In addition to the names liberally sprinkled through the history sections, the Gazetteer offers page after page of names (and some details) of everyone in Sullivan County at that time who could possibly have been considered to be "in business" -- including farmers, and for farmers it even lists the number of acres owned or under lease.  Here's a example of the name listings: 

Sample listing from Child's Gazetteer and Business Directory of Sullivan County

Child's Gazetteer is also useful in developing an understanding of rural life at the time, in the decade after the Civil War.   What Child considered important general information is interesting:  "maxims of law", advice on succeeding in business, formulas for mixing peculiar substances, specific information about the states and territories and their attractiveness, and a discussion of how to claim the public lands are just a few of the subjects.  

The original Gazetteer lacked an index. This lack, coupled with the multitude of lists, footnotes, and text references, made the book difficult and awkward for genealogists and historians to use -- it required reading the entire book to ensure that all references to an individual or a locality had been seen, and even then missing one or more was to be expected.    

We  fixed that problem: we indexed the whole thing!! 

What the download file includes: 

--the full text of the Gazetteer (all 373 pages of it) (high resolution scan)

--a reproduction of the foldout map what was included in the original Gazetteer

--the new index (87 pages)

The price of this download is $4.50.

 

 

WHO NEEDS THE GAZETTEER?

If you are working on genealogy or history with a Sullivan County connection, we think that you do.  People who have worked in the area know that 19th century source material about Sullivan County -- particularly material like this with large numbers of names of "ordinary people" -- is extremely scarce.  The new index makes this information accessible in a way that it has never been before.

We think that libraries will decide that this represents a good way to avoid further wear and tear on that carefully guarded original or reprint of Child's Gazetteer.  Furthermore, it will save staff time now spent explaining how the Gazetteer was organized.  Most library visitors will be able to use it without difficulty.

We know that teachers, particularly in Social Studies and History, will find it useful.  The download is in PDF format, standard throughout the academic community.

If you're simply interested in Sullivan County, NY -- even as it is today -- the Gazetteer represents an inexpensive, easy to use way of learning about the county's 19th century past.   

Here's an unsolicited comment we received from a satisfied purchaser of the CD-ROM:

"I just received the CD yesterday and I am very pleased with it.  As a matter of fact, I plan to order another one to donate to the [...] Historical Society.   Thank you so much for creating this CD - I was able to confirm very valuable genealogical information for my (future) book."

Child's Gazetteer on CD-ROM was priced at $20 and is now available for $4.50. 

ARE YOU COMPARISON SHOPPING?

We've seen the Gazetteer in book form offered for $120.00 -- with NO index!   We've seen a recent soft cover reprint (again, with no index) for $90.

Child's Gazetteer of Sullivan County is also available for free download from at least two sources.  We encourage you to check them out -- simply Google "Child's Gazetteer of Sullivan County".  Skim through the free downloads and you'll immediately notice that: (1) NONE of these are indexed  (2) the resolution is very low -- impossible to read in some cases  (3) the map is totally unreadable in one version and questionable in another.

If the free downloads meet your needs, we're happy to have been able to bring them to your attention. 

However, if you (or your eyes) prefer the high-resolution scan, if you want to be able to actually use the map, or if the index is of potential value to you, we think you'll find that our $4.50 download is proof that in some cases you actually get what you pay for.

(If you're interested in why we sell our download files while others give them away, have a look at THIS ARTICLE in our blog that addresses that specific issue.)

 

To the main Sullivan County page to return to our main Sullivan County page.

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