The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors (3 page)

Naturally you don't want to repeat work that someone else has done, especially if it was done well. The best finds are good, well-documented genealogies and family articles published in scholarly journals. They may not be easy to locate for a particular family, but they are worth the effort if you find that a good scholar has worked on your family. “Examples of 'Search,” above, gives you examples of where to look for this material, but always keep in mind that this is a search, not research.

Some genealogists never move beyond this step — they are always looking for someone else who can provide the answers they seek. When they hit a brick wall, they just continue to look for someone who knows the answer rather than digging into the records themselves. They never become true researchers — they just search forever.

The research required a step-by-step process and called for moving beyond the primary records of the county of residence (burned Camden) to Morgan County, where the grantee lived. I then had to read Morgan County's deeds carefully and understand what terms such as “all right, title and interest” meant. From there it was a simple, logical procedure backwards.

Step 3:
Decide what records to use.

Some records are likely to provide more information about the problem than others, so it's wise to evaluate them before delving into your research. You will have to decide priority, availability, and ease of use based on your access to the records you need and how well they have been preserved. We all hope that our problem can be solved by the primary records that genealogists most commonly use. These include census records, family Bible records, vital records, wills, obituaries, probate files, pension applications, and other original or microfilmed records likely to provide genealogical information. We check the more recent census records for places of birth and relationships. We comb attics and basements, and then contact cousins, hoping for family Bible records. We order birth and death certificates if the family of interest was living in the twentieth century. We hope for detailed obituaries. As our expertise increases, we learn to check wills, probate administration applications, and the pension files of former soldiers — all of which can reveal interesting family details. When we gain more expertise, we learn to look for the division of land among heirs, often called land partitions.

Many people, unfortunately, quit when the easily accessible records do not yield results. Sometimes they don't know where else to search or how to better use the data they have already found.
Many records containing valuable information are harder to find — they aren't indexed and are more likely to yield indirect evidence.
These records include diaries, circuit court records, county order books, tax records, federal land records, newspaper accounts, county court records (sometimes called quarterly sessions records), and deeds that appear to be only simple land transfers but have deeper implications if analyzed more carefully.

Gathering enough data to point to a possible conclusion may be a relatively short undertaking or it can take years. Often it can be frustrating and time consuming, depending on the individual and family involved, their propensity for creating records, the time period in which you are working, and the locale. Some geographic areas have preserved many old records; others are literally a wasteland.

Step 4:
Analysis is the most crucial step in the research process.

The data and records you have gathered need to be analyzed both separately and as a group. Often when the records gathered over a long period of time are analyzed carefully, new answers, perspectives, and clues emerge.

As you gather records for the specific family or individual you are researching, ask the following questions:

a.
What does the record add to what I already know? Does it support or contradict information I have already found?

b.
Other than my ancestor, who else was involved in creating or witnessing the record? Who was mentioned in it? Are they likely to be “official” participants or associates of my ancestor? Have these individuals appeared in any other records my ancestor created?

c.
Would other records have been created either before or after this one to complete its purpose? Often we find a record that generated other documents, but we fail to follow the trail the record reveals. For instance, a quitclaim deed may record an individual or couple who are selling their right, claim, and interest in a parcel of land. The quitclaim may not tell how the interest in the land was acquired. Was it an inheritance or a part of an inheritance? What part of the total share of the inheritance did the individual possess? Other deeds made to complete the process of clearing the title may answer those exact questions.

For instance, if you were researching the Zumwalt family in Franklin County, Missouri, checking deeds would be very helpful. You would discover that on 1 January 1833, John Zumwalt and his wife, Mary, sold to William Coshow their right, interest, and claim to land they had inherited from John's father, George Zumwalt.
¹
That might be all you would look for if you descended from John, but what if you want to learn about other descendants of George and no other Zumwalts are mentioned?

You might check the index for the other name in the deed: William Coshow. This investigation would lead you to a deed made in 1841 in which William Coshow and wife, Elizabeth, sold to George C. Zumwalt their “right, title and interest, it being a one undivided seventh part which descended to John Zumwalt as an heir and was then sold to William Coshow.”
²
This leads to another suggestion when using deeds. Many deeds are recorded at the same time by the grantors, and it is wise to look for several pages on either side of the deed of interest.

In this case, you would find two more pertinent documents on the page preceding and the one immediately after: David Crow and his wife, Elizabeth, sold to George C. Zumwalt their one-seventh part of the estate of George Zumwalt Sr., deceased, that descended to Elizabeth as one of the heirs; and John Keller and his wife, Nancy, sold to George C. Zumwalt all right, title, and interest which descended to Nancy as one of the heirs of George Zumwalt, deceased.
³

You now know of at least three heirs: John Zumwalt, Elizabeth Crow, and Nancy Keller — and probably a fourth, George C. Zumwalt. At this point, I would try to locate additional deeds by checking the grantee index for the person who is purchasing the property rights of the individual (or individuals), in this case George C. or George Zumwalt. Incidentally, neither the Keller nor Crow marriages were recorded in Franklin County, where the deeds were made. One was not recorded at all. The only record for the Keller marriage was the above deed.

d.
Are there clues recorded here that are not directly related to this record but could lead to additional records or other people to be studied?

Let's look at two case studies that were solved using the steps above and asking the questions I have outlined.

When I started looking for the origins of Lemuel Blanton, the prospects for finding him looked dim because I knew only two things about him.

1.
Lemuel Blanton purchased forty acres in NE¼ of NE¼ section 18 township 32 range 23 west of the 5th Principal Meridian.
4
This area became Polk County, Missouri, in 1835.

2.
Lemuel Blanton married Mary Ann Rogers 8 November 1831 in Crawford County, Missouri. They were married by John P. Campbell of Campbell township.
⁵
This area became Greene County in 1833 and Lemuel Blanton was on the first tax list taken that year.
⁶
No one named Rogers was listed.

Although Lemuel did appear on the first tax list in Polk County, listed between men named Edwin C. Rogers and Adam Zumwalt, that same year he sold his federal land grant to Arthur Ewing and disappeared.
⁷
I was not able to find him on the 1840 census in any location.

I did find a man named Ledwell D. Blanton listed as head of household on the 1830 census in Crawford County, Missouri.
⁸
There were several males twenty to thirty years old in this household, and I wondered if one might have been Lemuel. I spent a good deal of time tracking this Ledwell back to his origins and marriage to Nancy Davis in Hopkins County, Kentucky.
⁹
There was nary a sign of Lemuel anywhere along the path.

Next I decided to investigate the man to whom Lemuel sold his land, Arthur Ewing, and also searched for the name Rogers, the maiden name of Lemuel's wife. To determine Lemuel's neighbors in what became Polk County, I had to look at a township-range map. The most helpful township-range maps use a form that not only shows adjoining sections, but the sections adjoining in other townships and ranges as well (see
Figure 1-2
). Lemuel's land was in the northeast corner of 18, so I examined neighbors in sections 7 and 8 as well as those in section 17. Just one mile west is section 13 township 32 and a new range — 24 instead of 23. By looking at other federal land entries, this investigation led to fifteen immediate neighbors. Page 22 shows the list in alphabetical order.

Figure 1-2
Township-range map.

I started with the obvious man — Edwin C. Rogers. He bought a parcel that adjoined Lemuel's and also sold it to Arthur Ewing. The last record Rogers produced in Polk County was in May 1838, when he filed a claim against the estate of Henry A.H. Russell, another neighbor of Blanton and Rogers.
¹⁰
I traced Russell, and although I found his origins, no one named Rogers or Blanton appeared in his earlier records. I checked the 1850 census indexes for several states that were likely outward migration points for Missouri residents. Edwin C. Rogers and Lemuel Blanton surfaced again as neighbors in Fannin County, Texas (see
Figure 1-3
below). Lemuel's land entry there stated that he had arrived there in December 1837 as a married man with a family. Edwin C. Rogers affirmed that he had arrived at the same time, as a single man. A man named Joseph D. Rogers also arrived at that time and purchased land next to the other two.
¹¹

The 1860 census (see
Figure 1-4
) gave more information but confused the situation. Lemuel's wife was now Martha instead of Mary Ann. In addition, the only Blanton tombstone inscription I could find in Fannin County was for Martha Blanton, born 18 January 1816 (death date gone from the stone). This matched the census ages for the woman in both 1850 and 1860. No marriage records for Lemuel Blanton surfaced in Fannin County.

I decided to check for probate records. Joseph D. Rogers left a will in 1842, naming sons Joseph J. Rogers and Edwin C. Rogers, but no daughter named Blanton. Lemuel Blanton, however, did serve as a witness to a codicil drawn at the same time, reconfirming some connection between the two families. I next looked for a combination of the surname Rogers and Blanton in Tennessee. Another dead end. Rogers was simply too common a surname and no one named Joseph Rogers was listed on the 1830 census index in Tennessee. Dead end.