About this site. Here is some of the history of Rural Valley and nearby areas in and around Cowanshannock Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania that I've gathered up along the way.

The site started out presenting research about my family, but its focus now is on the history and people of the area. It is a work in progress with much more to be added.

Submissions are very welcome! I am grateful to the people who have contributed content to this site. Special thanks go to Linda Repine for donating items from the estate of Mary Elizabeth Caylor, and to Chuck Colton for scanning his family's collection of old photographs and memorabilia.

How to find what you're looking for:

• Browsing: use the menu to see the major topics and their subtopics. (If you're on a mobile device, the menu will be at the bottom of this page.)
• Searching: use the search box at the top of the menu. Here are some search tips:
  • enter a surname, e.g. Casedy, or perhaps a first name and surname, e.g. Samuel Casedy.
  • enter a town name:
    • if the town's name is a single word, e.g. Sagamore or Yatesboro, just enter it.
    • if searching for Rural Valley, use quotes, e.g. "Rural Valley".
    • if searching for NuMine, copy (NuMine OR "Nu Mine") and paste it into the search box. Be sure to include the parentheses.

If you are researching genealogy, check out the obituary collection and the Rural Valley/Cowanshannock family tree.

What's New?

• April 2021: Rural Valley/Cowanshannock Valley family tree software (Humo-Gen) has been updated. Now you can zoom in on images and download them to your own device.
• March 2021: Uploaded the latest version of the Rural Valley/Cowanshannock Valley family tree, which now has 7,900 people.
• February 2021: Added the 1951 Shannock Valley High School yearbook, kindly donated by Mary Jane (Otte) Woodward.
• December 2020: Added the 1949 Shannock Valley High School yearbook, kindly donated by Mary Jane (Otte) Woodward.
• July 2020: Added a map of Main Street, Rural Valley in the late 1940's to early 1950's, hand drawn by Spencer Colton.
• May 2020: Uploaded the latest version of the Rural Valley/Cowanshannock Valley family tree, which now has 6,876 people. Added more pictures.
• April 2020: Created a new section for newspapers and added two editions of the Rural Valley Advance. Added new pictures.
• March 2020: The software driving the Rural Valley/Cowanshannock family tree was changed from GedMill to Humo-Gen. Now you can print family group sheets, fan charts and other reports, and you can see the relationship between any two people in the tree.

Most Wanted!

• Historical pictures are always welcome. It would be great to have more pictures of mines, miners, athletes and sports teams.
• Do you have any copies of the old Rural Valley Advance up in the attic? Maybe we can figure out a way to scan them for posterity. Update - a collection of over 300 RV Advances has been found!