Arlene Eakle’s Tennessee Blog

Of all the states in which I do research, Tennessee is the most difficult to prove father-son relationship.   As I have been thinking about this challenge, I believe that if we had a consolidated, digital index, with links to images, for the whole state of Tennessee…

Not just piecemeal access in printed books, in items transcribed on Rootsweb and US GenWeb and other internet sites…

Not just pedigrees supposed, concluded from circumstantial entries picked here and there, ancestries wished for…

A massive, fully searchable database (or even a series of linked databases) across all jurisdictional levels would allow us to spot migrations within counties, withing districts, within families, and those that meander over years across the state.

Consider the case of Robert Stephenson, who very early appears in Green County KY from where?  Then moves to Knox County TN where he appears to live out his life.  There are gaps in the timeline however, which could lead to other records and family ties.

Or consider the case of John Bray, who appears in eastern TN (probably Knox County) before 1800.  He has two sons born in Kentucky (per the 1850 census) by 1815 and ends up in Anderson County TN–like a ping-pong ball from state to state.  Also with gaps in the timeline which could lead to other records and family ties.

Ancestors move into and out of Tennessee.  Leaving almost no track except family traditions and statements in later sources like the census or an obituary filed in some mid-western state like Missouri or Iowa.

Extreme record loss is an essential part of this challenge.  Over 90 counties have suffered losses.  A consolidated database drawing from all jurisdictional levels could help to ease genealogy stress in Tennessee.

FamilySearch and Ancestry and Fold Three (formerly Footnote) are just a few sites with Tennessee records from several levels–these provide tantalizing tidbits to show what could be accomplished.

Stay tuned to my next post on this blog.  I am going to begin an interim bibliography of works that will help you to document Tennessee ancestors on the move.  It can serve as a checklist–you can consult this list to see if you have already considered these items in your research.

And for ancestors with less common surnames, like Bray and Childress and Shumate, you will begin to build your own database of where people were when and who they were associated with at the place and time.  These entries can be compared and matched with places of origin–Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  And places of later settlement like Alabama, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri.

And if I do research for you as a client, you will be able to see from my report to you, that I have used this checklist to ensure that no obvious ancestor has been overlooked.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  Using borrowed and refurbished computers, I plan to port information on my blogs ever 2-3 days.  Please stay tuned to benefit from the research I have been doing these past few months while my computer has been down.

[Don't tell a soul, but my computer skills have improved immensely as I have changed cords from one processor to another, typed data on one computer and transferred it to another, and tried to save files that appeared corrupted.  Very pleased with myself.  Losing files that are not available in some other place is brutal.]

Arlene’s webmaster Kathryn posting today. If you have recently emailed Arlene and not received an answer, she’s not ignoring you. The computer she used for email has recently been giving her more and more problems, to the point she can’t download email. Her grandson is going to update the computer soon, hopefully by the end of the month, and then she will start catching up. So please be patient.

Today, at the Family History Expo, Arlene was speaking on documenting your common ancestors in Congressional Records. She talked about Peter Force’s “American Archives”, a Documentary History of the early days of the United States. The set is comprised of 6 volumes in the Fourth Series, and 3 volumes in the Fifth Series for a total of 9 volumes. She has access to one of the volumes in physical format and said that because of the computer problem, she hadn’t yet Googled to see if they had been digitized. So I did that while she was talking and found that all 9 volumes are available at http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22Peter%20Force%22 for free, and can be read online or downloaded in a variety of formats (PDF, text, Kindle, etc).

With the computer problem, she won’t be blogging either. I’ll keep you posted if it looks like it will take longer than the end of the month.

Kathryn Bassett, webmaster for our favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle

As soon as you realize that the person giving you genealogy advice is not currently, successfully doing what it is they are dispensing advice about–STOP reading or listening.  STOP!

If you want fiction, read Stephen King.  If you want unqualified and unresearched opinions, you can get them free–from your brother-in-law.  There is an unmistakable authenticity with advice from genealogists who actually have searched the documents and fit the evidence together.  You want authentic advice.  Adapted from “Final Thoughts, This Month, on B.S.” Dan Kennedy No BS Marketing Newletter (Aug 2011): 17.

Real world results based on successful experience in the records themselves–not just reading a textbook or a book review of someone’s ideas of what might work–this is how to trace hard-to-find ancestors.

I want to share a new resource for Tennessee research–a 3-volume work by Doug Drake, Jack Masters, with Bill Puryear and David H. Wright.  Volume 1:  Founding of the Cumberland Settlements:  The First Atlas, 1779-1804.  Showing Who Came, How They Came, and Where They Put Down Roots. Gallatin, Tennessee:  Warioto Press, 2009.    http://www.cumberlandpioneers.com Includes 94 7.5-minute topographic maps with numbered land blocks superimposed in black and red using MapTechInc. software developed in 2001.

Volumes 2-3:  Supplements 1 and 2 with every-name indexes.  North Carolina  land warrants, surveys, and surveyor plats identified by land number.

How did I miss these books?  First, I discovered Volume 2 on the Virginia shelves, not with the Tennessee books.  Volume 1 was shelved in the oversize section because it is a beautiful, full-color oversize book.  Volume 3 was in the Tennessee section, just in the wrong place–three volumes all in different places.  When I found volume 2, I went looking for the rest.  Including looking in the Family History Library Catalog.  The supplements are also on CD-Rom loaded on the computer desktops at the Library–in case you want a digital version of all the descriptions and maps.

Special features include:  timelines for the Chickamauga War, 1777-1795;  435 pioneer casualties, 1780-1795 supplying year killed, name, where killed, source and map references, and whether the person was a signer of the Cumberland Compact;  locations of stations, forts, traces, 1788;  North Carolina land grants in Tennessee;  disposition of the signers of the Cumberland Compact, 244 total men with citations of deeds, location of settlements, location of lands;  early Black history–all this and more crammed in 3 well-designed volumes.

An important question answered–Can a minor own land?  From the Cumberland Compact:

“all young men over the age of 16 years and able to perform militia duty shall be considered as having a full right to enter for and obtain in their own name as if they were of full age, and in that case not be reckoned in the family of his father, mother, or master…” Volume 1, p. 20.

I carefully studied all three volumes, seeking ancestors of interest to my clients who lived in Middle Tennessee–perhaps this new access to every name in the surveys will lead to new breakthroughs in counties that have suffered much record loss.

One surprise among many–the exact routes of migration are traced for each of the major groups coming into middle Tennessee.  For example, Isaac Lindsay who brought 4 men and himself in 1767, left Knox County KY, followed the Cumberland River west through Kentucky and into Tennessee as it dipped down to French Lick (Nashville) through Stone’s settlement.

Look for these volumes in the library where you do your genealogy research or search them the next time you come to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  Or I will be glad to search them for you.

And add them to your “must-read and study list” for Tennessee ancestors.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  The difference between  me and some speakers who give book reports–I read the book(s) and do the research in the specific record category cited.  I read especially the footnotes and bibliographies for sources I have not yet checked.  Or for indexes to records I am already familiar with.  I have found enough information in these three volumes to keep me busy for a full day at the FHL.   Stay tuned for further details.

Sun Glasses and your Tennessee Genealogy…

A letter of invitation from Arlene Eakle to attend the Northern Colorado Family History Expo held at the Embassy Suites Conference Center on I-25, Loveland CO 24-25 June 2011. I am just one of many speakers on the menu for your selection.  However, I am going to present you with a gift in my sessions for Southern Research—and Tennessee is the hardest state in the South!–Sun Glasses to find your ancestors.

My grandson had his 14th birthday and I gave him a new set of sun glasses.  These sun glasses will enable him to see the fish in the water!

You see, my grandson is a fisherman of considerable experience–with an array of poles for different kinds of fish.  But, he didn’t have those kind that can see the fish.  He was delighted with his new glasses.  He certainly looked cool in them.

What if…

What if… I could give you sun glasses that enables you to see and distinguish your hard-to-find ancestor in the documents?  Among the billions of entries included online at just two sites:  Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org? In the printed books and indexes available now for Tennessee?  And in the original documents–which are so numerous that you will never live long enough to search them all.

Genealogy Research Strategies=Sun Glasses.  I plan to give you strategy after strategy that I know work–so you will have several pairs of sun glasses to find your ancestors.

When I confront a problem genealogy, my first question is:  what genealogy research strategy has not yet been applied to this ancestor?

1. Not what source shall I examine first…

2. Not what locality can I check first…

3. Nor even which strategy from my arsenal is the best one to apply first…

Don’t you know…I get only the hardest-to-find ancestors to search for–the toughest research problems you cannot solve yourself.  And I am okay with that.  Searching for tough guys, and gals on pedigrees has honed my strategies to sharpness.

When you have already searched a lot of sources–even if all you have done is check the online databases–you have only scratched the surface of the records available to search for your difficult pedigree forebears.

So, an arsenal of strategies could be the sun glasses you need to see your ancestors.   And I have such an arsenal ready to share with you at the Northern Colorado Family History Expo!  You just have to register http://familyhistoryexpos.com

And sign up for my sun glasses on Migration :

• How Did My Ancestors Get into Pennsylvania and How Can I Document Them? We’ll explore together the many resources that Pennsylvania has–that no other state has!  And, by popular request, I will have a brand NEW book available on Pennsylvania research. It is called Pennsylvania Basic Sources. And it, too, includes strategies that will work on your hard-to-find ancestors. Once you put on these sun glasses!
• British Isles Migration Patterns to America. Did you know…?  That the majority of settlers who came to America before the American Revolution were from England?  Then Scotland?  Then Wales?  Then Ireland–including both the Catholic Irish and the Protestant Scots-Irish? If you have given up on crossing the Ocean with your English ancestors, you need these sun glasses.
• Migration Records and Sources Specific to the Old South.  This is a NEW class–we’ll examine together records that by-pass the many courthouse losses which the Old South experienced.  And you will discover some surprises in the case studies I intend to share.  Southern genealogy research is difficult, no matter what background your ancestors were.  These sun glasses will open your eyes to new data!

Will I see you there? Register now (if you are not already sighed on) at http://familyhistoryexpos.com

And keep posted to my blogs–Genealogy News Sheet, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, New York, and my new Scots-Irish blog about to be launched.   The next several issues will include some powerful genealogy strategies that work on tough ancestors.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com

PS Watch also for the Table of Contents for my new guide to Pennsylvania Basic Sources (and Strategies).  It will be finished and printed on Monday so I have copies for the Colorado Circuit Family History Expos in North Platte NE, Rapid City SD, Sheridan WY, and Loveland CO.  I’m speaking on Pennsylvania at the Northern Colorado Expo in Loveland.  Will I see you there?

If you’ve successfully traced all your Tennessee Ancestors–Quick cover your eyes.  This blog is not for you!

Tracing Tennessee ancestors before 1850 is a very difficult task at best. With people converging on Tennessee from Pennsylvania, from Vermont, and from Connecticut–as well as from Maryland, from Georgia, and from South Carolina.  You can expect migrations in from North Carolina and from Virginia.  After all, Tennessee was first settled by these hardy pioneers.

You can also expect New Yorkers to appear, since New York claimed the northern part of Tennessee as their own land.

Many of them carrying versions of the same surnames.  And merging into the same westward paths.  Perhaps sharing the same campfires along the way or loading their belongings on the same flatboats to float the shallow rivers.

Consider my surprise when I discovered that the Davis family arrived in Eastern Tennessee from a trip down the Ohio River, connecting with the mighty Mississippi, traveling overland across Arkansas and finding that land “too squishy,” continued overland to the Cumberland River, landing in Nashville where they stayed a short while, then droving their cattle up hill and down dale to their final destination in Roane County.  Tracing them was not an easy task.  The migration pattern alone was enough to stop the research cold.

Then consider the Smith family from Maryland by way of North Carolina, dipping down into South Carolina, then marching with returning soldiers into Jackson County Tennessee before finally settling in Shelby County.

Why did they move so often and in such weird patterns?

Believe it or not, I don’t have a satisfactory answer for you!  Many notes and lots of maps color-coded by family and route.  And pile of references to specific migration patterns.  One of these days, I’ll put it all together and write my conclusions in this blog.  Stay tuned–the answer may not come tomorrow.  My next blogs will be filled with sources and books to look at and genealogists to model.  Sprinkled liberally with call numbers so you can retrieve these items.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  I’ll share my search tracks and my thought processes so you can duplicate the research process if you want to.

PPS  I’ll also share my considerations of the research tools that enable me and you to find what we need to track a hard-to-find Tennessee ancestor.  Stay tuned.

And if you have some thoughts on these Tennessee ancestors of ours, or some strategies that worked for you–will you share with our readers?

After fits and starts and mistakes, the printer finally got all the Tennessee Research books printed right!  Do you have any idea what a trip this has been to get that book done, and printed correctly?

So if you do not get your copy within 10 days from today, let me know quickly–while I can still track those copies through the mail.

Whew–now we can get back to the real task at hand–increasing your success rate in researching Tennessee ancestors.  I decided to spend all of my efforts pressing to get those books finished.

And many thanks to Joan DeFato who did a great job identifying potential mistakes missed by proof readers.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  And stay tuned–this blog will explode with new and newly available Tennessee helps.

For sometime I have been looking for a good one volume history of Tennessee.  Available for purchase.  Easy to read.  With suggested readings that match these same criteria.

May I recommend:  Tennesseans and their Historyby Paul H. Bergeron, Stephen V. Ash, and Jeanette Keith.  Knoxville4, TN:  University of Tennessee Press, 1999.  3rd printing, 2007.  pp. x, 357.  Illustrations and maps.

In 1793, Governor Blount called for elections to be held in December for a territorial assembly, that would meet in January.  A total of 13 men gathered in Knoxville for this territorial meeting.  The sermon that opened the session called them to “…be subject  to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates.” 

Their purpose was to devise a list of ten men.  President Washington would then select, from this list, five to serve as a legislative council, making the territorial assembly a two-house body. 

James Winchester, Griffith Rutherford, John Sevier, Stokley Donelson, and Parmenas Taylor were chosen. 

And more than 200 persons,  traveled the long and tiring distance from Mero District (Nashville), to Knoxville to participate in this historic event–because of their intense, personal interest in self-government!

Top government officials were appointed.  Taxes were suggested–25 cents per 100 acres as well as  a poll tax on persons.  Counties and courts were established.  Two colleges were chartered.  A public printer was appointed and a delegate, representing Tennessee to the US Congress, was selected.

Then a  new census was requested of the Governor for 1795, and a referendum on the question of statehood.  A full and energetic agenda–not fully acceptable to larger landholders, because the land tax proposed was double what they were expecting.

The new census revealed 66,650 free persons–more than enough to qualify for statehood  and more than two times the population of 1791!  The slave population was 10,600.  G0vernor Blount called an election for 5 delegates from each county to draft a constitution.  The convention was to commence 11 Jan 1796.  

In a succinct chapter, the three authors describe these momentous events.  Without footnotes.  With a good index.  And suggested readings for every chapter.  This is a good, beginning history that includes  the whole history of Tennessee.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle.  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  You can still order Tennessee Research by Afton E. Reintjes at the pre-publication price of $30.00 plus $4.00 postage.  This popular new research guide is currently being reprinted–2nd printing!  And we can honor this pre-pub price until 31 December 2010 only.  Remember it includes a  preliminary version  of a reconstructed 1790 census based on 8 major lists of settlers in Tennessee.   You need to order by postal mail–PO Box 129, Tremonton UT 84337 or by FAX 435-553-4584.  My online bookstore will charge you the regular price of $40.00 plus $8.00 postage.

This is not a philosophy lesson–

Each time I come to the Family History Library,in Salt Lake City UT, to do client research;  or, to research what is new, what records have now been indexed online, what new study has been published on an old genealogy record category, or what local group has just been organized–whatever… I discover  genealogy records open whole new world.

A whole new world.  Please, read on–

Michael Hait, Records of the Slave Claims Commissions, 1864-1867:

1. Delaware.  Register of Claims.  114 claims.
2. Kentucky.  Register of Claims.  2,475 claims.
3. Maryland.  Register of  Claims.  Coming soon.

Volumes for Missouri, West Virginia, and Tennessee still to come from a collection of  “10 volumes and four additional boxes with more volumes.”  Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, National Archives, Washington DC.  Entry 348, PI117, Preliminary Inventory, AGO.

What is remarkable and time-worthy about these publications? The claims were submitted for compensation under General Order 329, to spark enlistment and enrollment of colored troops into the US Army during the Civil War.  1864 was a very bad time–much loss of troops and still no end in sight for a war that was wearing and brutal to all America.

The government paid local slave owners to free their slaves, providing the slaves with actual legal status  and papers.  And allowing the government to compensate the owner for the actual loss.  The amount  of detail given for both white and black  persons mentioned in the documents is remarkable.

And if you are trying to prove that your ancestor was named for his master, these claims will show those slaves who took the master’s surname.

I invite you to become acquainted with is new series, appearing in 2010 from Hait Family History Research Services, http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com

Watch for the Tennessee volume to appear–with record loss so fierce   in Tennessee, this record could be timely indeed.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  Live from the new glassed-in consulting room at the Family History Library, where our current Research Retreat is coming down to the wire–with attendees running to get all their records together before we end.

“Let us read about everything and about all people; it is the story line, the passing scene of history, we want to capture.”  Alex Haley (conversation, 1986).  So begins the Preface of a very interesting volume:  200 Years Through 200 Stories:  A Tennessee Bicentennial Collection,written by Anne Klebenow. 

The first printing in 1996 by the University of Tennessee Press at Knoxville was gobbled up quickly leading to a second printing in 1997.*   And it finally made it to the new bookshelf at the Family History Library this week. 

The book is dedicated to Alex Haley, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Roots.  Klebenow was a friend of Haley’s, serving as an editorial assistant on a project close to Alex Haley’s heart.  His untimely death in 1992, led to Klebenow being asked to carry on the project.  She had talked with him at length about the subjects in her book–which is essentially a series of 200 biographical sketches of the famous, and not-so-famous, and even infamous people who contributed to some 200 years of  Tennessee  history.  These bios are story-driven, making them easy to read giving interesting details not usually shared in biographies.  You will enjoy this personal approach to the history (and ancestry) you are now learning about Tennessee.

Notes about each person are referenced in what the author calls a selected bibliography.  It is rather extensive and includes multiple titles by most of the authors cited.  So if you like what you read here, you can find similar stuff by the same writers, or about the same person.   

The every-name index includes additional notes to identify specific persons.  This is unusual in any book and very helpful in this one.

You can match your family traditions, and stuff  you heard from the top of the stairs growing up, about your family to the meaty, and often dramatic ”nuggets” in these stories.  If you broaden your reach a bit, distant kinfolks often repeat the same things you already know–indicating a relationship to your family members.  So don’t just look for ancestors.  Look for kinfolks.   And enjoy new details about old ancestors.

Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

*  It seems that genealogists cannot get enough information about Tennessee–Afton Reintjes’ Tennessee Research, published 1 June 2010, is now in its second printing too.  With a stack of orders to be filled as soon as copies come from the press.  If you haven’t received your copy yet, it will be coming soon.

The 2010 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference held in Knoxville TN was preceded by a full day of sessions for Librarians by Librarians.  And it was wonderful!

Two databases stood out to me:

1. http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org Tennessee Virtual Archive, sponsored by the state library system, to provide electronic and searchable access to Tennessee’s rich historical records:  founding documents, with all the signatures; Civil War documents and photographs; the legacy of the African-Americans; and agriculture’s steady impact on the development of Tennessee.  Music, maps, and even wall hangings are available.
2. http://www.aca-dla.org Digital Library of Appalachia collections–archival and cultural materials for the history of Tennessee’s diverse population.  Quilts, photographs, documents from member college libraries and archives can be searched by keyword and by library holding the collection.  Some interesting contents include old Kentucky fiddlers, the North Carolina Amnesty letters, lists of log structures and their specs with photos, pottery makers, and more.  Collections can be submitted free by member institutions.  These contributing libraries and archives, include church facilities scattered over Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Please check these two resources out.  Genealogists are often so dependent on courthouse records and, since so many courthouses in Appalachia have suffered substantial record loss, their pedigrees are stopped.

By-pass these record losses with records and artifacts that were never stored in the courthouse to begin with.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle.  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  Personal documents and artifacts are often better and more reliable than court documents.  Break your losing streak!