PART ONE: “Thorough County Research”
In the damaged county, what are some things you need to know before you start?
- What was NOT destroyed?
- Were there other records?
- When was the county formed?
- When was the county formed?
- Where were they BEFORE this county?
- Where are the surviving records stored?
- DATE of loss?
- What WAS destroyed?
- Cemeteries
- Church, school and WPA records
- Were any records reconstituted?
- Were records were transcribed?
- Were records abstracted?
- Family histories
- Local historians
- Early newspapers
PART TWO: “State and National Records”
What possible records might you find regarding your county in the State Archives?
- Vital statistics – births, deaths, etc.
- Marriages, divorces
- State census
- Appeals courts
- Land grants
- Military service and pensions
- Early newspapers
- Naturalizations
- Prison Records
- Church histories
- Insanity records
- Lineage societies
- Fraternal organization records
- Wills and probate records
- Military service records
- Widows pensions
- Prison records
- Tax records
- Military bounty land
- Census
- Farm Census
- Homesteads
- Land grants
- Military service and pensions
- Tax records
PART THREE: “Related Counties”
REFERENCES