This system is used for indexing court house records, mostly the deeds
and wills, in the majority of courthouses in Pennsylvania. All of the systems
used vary slightly from one county to another, depending on the size of
the county and the number of records. Instructions are usually found on
the inside cover of the record books.
Arrangement of Books
The index books are arranged on the shelves, alphabetically, by the
first letter of the surname. This letter or sometimes several letters will
be found on each volume. Occasionally there is more than one volume for
a letter, in which case there will be a second letter indicating the first
letter of the given name. In some counties there will be several sets of
books covering different time periods.
Using the Russell Index System at the Beaver County Courthouse:
Determine which time period you are researching, and find the section of
index books for those years. (In the case of Land records you must also
determine whether to search in the the "Grantee" or "Grantor" Index.)
Select the Index book by the first letter of your surname.
Determine the "Key Letter" of your Surname. To do this, start with the
second letter of the surname, and find the first occurrence of one of the
Key letters, (L, M, N, R, T, or Misc. for surnames not having one of these
letters.)
Determine where to look for a particular individual. Take the first letter
of the individuals given name, and look in the column on the chart with
the heading "Given Name Initials." Where the column intersect with your
"Key Letter," is the page in the index book where this name will appear
(if there is a reference to be found).
Note: To find all occurrences of a surname, you will have to search
in all the sections for all of the numbers listed in the "Key Letter" column.
Example: To determine if "Samuel Jones" sold land in 1858.
Look for the first occurrence of one of the "Key Letters" in the surname,
which for the surname "Jones" is the letter "n."
Using the chart, now look in the "Given Name Initials" row, and start with
"S" since the given name is Samuel.
Find that where the "S" for the "Given Name Initials," and the "n" for
my "Key Letter" intersect is "Section 153."
If there is a reference to be found, it will be in the "J" Grantor Index
book, for the years 1800-1919, in section 153.
Given Name Initials
Key Letters and Section Numbers
l
m
n
r
t
Misc.
A
11
12
13
14
15
16
B
21
22
23
24
25
26
C
31
32
33
34
35
36
D
41
42
43
44
45
46
E
51
52
53
54
55
56
F
61
62
63
64
65
66
G
71
72
73
74
75
76
H I
81
82
83
84
85
86
J
91
92
93
94
95
96
K L
101
102
103
104
105
106
M
111
112
113
114
114
116
N O
121
122
123
124
125
126
P Q
131
132
133
134
135
136
R
141
142
143
144
145
146
S
151
152
153
154
155
156
T U V
161
162
163
164
165
166
W X Y Z
171
172
173
174
175
176
Corp., Etc.
181
182
183
184
185
186
Reference:
Clint, Florence, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Area Key - A guide
to genealogical records of Beaver County, Pennsylvania including maps,
histories, charts, and other helpful materials. (1974)
See Also:
Eackle, Arlene and Cerny, Johni The Source, A Guidebook of American
Genealogy
Mokotoff, Gary Soundexing and Genealogy Available at Avotaynu,
Inc. Website http://www.avotaynu.com/
August 1998.