TBT Research Trip Place To Research

History of Texas County MO

Texas County MO Courthouse

We are planning another research trip so I thought I would repost this for TBT. I have to add that in addition to the courthouse searches make sure you look for a library to search at, a genealogy or historical society, and the cemeteries. Make sure you turn over every rock you can while in the county of your ancestors. Go and see if you can still find the house or site where your ancestor lived. It would be great to be in contact with the historical society for the county you are going to ahead of time and see what they have to offer and the hours they are open. Just go and learn everything you can while on the trip. We are planning on going to Iowa and research this fall and I can not wait.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Place to research

There are so many places to do research on the internet but there is nothing like going to a courthouse in the county of your ancestors. While you are there try just looking around a little this paid of for us when we went to the the courthouse in Washita County OK. They had pictures up on the wall of migrant workers in the cotton fields in the 1930's and they had one that said do you know these people and there in the front was a picture of a woman that looked just like my Grandmother. She had always told me they picked cotton and she did even when she was 9 months pregnant with my mother. These pictures were proof that they really did pick cotton in this county in the time frame she had said and though I can't prove it I am sure that was my Grandmother in that picture.

Things you want to remember to check while at the courthouse are marriage records, deeds, and any court records you can look at. Make sure you look for the ancestor you are there looking for, but also be sure to take note of records of the same surname, like in the marriage records copy in a notebook all the ones you find for the surnames you are looking for whether you think they are in your tree or not. The reason is that you might find later that they fit into your tree and if they do you already have the dates copied down to go back to. I did this when researching my Capp line in Monroe County MO and was glad about a year later that I had because I found that one I didn't think fit in did from one of the brothers to my ancestor. I also have not done this and wished I had later when I found that the person in question was in my line. It just saves time to do it while you are there. Also make sure you check deeds closely. Probate records and wills are also necessary to look at while there. Again check for all you can at the time you are there.

Be sure when going into the courthouses to be courteous and not demanding. I went into one and they said they had bad experiences with people coming in doing genealogy because they were rude and demanding. This makes it bad on the ones coming in after and will limit how willing they are to help you or let you look at records. Most importantly just go and learn about the county and what it was like when your ancestors lived there.

TILL NEXT TIME KEEP DIGGING AND SLEUTHING!

Follow Deb Forbes's board My Blogs on Pinterest.