Tarheel dower
Researching dower in North Carolina Reader Marcia is puzzled. “I have been doing family history in North Carolina and dealing with Dower and other goodies,” she writes. “When she got the land as a dower right did the widow own it outright?” Great question, because a...Review: how white was white enough?
Race and the naturalization law Note: As we all struggle to come to terms with current events, it may prove helpful to look back at some of our history. Believing firmly that knowing how we got here may help us all see the way forward, The Legal Genealogist will...Just peachy…
Historic Georgia laws Reader Gay Solomon has one of those questions for The Legal Genealogist: where do we find the laws? “An unmarried man died in Georgia in 1832,” she writes. “His estate (personal property–no real) was evenly divided amongst his siblings...What the future will know
The 2020 census The Legal Genealogist has been among the many many United States citizens who began receiving the envelopes from the U.S. Census Bureau. “This is your invitation to respond to the 2020 Census,” it begins. And there’s no chance we won’t all...In the hand of the law
When speling wazn’t standerd Reader Austin Gray is struggling with a document from the Laurens District of South Carolina from the early 1800s where one of his ancestors relinquishes her right of dower in a piece of property being sold by her husband. The hitch:...Dead-letter clues
Because the law said so Maybe you descend from J.B. Arnold or Miss S.S. Berry or Georgia Dennise or William Murphy or James Parker. Perhaps you’re researching Seth Cockerilie or Emma Johnson or Josiah Price or Rose Anne Regan or Cole Watkins. They all had one...The laws of Christmas: 2019 reprise
It wasn’t always a holiday In keeping with The Legal Genealogist’s holiday tradition of keeping the blog going while scrambling to handle holiday duties, this post (a reprise from years past), has a question for you: Are you planning for a good rest in...The first to record
With all due respect to the State of Georgia… There are times when The Legal Genealogist just can’t manage to silence that ear worm. You know the one I mean. It’s the Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess with the title that’s just too appropriate...The records of freedom
Not from the proclamation It wasn’t the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the enslaved population of the United States. Oh, that helped, for sure, but it was effective only in the states then in rebellion — in other words, in the Confederacy. The exact...Subscribe by Email
