by Judy G. Russell | Mar 16, 2023 | Court Cases, Legal definitions, Methodology |
Reasons why dower might be delayed John Hassett died in 1868, leaving four children (two sons and two daughters) by an earlier marriage, a widow Ellen and two sons by Ellen. In 1869, Ellen married again, to James Creigh. And in August of 1880 she asked the court in...
by Judy G. Russell | Feb 2, 2023 | Methodology, My family, Resources |
Fan and Ana and Mary and … It’s Black History Month here in the United States, a time for all of us to benefit from learning more about the history, role and contributions of African Americans in this country. A time when “The Library of Congress, National...
by Judy G. Russell | May 14, 2022 | Methodology, My family |
Love the local papers… One of the great joys of being a 21st century genealogist is sitting there, at 3 a.m., in your bunny slippers, and finding out little bits and pieces about your ancestors that you never would have known any other way. For The Legal...
by Judy G. Russell | May 12, 2022 | Legal definitions, Methodology, Statutes |
Remember the mantra! Okay, fans of The Legal Genealogist, here’s your pop quiz for today. What’s the mantra around these parts? Yep, you know it. You can probably recite it in your sleep: If we want to understand the records, we have to understand the law...
by Judy G. Russell | May 10, 2022 | Methodology, My family, Statutes |
Was she really that young? A reader wasn’t quite convinced it wasn’t a typo. He’d read the post about The Legal Genealogist’s maternal line, and was struck by one fact. “I see your 2nd great grandmother gave birth to your great grandmother when...
by Judy G. Russell | May 3, 2022 | Methodology, Resources |
Find the judge, find the court It was a fairly typical post that landed in The Legal Genealogist’s Facebook feed, a day or two or three ago. A genealogist had found a newspaper article about a rascal of an ancestor but wasn’t able to find the court record...
by Judy G. Russell | Apr 6, 2022 | Methodology, Resources |
Noting the census takers It’s right there in the best practices of the field of genealogy. The guidance that so many of us overlook, especially when we’re starting out. But it’s stated clearly, in Standard 40 of Genealogy Standards, focusing on...
by Judy G. Russell | Mar 30, 2022 | Methodology, Resources, Statutes |
Official typos It’s right there, in one of the most important laws ever passed by the early Virginia state legislature. Just nine years after the Fifth Virginia Convention proclaimed that Virginia was a free and independent state,1 and just four years after the...
by Judy G. Russell | Mar 22, 2022 | Methodology, Resources |
Just read this A Pennsylvania genealogist, Tammy Hepps, has a lesson for us all, The Legal Genealogist included. It’s about that census… … And, more particularly, about that census taker. It’s an absolutely brilliant study of one enumeration...
by Judy G. Russell | Mar 17, 2022 | General, Methodology |
Did ads for workers really say that? It’s March 17 here in the United States. It is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. When, according to the memes at least, everybody is Irish… Except the Scots. They stay Scots. No arguments there. So… despite the...