pioneer trails newsletter -...

Pioneer Trails Newsletter

Birmingham Genealogical Society January 2020

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THE BIRMINGHAM GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

Founded March 15, 1959

www.bgsal.org http://birminghamgenealogy.wordpress.com/

THE PIONEER TRAILS NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2020

General Meeting for January: The Birmingham Genealogical Society will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 25th on the fourth floor of the Birmingham Public Library (in the Computer Lab next to the Arrington Auditorium). The Board of Directors will meet at 1:00 p.m. in the same room. Please join us as Bob Davis, Senior Professor of History and Director of Genealogy Program of

Wallace State Community College, Hanceville, Alabama, presents: “Discovering Manuscript

Collections and the Secrets They Can Hold.”

Research & Genealogical Tips

© Michael John Neill, “Genealogy Tip of the Day,”

http://genealogytipoftheday.com/, TIPDATE

What Your Ancestor Did Not Finish Sometimes life is just about getting things done, but there are many things that a person starts in life that they do not complete. Your ancestor may have done the exact same thing. Even if your ancestor did not complete something, it does not mean that there are not some records left behind. Those “uncompleted tasks” are often ones that do not get passed down as stories from one generation to the next. It’s possible that your relative:

• Started college and did not finish. There could still be records, yearbook pictures, etc. • Started a homestead and did not complete the process. There should still be an incomplete

homestead application (at least the initial filings) which could provide information. • Declared their intention to become a citizen but never naturalized. • Filed for divorce but did not go through with it. • Almost got foreclosed on but managed to “pull through” before the court process was finalized. • Filed for a marriage license but never actually got married. • Etc. Sometimes a process that is incomplete generates just about as many records as one that is finalized. Failure to complete something is one of those stories that don’t often get passed down from one generation to the next. After all, people like to pass on stories of success and not ones of failure. Our ancestors are human. They didn’t complete everything they started.

The past is not dead. It isn't even past. --William Faulkner

Scott A. Martin, BGS Newsletter Editor



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Using the Revised Version of RandyMajors.com

Ted Bainbridge, Ph.D.

To search for government records about people in the United States, one must know which state and county had jurisdiction over the place where an event occurred at the date of that event. RandyMajors.com provides that information easily, and using the site is free. (Other features of the site aren’t described here. Explore them after you learn to use the site as described below.) Go to https://www.randymajors.com/ and notice the menu list at the top left of the page.

The area to the menu’s right sometimes is blank and sometimes contains an advertisement. Below the menu is an ad, then a request for donations to help fund the RandyMajors site. To the right of those two items is a space which displays varying content from time to time; the screen shot above shows a description of a feature that had been added to the web site recently. On the menu, click Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps. The content of the home page changes to include a map with its attendant data immediately above it. The current content of the map doesn’t matter, because you soon will set the map to show the place you want. Scroll your screen image down until you can see all of the map that is offered.



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In Search places, type the modern name of the place that interests you. (This is required because RandyMajors will hunt - and then show you - that place in modern Google Maps. Don’t type the name of the place as it was known at the time of your research project.) As you type a place name, a drop-down box offers places that RandyMajors recognizes. Keep typing until you see what you want on the offer list, then click that offering instead of continuing to type. Next, type a date in the date box, using the format shown in the on-screen sample. Click Go! A map appears, zoomed in on the location you specified. County boundaries are shown as they existed on the day you put into the date box. The next image shows the results of hunting Glen Union, which now is in Clinton County, Pennsylvania. When I typed the “o” of glen unio, the drop-down list offered Glen Union, Grugan Township, PA, USA. (Clinton County was not specified in the name offered, because Glen Union - and Grugan Township, which includes it - did not belong to Clinton County at all times in the past.) I clicked that offering because I know that township is in Clinton County and includes this land that used to belong to one of my pioneer ancestors. This screen display appeared immediately:



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This map’s data area gives the following information: Glen Union, Grugan Township, PA, USA As of date: 12/31/1794 County name: NORTHUMBERLAND County, Pennsylvania DETAILS: [information about boundary changes, their dates, and the source of that information] Lat, Long: [latitude and longitude of the specified piece of ground] The small circle is the site of Glen Union. The line going up the middle of the river is the county boundary on the date requested. You can pan the map in any direction by dragging it across your screen with your mouse. Use the + and - icons in the top left of the map to zoom in and out. Click the icon in the top right of the map to get a full-screen display of that map. In the bottom left of the map, select each item offered to discover more information about this area. Now you know which county court house should have the records for the date relevant to your research project. To get the same kind of information about this area at another date, just change the date above the map and click Go! Use a modern map of the indicated state’s counties and county seats to get to the appropriate court house. In some cases, that court house will not be in the state that has current jurisdiction over the location you are researching.



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Please access the registration form at https://algensoc.org/main/2020SprBrochure.pdf

Dues Reminder: Dues for the year 2020 are payable on or before January 1, 2020. If you have not already paid your dues for 2020, place make checks (amount $20.00/individual or $25.00/family) payable

to the Birmingham Genealogical Society and mail to: The Birmingham Genealogical Society, Inc.

P.O. Box 2432 Birmingham AL 35201

Officers & Directors President: Ann Gilbert - [email protected] Director: Jim Anderson - [email protected] 1st VP (Programs): Barbara Tillery - [email protected] Director: Jyl Hardy - [email protected] 2nd VP (Membership): Barbara Adams – [email protected] Director: Yvonne M. Brakefield Knowles- Treasurer: Gary Gerlach - [email protected] [email protected] Secretary: Patrick Henry - [email protected] Director: Scott Martin - [email protected] Historian: Gary Gerlach - [email protected] Director: Mary Beth Newbill - Curator: Gary Gerlach - [email protected] [email protected] Parliamentarian: Gary Gerlach – [email protected] Director: Jyl Hardy - [email protected] Website/Social Media: Patrick Henry & Melissa Hogan Director: Caroline Thomas - Publicity: Melissa Hogan - [email protected] [email protected] Pat Coleman - [email protected] Liaison, Family History Center

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