Author: robin

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City Directories As Census Substitutes

 

When I have a challenge researching an ancestor, I always look to see if there is a city directory that exists during the same time my ancestor would have been in a particular area. City directories are a great substitute if your ancestor is missing on a census or if you want to identify your ancestor between census years.  Many Savannah, Georgia city directories from 1866 to 1934 are available on microfilm through the Family History Library Catalog. Savannah, Georgia city directories from 1888 to 1891 are available on Ancestry.

 

If you have identified your ancestor's family group, you may be pleasantly surprised to find them listed in the city directory or you may find a relative mentioned for the first time in the city directory.  During the Jim Crow Era, African Americans were often listed in a separate section in the directory. 

 

Sometimes during the 1900's, family members moved from the rural areas to escape the violence.  Even though they were part of the Great Migration, they passed through the urban areas and may be found in the city directories. 

 

Some of the information that I have discovered in city directories include:

ñ  ancestors missing on the census

ñ  ancestors who moved back and forth from the North to the South or from a rural area to the city

ñ  ancestors occupation

ñ  head of household in a given year

 

If your ancestor owned a business, was a member of the clergy, or was a school administrator, be sure to check the name of the organization or business to find a listing.  Look for city directories in local libraries, historical and genealogical societies, and archives. 

 

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Ideas for Documenting Georgia Deaths

 

A person's death is one of the easiest events you can document.  It is sometimes so easy that we do not look for more than one resource.  Being more thorough may lead you to discovering more about your ancestor. 

If you have accepted one record at face value, go back and identify more possibilities that may exist.  The following may be some of the rewards awaiting you:

ñ  discovering contradictions exist to information we have already gleaned

ñ  finding names of extended family members or parents of an ancestor

ñ  discovering a place of birth, location of homestead, or family cemetery 

 

The following resources may be useful when researching ancestors who died in Georgia:

 

1.      U. S. Social Security Death Index: If you find your ancestor listed in the U. S. Social Security Death Index, order the original application.  This may provide helpful clues to:

ñ  Ancestor's full name

ñ  A female ancestor's maiden name and name of husband

ñ  Age, date of birth, and birth place of an ancestor

ñ  Parents of your ancestor (full names), Ancestor's occupation

See “Using Social Security Application forms for Genealogy” to learn more. 

 

2.      Funeral Programs:  Many African Americans collect funeral programs.  Funeral programs are very common in the family because they were a substitute for newspaper obituaries during a time when these announcements were not included for African Americans.  Find out who has a funeral program collection in your family.

 

3.      Family Cemetery: Visit the family cemetery to see who may be buried alongside your ancestor. Even if you have done this once, after you have become familiar with family groups on census records, you may find out you overlooked someone the first time. After extensive census research, I was able to recognize most of the names and connections between people buried in an old church cemetery. 

 

4.      Find A Grave:  Study the cemeteries and memorials listed in the county where your ancestor lived in Georgia.  This is a great way to learn the names of cemeteries and those interred. Perhaps a memorial would provide clues.  Take the time to contribute your ancestor's biography to this database.  You never know who may find you and connect.

 

5.      Georgia Deaths: (1915-1927) and (1928-1930) These free collections at FamilySearch will link to the actual death certificate. 

 

6.      Georgia Deaths (1919-1998): This Ancestry database is an index. Order the death certificates from the Georgia Department of Public Health. 

 

7.      Funeral Homes:  Use the death certificate to identify the funeral home that took care of your ancestor.  Contact the funeral home to find more clues about your ancestor's family, insurance, and finances. 

 

8.      County Library Obituary Indexes:  Newspaper obituaries may reveal information about your ancestor. Obituaries from historic newspapers sometimes reveal more information than you would expect.  Contact the county library to see if your ancestor is listed in a newspaper obituary index.  For example, the Savannah Morning News Obituary Index (1913-1926 & 1987-1996) is available through Live Oak Public Library.

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Create a Snazzy Facebook Profile Photo

Most folks do not know that you do not have to be stuck with a tiny profile photo on your Facebook profile nor on your Facebook fan page. Here are a few examples that I have created for my own profile and pages and for other people too:

• THE Report on Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (preciseinternetmarketing.com)
• Using Elements to Edit Old Images (brighthub.com)

 

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Free Research Assistance for Finding Georgia Ancestors

 

We are continuing to point out free resources that will help you in your quest to learn more about your Georgia ancestors.  FamilySearch Wiki and FamilySearch Forums were first released in 2008, and are great places to find resources and assistance.

The FamilySearch Wiki article for Georgia links to African American resources for Georgia:

There are a few resources linked here. Several are already linked on Lowcountry Africana.  Be sure to watch for new resources. The following FamilySearch Wiki article on African American Research has many more useful resources linked, and is constantly updated by members of the genealogy community:

You can also search topics on the Wiki. For example, “Georgia in the Civil War” is an article about the local history during the Civil War, military units, pension records, cemetery records, and links to access records which are available:

Now let's suppose you do not find the answer to your question on the Wiki.  I suggest you review what you know about your ancestor and post your question at FamilySearch Forums where you can receive free research assistance. Be sure to register for a FamilySearch Account if do not have one.  Then, be sure to validate that account in an email that will be sent after you register.  This will ensure that you will receive a reply by email to the questions you post at FamilySearch Forums.

You will then be able to post your research questions about your Georgia ancestors in the Southern States section.  Click “New Thread” to post your question. Be sure you are logged in. Ask only one question at a time and be sure to provide any of the details that you have such as:

ñ  Name of ancestor

ñ  Name of spouse

ñ  Place of birth

ñ  Birth date

ñ  Parent's names

ñ  Place of death

ñ  Places lived

ñ  Death date

 

Since 2008, every person except one that I referred to the Forums has been able to receive an answer to the research question they posted as far as I can tell. In the next article we will discuss documenting deaths in Georgia and online resources available.

Happy Hunting!

Robin

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Introducing You to Georgia and the FamilySearch Wiki

Whenever I run out of historical resources to document ancestors, I turn to the FamilySearch Wiki for fresh ideas.  The FamilySearch Wiki is an encyclopedia of genealogical resources shared by people like you and me.  Genealogists and family historians are sharing what they know about history and resources making it a wonderful place to look first for information. I wanted to be sure to introduce you to the articles for the state of Georgia on the Wiki:

You will need to be certain about the county where your ancestor lived and time period he or she lived there.  Creating a timeline of your ancestor's life will be very helpful.

As you can see, there is a list of topics on the left which link to resources, and each each county is listed.  I suggest you check the resources for the county where your ancestor lived to determine which historical documentation exists that was generated during the lifetime of your ancestor.

Let's take a look at DeKalb County:

Notice the sections: History, Parent County, Boundary Changes, and Record Loss.  Comparing your ancestor's timeline to the information in this section will help you save a lot of wasted time. Have you ever searched for an ancestor in a particular county and never found him or her?  Well perhaps there was a boundary change and the county during a certain time period did not exist yet or perhaps it became part of another county.  Your ancestors never moved, but the county name changed. 

Some reasons for not being able to find documentation could be:

ñ  Record loss

ñ  Boundary changes

ñ  Records are held in parent county

Some Wiki articles are still being developed.  Let's work together to add the information you find to the Wiki.  I invite you to become a contributor, or share your findings with me in the comments section of any Georgia article.  Be sure to check the link for the Family History Library Catalog at the bottom of each Georgia County article.  You may find resources on microfilm which are not available online yet.  Then you can contact your local FamilySearch Center to order and view the film.

 In the next article, we will discuss the topic, African Americans, in the topics section.

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Lowcountry Africana Welcomes Robin Foster as Coordinator of Georgia Records

 

Lowcountry Africana is pleased and excited to welcome Robin Foster as Coordinator of Georgia records. In her new role at LCA, Robin will share resources and advice for tracing African American ancestors in Georgia. 

Robin is well-known for her tireless work in documenting, and helping others to find, South Carolina ancestors. She coordinates the SC Genealogy Research Community group on Facebook, is the Columbia Ethnic Community Examiner, is a Co-host of the Nurturing Our Roots broadcast on Blog Talk Radio, is the author behind the South Carolina African Americans page on the FamilySearch Wiki, and is the author of the blogs About Our Freedom and Over Troubled Water.

Robin is an expert on the free resources available on the new FamilySearch website and has contributed two webinars to the FamilySearch Learning Center. They are:

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Create a Place for Your Family to Meet Online

 

Here are a few examples of Facebook pages:

About Our Freedom Community Page: Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War from an African American perspective.

Preserving Our History in Tangipahoa & St. Helena Parish, Louisiana: Families sharing photos and history.

Over Troubled Water: Strengthening the ties between all African ancestored people.

The greatest thing about Facebook pages is that they do not show the random posts which appear in your news feed, however, your posts from the community page do appear in your news feed for your friends and family to see. Facebook pages allow you to create a community where you can focus on discovering, sharing, and preserving family history.

As family members and friends share photographs, video, and news in their from across the country, bonds are strengthened. Facebook in particular is the perfect place to reach the young members in the family.

Create a Facebook Page

This is the first in a series of articles on how to create a Facebook Community Page where extended family members can share resources and keep in touch. Think of a title for your Facebook page and got to Create a Page. Select the page type. Most family pages can be classified as a Community Page.

Create a Facebook page

After selecting Cause or Community, enter the name of your page, agree to Facebook terms, and click "Get started."

Cause or Community

Next, the "Get Started" page loads, and you will see the first six things needed to set up your new page:

Get Started

The first item is "Upload an image from your computer." In the next post we will walk you through creating a great profile photo and uploading it to your Facebook page.

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Business Cards: Does this look familiar?

      Does your stack of business cards look like this?  Find yourself shuffling through a stack like this to find the contact info for the new friend you met at a recent conference?  Now you can carry all your businesses cards with you right in the palm of your hand with a mobile app called CamCard Lite. Read more

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Got "My Library" at Google Books?

   

If you have not queried Google Books to learn more about the geographical area where you ancestors lived or to find out what information mat exist on your ancestor, you may be missing a valuable geographical resource.

 

To access Google Books go to books.google.com or:  

1. Go to Google.com
2. Click the “More” link at the top of the page
3. Select "Books."

I have found many helpful books by searching using the following criteria:

• county/parish and state
• ancestor's name and locality
• topics (slavery, reconstruction, local history)
• prominent families in the area

With Google Books, I can save books to My Library to read later where I can keep them organized:

   

If you discover a book that only show a "snippet view," and you cannot access all the pages, look for the link within Google Books to Amazon.com.  The "Look Inside" feature available for many books at Amazon allows you to search the indexes for family surnames or localities you are researching.

   

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FamilySearch power tools break down "brick walls"

Now, I help to empower everyone to know how to find help when they get stuck: 1.  When you run out of resources, search the wiki to see what resources exist for the geographical location where your ancestor lived.  Search the wiki also for articles that tell more about the history of the area and the events that took place during you ancestor's lifetime. 2.  If you are unable to locate resources on the wiki, go over to the forums and ask for free research assistance.  Be sure to include your ancestor's name, vital information (dates, places, and events)  and explain what you want to know. 3.  If you discover a resource that was not included on the wiki, go back and contribute it so the next person will be able to find it more easily. These three easy steps have proved successful for many people who have struggled with "brick walls" for some time.  I have received assistance with a few of my own challenges as well.  I encourage you to try these powerful tools for yourself, and please come back to share your success!

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