Genealogical Research

One of my favorite things to do is pick apart a record. In fact, when I taught beginning genealogy classes a couple of years ago, one of the sections was called “Getting the most from your records”. I want to help you delve deeply into each record you find so that you can make the most of your research.

Our example today is a record I have for one of my ancestors, Orra Gathright Morgan. She lived most of her life in Jackson Co., GA. Following is her death notice, with the citation. For today, I’m going to put myself in your shoes; that is, I’m going to pretend I was doing Internet research and stumbled across this record online through the Jackson Co., GAGenWeb Project and that my records on this woman are sparse to nonexistent. (Normally, I would give you the exact URL, but since I’m in the middle of restructuring that web site, the link to Grandma Morgan’s death notice might change over the next couple of weeks.) Here’s what I found:

“Submitted by DWC. Note: this blip refers to Orra Gathright Morgan, wife of William Morgan (1797 - 1863).

The Jackson Herald, Friday, February 20, 1891, Vol. XI, No. 5, p. 3

Apple Valley

Grandma Morgan died Tuesday morning at 9 o’clock”

Now, let’s look at this record more deeply:

Step 1: I print a copy of the web page for my records. On the copy, I note the exact URL (web site address) where I found the information and the date of creation (if included on the page). I note the web master (if included), then follow the links back to the home page, note its URL and the site’s owner or web master, and the date the site was updated. (Why do you need this? So you can cite the source in your database later on.)

Step 2: I notice that the submitter’s initials (DWC) are underlined. I click on the link and write down the submitter’s name and e-mail address on the copy I made. I make a note on my to-do list for the Morgan family that I need to write the submitter and ask: 1) Where s/he found the record; 2) Was it from an original source (e.g. the actual newspaper or a microfilmed copy) or from a secondary source (a published abstract of this newspaper’s issues); 3) Is the submitter related to the family in question, and if so how and is s/he willing to exchange information; 4) How does the submitter know that this record refers to Orra Gathright Morgan, wife of William Morgan?; 5) If I don’t have dates of birth and death for William Morgan, I ask where the submitter found those dates. I leave space so that I can add more questions as they come to me.

Step 3: I make a note on my to-do list for the Morgan family to find a library or research center where microfilmed copies of The Jackson Herald can be found. (Later, I will use that note to try to find the original record. Always, always, always go back to the original!)

Step 4: I try to find an old calendar or other resource that will help me count backwards to the Tuesday before February 20, 1891 so I can figure out what date Grandma Morgan died on. (Many newspapers, even modern ones, will list the day of the week on which each issue was published, which makes it a little easier to calculate dates mentioned.)

Step 5: I pull out my map of Jackson County and search it to see if Apple Valley is listed anywhere on it. If it is, I make a note on my to-do list to see if there are any historical societies in that town so that I can write to see if they have information on the Morgan and Gathright families. If not, I make a note to search an atlas or map contemporary with Grandma Morgan’s time. I want to know exactly what area of Jackson County this little community was located in.

Step 6: I wonder why she was referred to as “Grandma Morgan” instead of “Mrs. William Morgan” or some other moniker. Does this indicate something about her personally, e.g. that she was well-known and well-liked, or is it merely descriptive (she had a lot of grandchildren)? Was the editor or submitter of this death notice to the newspaper in some way related to her? I make a note on my to-do list to see if the editor had familial ties to Grandma Morgan. I also make a note under my note for Step 3 to see if the submitter’s name was mentioned in the death notice.

Step 7: I take a moment to decide on the accuracy of the information contained on the web page about Grandma Morgan. I ask myself again if the submitter took information from the original issue in toto, if s/he abstracted from the original, or if it was taken from an abstract or other secondary record. Were any errors made in transcribing from the submitter through the web master? Are there any typos? (If I were looking at the original, I would also ask those questions and then decide how reliable the information was. Since the issue was published so close to Grandma Morgan’s date of death, I would probably lean toward placing a high amount of credibility on this source, since it was generated at or near the time of death.)

Step 8: I enter the text of this web page into the notes section of my database for Grandma Morgan, along with the information mentioned in Step 1. I do not enter the date of death into my database until I have a) verified that this record does in fact pertain to Orra Gathright Morgan, and b) verified the information against the orginal record. I file the paper copy in the paper file with other records I’ve gathered about this person.

Step 9: I brainstorm to figure out which Jackson County records I should look in to find additional information. I make a note to check the cemetery book for Jackson County to see if I can find Orra Gathright Morgan and her husband, William. I wonder if any estate records were generated at the time of her death, and make a note to check those. Did Grandma Morgan live in Jackson County in 1880? I make a note to work backwards through the census records in Jackson County searching for this family. I also make a note to check for any land transfers, or see if this couple owned land and where it was located (hence the map I looked at earlier; if more than one William Morgan lived in Jackson County, knowing where this William Morgan lived will help me figure out which records pertain to him). Since no other records jump to mind, I go the the web site for the Georgia Department of Archives and History to see what other records are available for Jackson County during the latter half of the 19th century. I make a note to check those for references to the Morgan and Gathright families in general and Orra Gathright Morgan specifically, if any come up during the search. If nothing does, I try to figure out in what other places records for Jackson County might be held, like the local historical society or public library, and make a note to check those places as well.

Step 10: I follow up on my to-do list. First, I write a brief but descriptive e-mail to the submitter. I am polite and respectful and enclose my e-mail address for further correspondence. I print a copy of the e-mail I sent and file it in the correspondence portion of my records on this family. I make note of the to-do items that can be fulfilled in Jackson County and place those on my Jackson County to-do list (or start one). I decide if I need to make a trip to Jackson County. If that is not feasible, I decide if I need to hire a researcher to follow up on this, or check to see if there are volunteers on Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness or other web sites who can do some brief legwork for me. I also look through genealogy forums on Rootsweb/Ancestry, GenForum, or other message boards for researchers who might know more about this family.

And then I sit back and wonder. How long did Grandma Morgan live in Apple Valley before her death? Did her husband predecease her, or was he still alive in 1891? When was she born, and where? And so on. Each record can generate more questions than any one person could answer in a lifetime, but that is half the fun.

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