Clark Doan of Tennessee Genealogical Society gave a wonderful interactive lecture on Navigating Roadblocks. With his permission, I want to share with you some of the things discussed that night. He put us into groups and each of us was given a question to answer. Below are the questions and some of the replies each group gave. See what you might can add to these lists!

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?

What other things might you explore?

• 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

What might you find in the National Archives or the Field Branches?

• Military bounty land
• Census
• Farm Census
• Homesteads
• Land grants
• Military service and pensions
• Tax records

PART THREE: “Related Counties”

Earlier counties that might have the records

Later (daughter) counties that might have the records

Neighboring Counties

REFERENCES

Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1930

References

Census

The Handy Book for Genealogists

Guides