CHERRY TWP — Bill McCarrier Sr. has been a high school physics teacher, company founder and Butler County commissioner.

Now he can add genealogist and author to his list of accomplishments.

On Wednesday, McCarrier, 80, presented Kathy Kline, director of the North Trails Public Library, 1553 W. Sunbury Road, with a copy of “Families and Homes of West Sunbury,” a book he has spent nearly five years researching and writing.

It's nothing less than the listing of every house in West Sunbury and a history of all their occupants.

“I've always had an interest in genealogy,” said McCarrier. “I lived in West Sunbury the first 48 years of my life.”

“I was always amazed that everybody in West Sunbury is related to one another,” he said. “I asked my father — he explained it to me, but I didn't listen.”

McCarrier pored over old newspapers, deeds in county offices and old census data to compile his book. He also talked to many acquaintances and relations in their 90s to help fill in the gaps in the official historical record.

“I used the genealogy department at the Butler library, they have microfilm of every newspaper in Butler County as well as an obituary index. I put it all together, and I feel it is pretty accurate,” said McCarrier of his history of West Sunbury.

Kline said, “Deeds and the census are two very good sources we would immediately send questioners to.”

McCarrier said his research has turned up six families that were at the beginning of West Sunbury in the early 1800s: the Glenns, Wicks, Christys, Campbells, Wolfords and Eshenbaughs.

Many current residents can be linked to these six families.

The McCarriers don't have nearly as long a pedigree, McCarrier said. “The McCarriers were late on the scene. We didn't arrive until the mid-1850s,” he noted.

As the years went on, McCarrier learned, town names shifted.

He said West Sunbury started out as Coultersville, Chicora used to be known as Millerstown and Hooker started out as Middletown.

He also learned in his research that West Sunbury is the smallest incorporated borough landwise in the state.

And the borough also holds the title of being the first municipality in Butler County to have sidewalks.

His stint as a writer came about after the end of his second term as a county commissioner.

McCarrier served two terms as Butler County commissioner from 1996 to 1999 and from 2015 to 2019.

“Dale Pinkerton talked me into running again,” he said of the late county commissioner.

But McCarrier cited the example of George Washington.

“He said everybody should involve themselves in the political process for a short time, and then go back to their farm or business,” he said.

McCarrier is keeping busy these days with volunteer work and serving with the Butler County Community Development Corporation, which tries to create an environment for private industry.

He might not be done doing a deep dive into county history. He said he plans to write a history of the Wolford family, who were some of the first settlers in what is now Cherry Township.

For now, McCarrier's “Families and Homes of West Sunbury” will be available at the North Trails Library.

“It's reference material, so it can't be checked out, but people can read it. We'd be happy to reproduce sections,” Kline said.

Patrons can enter the library with a face mask from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays, said Kline.

People enter a side door into the library's community room, sign in, use hand sanitizer and exit through the front door.

The library still offers curbside delivery of requested material and has a free Wi-Fi spot that extends into its parking lot, she said.

On Sept. 22, from 1 to 6 p.m., the library is going to have voter registration day and also have a push for the 2020 Census, Kline said.

She added the library still has 20 backpacks filled with school supplies free for elementary and high school students.