Closson Press

Author: Ora L. Flaningam
The compiler of this Index was given a nearly complete set of the Laurel Messenger newsletters from the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County in exchange for writing the book, A Cramer-King History, published in 2001. The book focuses on families of Somerset County.

The collection of Laurel Messenger has been added to until it included all 45 years of the newsletter. However, the original collection included only a partial index covering the years 1960 to 1970. Further Indexes of later issues (1971-1980) and (1981-1995) exist, but are, as far as we know, only available as part of the reprints of the applicable issues of Laurel Messenger.

No combined index covering all the issues exists. This Index is envisioned as a complete Subject Index of all existing issues. The user can search or extract data or print it on their own computer. It is also sorted in several ways; by Subject, Category, Volume, Issue, Page. Most articles are indexed by at least two Categories, that is, By Title and By Subject. Some will be indexed by more than two Categories.

Examples of the 200 Categories: Bibles, Books, Births, Bridges, Cemeteries, Churches, Civil War, Crafts, Deaths, Estates, Family (2600 surname entries), Farming, Highways, History, Houses, Indians, Journals, Log Cabins, Marriages, Mills, Notes & Queries (1660 surname entries), Obituaries, Pioneers, Rev. War, Somerset Co., Title, Travels, Villages, etc. 

This is not an every name Index. Each of the 3 indexes would consist of about 180 pages, if printed. There are about 10,100 entries in the database. Adobe Reader Version 6 is included on the CD-ROM.