Gotta Hankerin' For Some Whiskey

On Saturday I attended a lecture, "Discovering the Records of Tennessee, Kentucky & Whiskey Stills" presented by J. Mark Lowe. I really didn't know what to expect before I got to this lecture, but I figured I wouldn't be disappointed... and I wasn't.

Mark discussed terminology for various different types of travelers. This could be the why's and how's of people who moved first, moved as a group, the ones that stayed behind, the mysterious outlier individual that shows up moving with a group, and women. He also briefly discussed some research principles when tracking an individual.

Various still designs were also discussed, with illustrations provided showing the distilling process. In this case the focus was on whiskey. I also learned that Tennessee sipping whiskey is filtered through charcoal before going in the barrel. Is it surprising that I was suddenly keen on having a whiskey tasting? Could that be the end of the day surprise??

Next we moved onto maps. We spent a lot of time analyzing topographic maps and soil maps. Now you may wonder what does this have to do with genealogy? Well, topographic maps can help you determine why your ancestors choose to travel to a court house a farther distance away, rather than the one that was closer. If there was swampy land between your ancestor and the closer court house, compared to dry flat land to the farther court house... which do you think they would pick? The dry flat land of course. Who wants to chance getting stuck in a marshy critter infested swamp?? Knowing soil conditions is also helpful. Let's face it, many of our ancestors were farmers or land owners, that settled on land/soil that was familiar to them, from either the home country or elsewhere.

Finally, we looked at agricultural schedules. Mark gave us some hints to figure out who may have been producing whiskey. I was really curious about the ratio of grain produced compared to animal stock. Another words, what ratio of corn/wheat/rye/other grains grown would be used to feed the animals owned, what is used to feed the family, and what is the surplus used to make whiskey or some other liquor? I grew up on a sheep farm and it has been many years since I was involved with ordering grain and hay to feed them. My  memory is a little rusty on this. I also don't know what is involved with feeding cows or pigs, i.e. pounds of feed needed per head.

Anyway, the one consuming thought at the end of the day was whiskey. I was really wanting to do a whiskey tasting. I've been to countless wine tastings and a couple of cognac tastings (yum). However, I don't think I've ever done a whiskey tasting.

So did I have whiskey that night? No. Instead I went out to a sushi dinner with my husband, saw the new Bourne movie, and ate too many Milk Dud's. Overall, it was a great day!

A Day At The Local Genealogical Seminar

On Saturday I spent my day at the 25th Annual Genealogical Seminar hosted by the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society and Tennessee Historical Society. I went last year and learned a lot, and this year was just as informative.

The first session was presented by Elizabeth Shown Mills titled, "Problem Solving in the Problem-Riddled Carolina Backcountry." Elizabeth is a wonderful speaker and a wealth of information. It is impossible to attend any of her presentations without walking away more knowledgeable. Although the talk was focused on the Carolinas, many of the research techniques for finding information could be used elsewhere. One idea she presented a few examples of, is to always look at the original document. Many times there are abstracts or indexes that don't include information that could be key to solving questions or problems regarding your ancestors.

Next, after a quick break, was "Inheritance Laws and Estate Settlements in the Carolinas" presented by J. Mark Lowe. I'm always impressed at the variety and knowledge of topics Mark presents. Again, although the focus was the Carolinas, there was much discussed that could be applied elsewhere. The main idea being that when conducting research it is important to understand legal lingo, the laws, and how they apply to the area you are researching.

After lunch two sessions were presented by Charles A. Sherrill titled, "Service Records are Just the Beginning: Finding Your Family's Whole Civil War Story" and "The Late Unpleasantness: Research in Civil War Records Created After 1865." Chuck discussed many different resources for finding information on your Civil War ancestors; Union, Confederate, and civilian. There are just too many sources to list or discuss in this post. However, if you like maps then you may want to take a look at "Official Military Atlas Of the Civil War" by George Davis. It contains detailed maps of the areas where battles and marches took place. Another obscure source was "The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861-1865)" published by Broadfoot Publishing Company. There is a 3 volume index listing the case studies of wounded soldiers by name and unit too.

By the end of the day my brain was full of new information and ideas. I have all sorts of new research plans forming in my mind. My list of things to read, sites to explore and microfilm to look at has grown. It was a good day.