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The name game

About that spelling… It was created by statute in December 1833, effective in 1834, carved out of lands that — before then — had been part of Burke and Buncombe Counties. The 65th of North Carolina’s counties, it sat all the way over on the...

Doubts about dower

Not everywhere at all times On the 10th of December 1874, a couple with whom The Legal Genealogist has more than just a passing acquaintance sold off 39 and 2/3 acres of land in Parker County, Texas. G.W. and Martha L. “Cotrell,” as their names appear in the document,...

Legal Michigan

A one-stop shop for early Michigan statutes Michigan. The state whose territory — home to various Native American tribes — was first claimed by France as part of the New France colony, then by the British, then by the new United States.1 It was part of the...

DNA Day 2021

And a new law on forensic DNA Today, April 25, is National DNA Day here in the United States. It’s a day to celebrate “the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and the discovery of DNA’s double helix in 1953,”1 credited to Cambridge...

Executive Order 6101

Launching the CCC It was on the fifth of April 1933 that Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed it. It was intended to implement, in part, the provisions of “An Act for the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work, and for other purposes,” which...

Just one day…

… in 1870 There are days in history when nothing much happens. Nothing that The Legal Genealogist would say is something that was likely to change lives or — more importantly for us as family historians — to create records. Perfectly ordinary days...

The beginning of the end

214 years ago today It was a baby step as steps go, but one by a Very Big Baby. One of the major players in the international trade finally called it quits as a matter of law. Exactly 214 years ago today, 25 March 1807, England said “enough” when it came to the slave...

The law that never was

Published doesn’t mean adopted The Legal Genealogist recently got a request for research assistance that was absolutely perfectly right up the proverbial alley. A request for help in locating specific laws on a specific topic in several jurisdictions. It was...