Gordon Crooks' Research

Crooks was a leading authority on the Ulster-Scots (Scots-Irish), a historian of the Presbyterian denomination, a researcher, and a genealogist.  The vast amount of historical information, which Crooks has contributed, speaks directly to Allison-Antrim Museum's mission statement, relative to serving as an educational resource to enhance the study of local and regional history, pertaining to the cultural development of the Greencastle-Antrim area.  Among the many organizations in which he held memberships were the Ulster-Scots Society of America and Allison-Antrim Museum, Inc.

Handwritten notes of local cemeteries. These are not complete lists.

• George Gordon Family History and Genealogy
• Descendants of John W Hornbaker
• People of The Upper West Conococheague

Many of the our documents are among the first known ones to actually mention names of the inhabitants in the 1600-1700's and where they lived. These documents can be used to do what the writer calls a "cluster search" to find your ancestors. If you know as an example that your ancestors came from Antrim and that you have other family names you can use these documents to locate exactly where they were living.  Example the writer found no less than five family names living in Antrim in 1660 and all living within a two mile radius of one another, they most certainly belonged to the same parish and knew each other. Confirmation of this was in Franklin County where they all settled close to one another and continued to intermarry among the families for the next two generations.