Geneaology

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Greetings!  I have also posted this on TOR, so pardon the repeat.

Howdy all!

I need to find out how to go about tracing family.  There are Census results available, but I don't know where.

However, I'm trying to be more specific than what is available from Census results.

The reason is that, according to my Mother, that our family - 'thru my Maternal Grandmother, is distantly related to Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

One of my Uncles did some research into the family, but that was my Paternal Grandfather's family.  And besides, the records that he found and copied have vanished.

Any ideas?

Thanks - Jeff "Steel Horse Bailey"

[St. George]

The first thing - talk to 'all' of your older living relatives...

See if there are any 'Family Bibles' held by some nice aging maiden Aunt who never got around to researching your family tree - for some reason, they 'all' seemed to want to do that.

You need to know several things - most importantly - what Town, County and State you can trace back to.

Many States have towns with the same place names - and a few counties, as well - so be specific.

Once you've found that part out - contact that local Historical Society for more information from existing old Records.

These Records will show Marriages, Births, Deaths, Land purchases and such - and they're a wealth of information - and the folks who volunteer their time to these Historical Societies are pretty helpful.

You can look up your surname on www.genforum.com - a web-based genealogical site - and ask a couple of questions.

That one's free - some of these sites aren't.

And - there's an awful lot of information that's been gathered by the Mormons, over time - but there's a charge from them, as well.

Same's true of researching your Civil War ancestor - whomever they may be - and I did a 'Note' dealing with how to go about that - so check your print-outs.

Good Luck.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Silver Creek Slim]

Great suggestions, St. George. It appears you've done a bit of genealogical research. 

SHB,
I second St. George in looking at www.genforum.com for surnames. I found valuable info here.

Slim

[Ozark Tracker]

the link to genforum is a good free link,  I was able to find a cousin, that I knew nothing about posting on there, turned out she had pictures of my grandfathers family from the time my granddad was 10 years old, I got several old photo's that none of my immediate family had never seen, and some of our common G grandfather and GG grandfather and a family history tracing back to people I had never even heard of.
She had done a wonderful job of tracing relatives.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks!

[Curley Cole]

I sent for various birth certs. and marrage lisc. by contacting the county involved and sending the required funds in.
Recently we went to Beverly MASS court house and went through the local census records for free. The staff were really pleasant and helpful. Then when we found the specific person we were able to get copies made. It was really cool to look at the original documents in the 1800's.

Go to the local Morman church, one of the Temples if you are close to one is even better. They have a whole wing dedicated to genology. Staff there will help you search microfilch and microfilm and soundex. If they don't have the year you are looking for they will charge you a small fee to get it.

If you get stuck on a particular person, stop and look at another branch, sometimes one name opens a whole flood. My daughter in law is doing mine, and finding all sorts of stuff. I already knew some as my grand mother was in DAR, and knew a relative was in the Revolutionary war. Enlisted June 7th and mustered out June 14th...same year...still would like to know why...

Good hunting
curley

[Forty Rod]

Sent you a PM.  Let me know if I can help.

[Major 2]

There is a book " Tracing your CIVIL WAR Ancestor " that is a primmer on sites and directions to search.

Happy hunting....

I went a bit further on Fathers side sir name.... back to Wales & the English Civil War, Raglan Castle , the Herbert's ....
and on my Fathers Mothers side, Clan Buchanan of Scotland.

Notables ... included  Sir Roger Vaughn Raglan * Knight killed in the battle at Agincourt
Lord Raglan  Fitzroy Somerset , Field Marshall on the field a Balaclava Crimean War.
Some 7 Sir name veterans of the American Revolution, 164 Confederates & 8 Union veterans of the WBTS ( some survived some did not ) so far....
2 Spanish American War vets & I'm still working on WW1 & WW2


Of the four names of my parents folks
I've found I'm related...
to a least one President , one author , two Generals, a Field Marshall , several descended English Lords of Heraldry...
and one poor fellow famous only because he was shot & killed by John Wesley Harden.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks again for the new suggestions.  Thru' talking with my Mother and an Uncle, I've been able to go back to my G. Grandmother.  She was Sally Jackson, which may very well be the connection that our family has to Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.  He was perhaps a cousin (some removed) or Uncle.

The search continues ...

[Harve Curry]

I think that Stone Phillips, the news commenter on NBC is a decendant of Stone Wall Jackson, if that is any help.

[Doc Neeley]

Genealogy.com wil have census records, marriage, and death certificates on them. You can also check the cemetery records of the cities and towns you know ancestors inhabited. Check different spellings as well. I checked civil war records for relatives also.
On the Genforum you may find the names of relatives being researched by unknown family members (I found a never met 4th cousin in FL who had teriffic records that filled in gaps for Dr. Neeley). I've sent her what I had as well.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Well Howdy!

The search seems to have come up negative.  It seems that it may be an old family "internet legend" or something. 

The Jackson side of the family was not from the Thomas J.'s  area in Virginia, but I'm still trying to find more, as there MAY still be a marital, rather than blood connection.  It HAS come to light that the Kentucky Jacksons were from around Boonesborough and there may be a connection to the great Daniel Boone.  That would be cool.

Thanks again all!

[Halfway Creek Charlie]

I'm currently working on my genealogy through Ancestry.com. All my family is from the Pendelton County, Virginia(W.Virginia after the split preceding the Civil War).
I have found one Civil war Soldier so far, My GG Grandfather on my Mom's, Fatherr's side  Fought with the 140th Regiment Indiana from new Mount Pleasant.

It's fun. I spent most of the weekend working on it.

[Sunday Bill]

Our SCV camp has researched the men of a few E KY Confederate units.

The fact that a bunch of country boys has found and proofed enough information to convince the Feds to send us over 900 CS gravestones, starting in 1994,(one-five at a time, all of which we have set) should give everyone hope.

Just remember that the Census taker may have missed some people and, as a result, some vital information. However, we have found that the tax collector rarely missed his mark. If your anscestor owned land, there's a purty good chance you'll find valuable info on the tax lists.

Especially in the border states, many former Confederates were charged with "war crimes" after the war, ranging from petty theft to murder. These court records sometimes reveal testimony (or identify witnesses) which has helped us identify many as legitimate Confederates whose names never appeared on the Adj. Gen's report or even the Compiled Service Records.

I have several books including a few of the VA Regimental Series, muster rolls for several E KY units and access to our group's findings concerning Caudill's 10th Mounted Rifles (re-enumerated 13th KY Cav in Feb. of '65. It is this unit on which we have most intently focused. If you are interested in researching anscestors who may have served in a western VA or E KY CS unit, feel free to e-mail me or contact me here.

For instance, Steel Horse, VA-born Robert Jackson served as a Pvt. in Co H of the 10th. Born about 1845, the 1860 Harlan Co. KY Census shows him as a resident. Enlisted at Whitesburg, KY, 18 Oct. '62. We THINK he married a woman named Mary Hogston. The Compiled Service Record lists him as Roland Jackson. KIA 1 Apr 1863, site unknown; burial site as of yet unknown.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks, Sunday Bill!

I'll have to go through the records I have to see if that Jackson and my G. G'mother are related.  The name "Hogston" doesn't ring a bell, but Harlan Co. does.

[Halfway Creek Charlie]

Well My family Has about 3 or 4 different spellings of the surname and I see that my Mom's Father's lineage has at least two. His is fairly easy to see, Paschall to Pascall  Mine went from Heber(Oldest) to Herper to Harper(current). I've got that line back to 1640 in Germany, but I think the Hebers came to Germany from Ireland during the crusades, but I cannot prove it ...YET!