A Genealogical Odyssey
Robyn at Reclaiming Kin takes a somewhat humorous look at pensions in Droppin’ Dime: Civil War Pension Records.
Craig Scott at Stump Craig explains the importance of voice in records when he helps a researcher sort out a father and a son, two of the same name.
Here’s a great tip from Melanie D. Holtz at Finding Our Italian Roots: always look for the original record, as she explains in I have the Estratto [extracted record]. I don’t need the original!
From the 17 February 1898 issue of The Tallulah Falls Spray (Volume 2, Number 29, front page).
Tiger Topics.
Rev. George Seay is now selling Bibles. If you need a good one see him.
Miss Elsie Ramey has returned from a visit to Mrs. Bob Deneys.
Walter Taylor has returned from a trip to Toccoa.
Rev. Mr. Ella will preach at Tiger’s Baptist church Friday night before the fourth Sunday.
Mr. Sport Ramie of Tiger is teaching school in “Germany.”
Col. Robt. Hamby made an appreciated speech to our school last Friday, and here we will state that we are having a good school, and in the person of Prof. H. C. McCrackin we have a good teacher.
Mr. J. H. Hunnicutt has returned from a visit to North Carolina.
We are glad to see Mr. Bell McCrackin, of South Carolina, in old Rabun once more.
If you’ve spent any time researching ancestors in 19th century Georgia, then you’ve probably used Georgia’s land lottery records. Indexes of many of these records were previously published and are still in print through vendors like Southern Historical Press. Unfortunately, many of these published indexes are difficult to use because of the way they were formatted, often with fortunate drawers listed by county and no master index.
And then came Paul K. Graham. Among his other achievements, Paul has a deep background in land records, including a professional certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Georgia State University. Along with his work as a genealogist, this makes him the perfect candidate to compile and publish updated information about Georgia’s land records.
In last year’s lecture on researching the poor, I included a somewhat lengthy discussion of bastardy records. One question someone posed, either during the lecture or afterwards (I cannot remember which), was whether or not a man who had been singled out as the father of an illegitimate child had recourse if he was not, in fact, the father.
Why, yes, he did, and here’s a great example of that from the 25 December 1861 minutes of the county court for Macon County, North Carolina.1
A few months ago, I started a new blog, The Anderson Reunion, to document the family of Mansfield and Harriet (Black) Anderson, who were the ancestors of many of the modern Andersons (and others) of Western North Carolina.
If you’re related to Mansfield and Harriet, please consider not only subscribing to the blog but contributing to it as well. What I’m most interested in at the moment are things unique to your family, such as stories, letters, pictures, and memorabilia. For my contact information, see the About page.
The 119th annual reunion of Mansfield and Harriet’s descendants is coming up in September. We’ll have more information on it as the time draws near. In the meantime, I hope to hear from my fellow Anderson cousins regarding contributions to the blog. Don’t be shy! All help is appreciated.
Ever wonder about the laws behind the records? Michael Hait has a great post on resources for studying historic laws.
If you’re following records access issues, then be sure to read Judy G. Russell’s post, News from the SSDI front, which discusses how changes in Congress could affect our access to these important records.
Paula Stuart-Warren asks, Is that genealogy record abstract correct?, and follows through with a discussion of her findings when comparing an abstract to a microfilmed copy of the original.
Adventures in Genealogy Education announced that registration for this year’s Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh will open on February 7. The institute is offering six courses this year led by some of the best-known names in genealogy education.
Liz at My Tapley Tree…and its Branches shared four generations of baby photos. Aw, so cute!
Paul Milner, a professional genealogist and popular speaker, has started a blog. Welcome, sir!
A while back, I posted the joyful news that I’d found Margaret (McConnell) Carpenter’s year of death among her late husband’s estate records. Margaret has always been a bit of a mystery. Like many women of her era, her history remains hidden by a society that considered her to be an extension of her husband and not necessarily a person in her own right. Parts of her life can be pieced together from land, court, and census records, but parts remain unknown, and may always remain so.
One aspect of her life that I’ve always been curious about is her appearance in the 1850 U. S. census with, in addition to several of her younger children, a girl named Margaret Carpenter, who was born about 1840 in Macon Co., NC, where the family lived.1 Many researchers believe the younger Margaret was the youngest child of William and Margaret (McConnell) Carpenter, but court records may paint a different story.
I’m afraid I got a little carried away this week, but there were so many good posts and news articles!
Judi Scott writes about her week-long adventure at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy as a student in the Advanced Genealogical Methods track, led by Thomas W. Jones. I’m so jealous. But someday, I shall be that student. Oh, yes, I shall.
Trouble with the genealogical terminology in Judi’s post? Elizabeth Shown Mills’ QuickLessons can help sort that out.
Randy Seaver writes about Pinball Genealogy using an example of how he handles Ancestry.com hints. Randy’s inspiration for the post was DearMYRTLE’s post, The pinball approach to genealogical research, which was itself inspired by her time in Tom Jones’ Advanced Genealogical Methods track at SLIG. (Did I mention my envy?) The two debated this subject back and forth for several days after the initial posts. Be sure to read the follow-ups.
Sardis Methodist Church and Cemetery, located in the Buckhead community of Atlanta, have been listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.
For those following budgetary issues with the Georgia Archives, you may be interested in reading Vivian Price Saffold’s post Governor’s recommendation indicates small cut at Georgia Archives Matters. Judy G. Russell also discusses this on her blog, The Legal Genealogist. Sounds like we still have our work cut out for us!
Family History through the Alphabet is a new genealogy blogging meme for genealogists to share topics, heirlooms, stories, and so forth beginning with that week’s letter. Julie Tarr’s post on GenBlog for this week is Family History through the Alphabet – Books, an excellent listing of books available to genealogists both through the library or on the Internet, including a few less well-known resources.
But what happened to Marthy? by Michelle G. Taggart of A Southern Sleuth details a search for a distant relative, and the unexpected places the search led.
Michael Hait answers the question of When you find a document that may be about one of your ancestors, what do you do with it? His answer may surprise you!
New Hope Cemetery, an African American burial ground located near Franklin (in Macon Co., NC), was rediscovered by one of my son’s fellow Boy Scouts, Andrew Baldwin, who is in the process of cleaning it up. Way to go, Drew!
Ok, ok, just one more. (I know I’m running a little long this week.) On The Migration of Jacob Wiley Eudy over at Job’s Children, all I can say is, Wow! Look at those pictures!
Happy hunting!
When I was young, my mother listened to the early morning radio program by Apple Savage every school day. Apple undertook the job of informing parents if school was in session or if it had been cancelled due to inclement weather. What school-aged child could forget the wilting dread brought on by Apple’s booming voice announcing, “Rise and shine, boys and girls! There will be school today!”
But, oh, the hope that rose when the Atlanta weatherman predicted snow for the northern counties on the evening news. The next day, early in the morning, how many children pulled the covers down past their ears, baring them to a chilly room in anticipation of hearing, “No school today in Rabun County! I repeat, there will be no school today!”
I hope you’re enjoying your eternal snow day, Apple, and looking down on your former school children with a smile.
