Thank you, David!
Where there’s a will… It was 185 years ago yesterday that David Baker died near what was to become Bakersville, the county seat of what is now Mitchell County, North Carolina. It wasn’t even Mitchell County then; it had originally been Rowan County,1...Zufferin’ Zebulons!
Yep, there are at least two of them, too… So The Legal Genealogist was dismayed to learn that the John Baird of Wilson County, Tennessee, who is her 5th great grandfather isn’t the one who left all the cool probate records. Sigh… I mean, I’ve...The other John
Ruling out one candidate It’s always nice when a genealogist can rule out one of two candidates to be the father of a known ancestor. Of course — sigh — for The Legal Genealogist — sigh — that usually means ruling out the one with the...The age to witness
Georgia in the early 19th century Reader Jennifer Kraus is on the hunt for clues. “I’ve been working on finding different ways to estimate DOBs for my ancestors in the absence of a record (e.g., bible, or church) that lists an actual date,” she writes....No deeds, indeed!
Oh yes there are… A careful review of the grantor and grantee indexes of deeds in Winston County, Mississippi, says there are no deeds to or from William M. Robertson or his son Gustavus Boone Robertson between 1841 and 1860. To which The Legal Genealogist...You never know
Hitting paydirt at NARA One of the most basic truisms of genealogy is that you never know what you’re going to find. That certainly was the case for The Legal Genealogist at the National Archives last week. The backstory: My maternal grandfather, Clay Rex...Where did it go?
The rest of the land In December of 1796, Joseph Moore was granted 200 acres of land by the State of North Carolina. The land was entered in June of 1794,1 granted on 20 December 1796,2 and recorded in the Rutherford County, North Carolina, deed books on 27 July...Power beyond the grave
The value of a document’s every word Reader J. Paul Hawthorne came across some language in a late 19th century will, and wondered if he was reading it right. On the 29th of April 1879, Elisha Myers of Butler County, Alabama, executed a will leaving everything to...Fixing a mess
Separating the Johnsons Wish The Legal Genealogist well. I’ve just emerged from the bowels of the FamilySearch Family Tree where I have been fighting with the entry for — allegedly — one man. He was born in two different southern states, died in two...Subscribe by Email
