Genealogy Research before the Census Records (video)

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Footprints (video)

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About the Ancestry File at the Mormon Church

The old format at Family Search made it easy to determine where the source material originated. I do not mean a citation of sources. That did not exist.  What I mean is the family group sheets submitted by both members (and yes, non-members) to be added to the Ancestry File. Here is what happened. When you submitted your family group sheet, a computer-generated-program coupled duplicate entries (on a master family group sheet). If there was the slightest difference, spelling, dates, etc., it created a separate entry. Thus, many family group sheets contained multiple entries of "Marys", for example, simply because there was a conflict of information. My objection to these records is that we were unable to see the sources which the submitted put at the bottom of the family group sheet. Nevertheless, I used these records to verify information. In other words, if the submitter stated that a person was born in Lancaster County, I went to the records of that county court house and examined them. Most of the time if you at least know where the ancestor resided, that is an excellent beginning.  One must research the county records where ancestors resided. Always and always. Not only do these records prove relationships, but they frequently lead you to more the origin of the family "before" they were in that county. This is usually discovered in the wills and deeds.


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Finding Old Colonial Papers

Site of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. The old colonial papers are not always easy to find. In Georgia, the Colonial Records of Georgia by Candler is a good bet, however, in North Carolina, try the North Carolina State Papers. Every State has some sort of State Papers, usually published in a number of volumes and found at the local State Archives.  It is certainly worth it to scan these records because you find all sorts of things. For example, the North Carolina State Papers helped me to discover the entry of certain ships into the colony pre and during the Revolutionary War. During wartime, the vessels having refugees had to ask permission of the governor to enter the State. Such is the case here of the irish and scots.  Here is an interesting account. The scottish clan of MacDonald laid anchor near North Carolina and petitioned for a large tract of land upon which to settle.  Onboard was the famous Flora McDonald, the girl who hid the bonny Prince Charles (Stuart) from the English. We all know the story. The Scots were persecuted by English soldiers and driven into poverty. This clan settled in Moore County, North Carolina where the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge occurred. Interesting yet?  The information from the state papers helped to fill in the puzzle. The McDonald family genealogy is found on North Carolina Pioneers

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Lost Records, but are they!

As searching for ancestors revs up on the web, we must remember that there are still zillions of records yet unpublished. For example, passenger records, ships manifests, etc. for hundreds of years are untranslated. The National Archives does not possess all such records, so ancestry.com does not have the complete works. No one does.  We have the Journal of Christopher Columbus, but it goes untranslated. That makes me wonder how liberals accuse him of being a rapist, when his logs reflect a truly religious person who believed that he was being led by God.  All resulting events point to such a credible belief. There are still tons of records to be re-discovered.  While visiting friends in the golden isles of Georgia, I was shown an old McIntosh County book which had been in the attic. It's former owner was the clerk of the court and brought ledgers home to work on them. I have seen ledgers in antique shops. All records did not burn in court house fires, they were simply lost. I believe that such records will eventually materialize.


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Free article on how to trace your roots

The best advice from Jeannette Holland Austin on "How to Trace your Ancestors."
How to Trace Families

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Marriage Records

The following websites continue to post marriage records to help genealogists locate families. The process is tedious, but very important to finding ancestors. Another excellent source is the last wills and testaments (also available on these sites) because fathers named daughters and their spouses.

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