IGHR 2013 - Day 5

Today was the last day of IGHR. However, this morning we had two presentations. Our first lecture was given by Lloyd deWitt Bockstruck on Colonial and State Bounty Land. This covered land received for participating in the various wars and skirmishes before the Revolutionary War. It was a fascinating overview of history that was just the tip of the iceberg. Lloyd is clearly an expert in this field and is a wealth of information.

Our second and last lecture was given by Christine Rose on Bounty Land Records. This covered the land awarded to people who participated in wars and skirmishes after the Revolutionary War and before the Civil War. Christine stressed many times the importance of being familiar with U.S. Statutes. The Statutes determined who could get land and when, ie. soldiers, widows, other heirs, and turning in a land warrant for script. Christine paid particular attention to Ohio and Virginia, as those two states have some issues that are unique to dealing with land and the Revolutionary War soldiers.

After the lecture we were awarded our certificates of completion, traded business cards, and said our good-byes. I finished packing up my car and headed to our last lunch on campus. This was such a great week and I am sad to see it end. Not only is it a great learning experience, but I get to catch up with my friends and colleagues many of whom I only see at IGHR.

On the drive home I reflected on my week. I realized how much I have grown as a genealogist in the past year. I measured this based on how much I was able to understand in lectures and social discussions on the topic. I was also seeking out sources in the libraries while on campus, with an understanding that I hadn't fully grasped in previous years. Having said that there is a lot more to learn. I have many new sources to study and seek out. I'm already looking forward to next year and the new learning experience that will bring.

IGHR 2013 - Day 4

Today we spent the entire day of our land class with J. Mark Lowe learning about Land Platting. This was a treat. Mark is entertaining and has a way of explaining things that involve the class which helps illustrate a topic for understanding. For example; when explaining what metes are, he had a few of us stand up, to represent the metes. The lines connecting us would be the bounds. Metes and bounds land surveys are for the most part are found in state land (colonial) states, with some exceptions.

Mark also went through a few steps of drawing a tract map based on the "calls" (compass directions) that are found in a deed or elsewhere. We got some tips on how to determine the scale, how to mark North on the paper, and what else to include with our plat. Altogether we platted 4 deeds. To some it may not sound like much fun, but it happens to be an activity that I enjoy. I love working with land. Land is concrete. I find this oddly comforting. Land doesn't pick up and move around the country dodging the census taker, the tax man, or go into some strange void.

Our class let out a little early, so I decided to once again look at the BCG portfolio materials. Why am I torturing myself with this? Well the day before I had been pressed for time, and didn't get to view one of the portfolios I was really interested in viewing. I also hadn't been able to fully view a small binder of judge's comments on various portfolios. First I just looked at the comments. I think this is a great idea on the part of BCG to have gathered these for viewing. The binder contained examples of "approved" and "disapproved" for certification portfolio reviews. These sheets do not accompany the portfolio, so I was only able to view the critiques. I was relieved to discover not all of the "approved for certification" critique sheets had passing marks for every rubric. There were some areas (very few) that an applicant "did not meet standard." However, the judge took into consideration the entire portfolio, and the level of skill demonstrated throughout all of the assignments. The portfolio I viewed had a really good example of the Kinship Determination Project (KDP). I enjoyed the direct approach this portfolio displayed and felt like it was a less complicated style than some other examples I have seen.

Our dinner tonight was the banquet that is always held on the last evening of IGHR. It tends to be a fairly jovial affair, as attendees have a general feeling of accomplishment for the week. The keynote speaker tonight was Julie Hedgepeth Williams who has written A Rare Titanic Family, which was the subject of the presentation. Julie narrated an incredible tale of her great-uncle, his wife, and their child that survived the Titanic disaster. It involved some interesting research on her part and was a wonderful story.

During the banquet tonight a rather heavy storm front moved through. This seems to be an annual part of the IGHR experience. Fortunately it was over by the time the banquet was. Once I got back to the dorm I did a little packing in preparation for leaving tomorrow. This week has passed quickly and I'm sad to see it end. However, tomorrow morning we still have two more lectures before receiving our certificates of completion. When it comes to genealogy research there is always more to learn!

IGHR 2013- Day 3

Today was packed full of information. We started out the morning with a lecture by Angela McGhie on Using Tract Books. These are books that recorded first purchases or attempts at purchasing land in the Federal states. Angela showed us the formula of how to figure out where to look in these books for our ancestors. It can be slightly complicated and tedious if you don't know exactly where your ancestor settled. However, this is a great resource and I was so excited to learn about it. Even better, Angela told us that Family Search has digitized all of the books, with the exception for those in Missouri and Alaska. Our next morning session was spent in the computer lab with Rick Sayre. He walked us through the Bureau of Land Management site along with a few other sites. This session was very interesting and easily could have been longer.

After lunch, we had another session with Rick on Land Records in the Serial Set, American State Papers, and Territorial Papers and other Government Documents. This was a wonderful session. We saw examples of why all of these sources can be valuable in our genealogical research. Rick showed us various ways to access these sources online. It was interesting that different sites can give you varying results for a search term. Go figure. Now I have to say I searched a little bit tonight for my ancestors and had okay results. I will have to search more at a later date, when I'm not so tired.

Next, Christine Rose presented Inheritance. This was about....you guessed it...the law of inheritance. Christine covered terms such as; entail, primogeniture, dower and curtesy. She explained the loopholes around the law of inheritance in the Colonial era and some laws that were specific to Virginia.

Before dinner tonight I briefly viewed a BCG portfolio. This portfolio was outstanding and I felt totally intimidated. The portfolios that the BCG usually display are the best of the best. The cream of the crop if you will. However, I have to admit to a curiosity of being able to view a portfolio that passed and was more of a norm. Not that I am aiming low by any means, but I also don't want to think I will never be capable of producing a passing portfolio.

I decided to attend an evening session tonight before doing some of my own research again. The session I chose was presented by Judy Russell entitled, The ABCs of DNA. She covered yDNA, mtDNA, and Autosomal DNA. I'm very familiar with the first two and feel more than comfortable explaining the meaning of them to people. I'm familiar with Autosomal testing, although going into the session I couldn't have explained it very well. However, the way Judy explained Autosomal DNA with the accompanying visual aides, made it extremely clear and it was a "light bulb" moment for me. Judy also covered a few of the DNA testing companies and how they differ. It has given me some thoughts about testing and I probably need to figure out a budget now.

Tomorrow we spend the entire day with J. Mark Lowe and land platting. This promises to be an entertaining day and probably some moments of confusion. If you have ever platted a metes and bounds piece of property then you know what I'm talking about. I suspect we may be a bit cross-eyed by lunch time.

IGHR 2013-Day 2

Today my morning was spent with Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck and his presentation on Colonial Land Records in America. Lloyd is a wealth of information on this topic. However, even with the microphone it was difficult to hear him at times.

Lloyd started out with land resources in New England and explaining how land was allocated and where to find records. He illustrated that New Jersey was divided into two sections of East Jersey and West Jersey. For some reason the boundary goes diagonally across the state, making East Jersey north and West Jersey south during the colonial period. Lloyd continued to discuss the other colonial states and the various idiosyncrasies of obtaining and keeping one's land.

After lunch we spent the afternoon with Rick Sayre who presented Federal Land Records at the National Archives, Part 1 and Part 2. Rick discussed the various laws that led to migration and the settlement of land, and how to work the Bureau of Land Management website. He will go into more detail with the website tomorrow. We also practiced finding specific sections or subdivisions within a township diagram. One item that I was particularly excited to learn about were the Cancelled Homestead files housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Rick showed us photos of one very thick file full of genealogical information. Unfortunately, these files are not indexed and take a little bit of know-how to find a specific one.

When class was over, I went to the library and did a little research of my own. Afterwards I met up with some friends for dinner. The cafeteria was not nearly as chaotic as it had been the night before thankfully. My friends had homework to tackle, so I head to the campus Law Library to continue with some of my own research. This is the first year I have been able to do this and it is quite a luxury! Tomorrow is a full day of learning about tract books, going to the computer lab for hands on experience, and an afternoon full of lectures.

IGHR 2013- Day 1

Today was the first official day of classes at IGHR at Samford University in Birmingham. This year I am taking Understanding Land Records, and I've been pretty excited about it. Why? When it comes to doing genealogy work, land records are invaluable. Often they can be the key to understanding relationships and making connections. Land was important to our ancestors.

After the introduction this morning, Christine Rose, the course coordinator, presented 2 sessions on County Land Records. She discussed the types of records you could find at the Recorder's office, and what the various terms used meant ie., Warranty Deed, Trust Deed, Crop Lien, Dower Release, etc. Christine also went through how to find records at the Courthouse, and how to make sense of the Russell Index and the Graves Index. One index Christine discussed that I found really interesting was the Devisor/Devisee index. It is an index of real property, not household items, given to individuals. I was very excited to learn about this. I've often wondered how I could find an ancestor listed in a deed of an unfamiliar or unknown person. Now I know where to look.

The two afternoon sessions were spent with J. Mark Lowe, who presented The Carolinas and Tennessee. He discussed the history of land ownership in this area from the colonial period through the 1920's. Mark then walked us through (literally) the process of how to obtain and own land, how individuals might deal with a land grant transfer, and how to navigate the North Carolina Archives website. He showed us lots of maps dealing with different time periods, how the districts were created, modern maps compared to historical maps, topographic maps, and geographic regions maps.

Then it was time for dinner. This was a chaotic affair. While our institute is going on the university is also conducting orientation for the incoming freshman, and various sports camps. There were several teams of teenage baseball players. The cliche of teenage boys' appetites was demonstrated as they walked through individually with a couple plates of food each. This made for incredibly long lines to get dinner. I was more than ready to leave for the evening lecture.

The lecture I attended tonight was given by Judy Russell titled, The Ethical Genealogist. She discussed the code of ethics from various genealogical organizations and how they fall into basically 3 rules. Judy showed examples to illustrate her points, and told of her mistakes to learn from. As always, Judy is an engaging speaker and if you ever get the opportunity to listen to her lecture, on any topic, go!

Tomorrow it's more land lectures, and I couldn't be happier!

Prepping for IGHR

In a little over a week I'll be leaving for Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Every year during the second week of June the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR) is held there. I'm very excited. This year the course I am taking is Course 8: Understanding Land Records.

I've been prepping for months. Whenever I take a class I try to read as much on the topic as I can. This way I absorb the basic and intermediate material before I arrive in class. I do this so I can grasp more of the advanced concepts, or at least I hope to.

Another area of preparation I've been working on is looking at the holdings of Samford University Library. They have some interesting collections that could be useful for my research. I have ancestors that lived along the Tennessee-Alabama border. One ancestor had an obituary published in a Huntsville newspaper. I've already gotten a copy of an obituary for this person from a Tennessee paper, but I want to see if there is any additional information from the Alabama paper.

Then I have the mysterious Kirby line. This is a line that seems to have travelled from Tennessee to Alabama, to Illinois, back to Alabama, and finally to Arkansas. Once in Arkansas, it seems the parents die leaving the oldest brother to look after and raise his siblings. This line is also rumored to have an Indian princess (classic). So far I haven't seen any evidence to support American Indian ancestry.

Today I started to gather my supplies for the week. I'll keep doing this next week as well. After my first year at IGHR I made a list that I store on my computer of items I will need. Each year the list gets a little longer, as I think of a couple other things that could be useful. Since I'm close enough to drive down I don't have to worry about airline charges for luggage, which is a nice perk. During my time at IGHR I'll be blogging about my experiences. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, making new ones, and learning.

Originals vs. Abstracts

If you are attending the NGS conference in Las Vegas this week, you will no doubt hear in at least one session, how you should always seek out the original record rather than rely on transcriptions or abstracts of the record. The reasoning being that people make mistakes when transcribing. I agree. If possible always get a look at the original. As they say, "To err is human."

However, I would like to suggest another reason for seeking out the original records. If you are lucky personalities show through, and you get a wonderful glimpse into a long dead ancestor's character. I've been doing some research in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I found a book on abstracts of the county wills. The information seemed fairly good based on what I already knew about the people I was researching. My next step was to search out the originals.

The first will I pulled was for Nancy Jobe. It is 1 1/2 pages long. The abstract is 4 1/2 lines. Quite a difference. While the abstract captured the essential facts well, what it didn't reflect was the emotion. Nancy had a son that was "simple." Her concern for his welfare after she departed this Earth was prevalent throughout the will. She set up several fail safes within the will should one scenario or another not work out. Nancy made sure her son would always have a place to live, land to call his own, people to care for him, and he would not go hungry or destitute. As a mother myself, I was deeply touched by this. I can only imagine the anxiety she must have felt, especially in a time when the care was deplorable or nonexistent for a person who was not neurotypical.

The next will I pulled was for Samuel Gleghorn who was Nancy's father. The abstract was about 6 lines and the will was 3 pages, which the abstract did make note of in parentheses. As it turns out Samuel had a big interest in his grandchildren's education. He stated a few different terms of monetary distribution in regards to education and what would happen to this money should said children decide to pursue education or not. Given how the will is worded and that Samuel signed the document rather than leave his mark, indicates that he was an educated man. Also, this wasn't just a clerk writing up a document, clearly Samuel had some knowledge of the law and how it worked.

Based on Samuel's will, I reflected a little more on Nancy's will. This was a woman with property that she inherited from her father, that was hers outright. Nancy wrote her own will and signed it with her signature. She was educated and also aware of how the legal system worked. Clearly Samuel encouraged, maybe even demanded, his own children to be educated.

These are insights and conclusions that I could never have gotten from abstracts. After studying these wills, I realized something else. I liked this family group. They cared about each other and had genuine concern for each other's welfare. If I had just relied on the abstracts, I would not have had the same connection.

So search out the originals. You might just walk away surprised at what you find out.