Category Archives: Statutes

They also served

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

Women in the Army They had names like Lon and Ray and Tennison and Dollins. They came from New York and Texas and Oklahoma and Nevada. They were single or divorced, educated or not so much, and they all had … Continue reading →

Posted in Resources, Statutes | 10 Comments

Curious language in a deed

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

“An Act donating Public Lands” There is curious language in a deed The Legal Genealogist stumbled across doing the usual late-night-poke-around-in-the-records that has become almost a routine. The grantee in the deed was one James K. P. Newman. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Resources, Statutes | 8 Comments

Chasing that pension file

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

The missing pension Most folks whose families have been in America since oh-dark-thirty — defined roughly by The Legal Genealogist as after the Mayflower but before the Revolution — ended up with one or more ancestors involved in one or … Continue reading →

Posted in My family, Statutes | 14 Comments

The ALJs

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

Administrative law judges So last week The Legal Genealogist took on the question of the Magistrate Judge — that federal judicial officer appointed by the trial judges of each United States District Court to assist them in carrying out their … Continue reading →

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The Magistrate Judge

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

A judge judge? Not long ago, The Legal Genealogist wrote about the issue of privacy on Facebook and happened to mention that, after a Facebook friend of a man had given federal agents access to his friend’s Facebook postings, a … Continue reading →

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The puzzling probate

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

The aftermath of death on the rails It was the night of the 10th of August 1887. A train left Peoria, Illinois, heading east with vacationers wanting to see Niagara Falls. But a trestle it needed to cross had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Cases, Legal definitions, Statutes | 10 Comments

North Carolina’s constables

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

Constable vs. sheriff in NC Belinda Wilson, who runs the Mitchell County NC Genealogy Research page on Facebook, was posting some links to abstracts of the court records of a parent county — Yancey County, NC — when she saw … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal definitions, Statutes | 2 Comments

Separate property, separate debts

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

California’s 1850 law So last week The Legal Genealogist tackled the issue of California’s sole traders — women who, under an 1852 law, set up to do business in their own names even though they were married.1 That prompted a … Continue reading →

Posted in Statutes | 10 Comments

California’s sole traders

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

Affirmative action 1850s style On the 29th of December 1856, Catherine Underwood went into court in San Mateo County, California, and swore to a remarkable statement: That from this date henceforth she intends to carry on business in her own … Continue reading →

Posted in Statutes | 7 Comments

The law of holidays

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Judy G. Russell

Federal holiday cheat sheet So you’re sitting there writing up a paragraph or two for your family history and you figure, hey, it’d be nice to add a little bit of color. Some event of significance to your ancestor took … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Statutes | 2 Comments