Genealogical Research

Over the weekend, a Curtis family researcher, Al F., sent me images of a record he’d found on a William Curtis, who may have been the same William Curtis who was a son of Amos and Naoma Curtis of Rabun County, Georgia. The last record I had for William was an 1861 tax roll for Rabun County, where he was listed in the 557th Georgia Militia District, which is also known as the Tennessee Valley, or the Valley (more properly called the Little Tennessee River Valley, although this section is only one of the many valleys through which this river ranges). After that, nothing. No deeds, no court business that I’ve found (although I am still looking through those records). He was not mentioned in his father’s estate records (1875) as one of the heirs, and so I concluded that he had died between 1861 and 1875. My first thought was to check Confederate States Army (CSA) enlistment records for Rabun County and nearby Macon County, North Carolina. As I already have those indexed, it took only a moment to determine that he was not mentioned in the published lists for those two counties. So, I placed him on the appropriate “to do” lists as a reminder to search the original records, and set the matter from my mind.

Al’s e-mail came out of the blue and surprised me quite a bit. Seems he’d been poking around on *footnote and found a record of a William Curtis who enlisted in Company K, 1st Regiment South Carolina Artillery, CSA on February 28, 1862 in Walhalla, SC (located in then-Pickens District, SC, present-day Oconee County). This was surprising because William lived right on the Georgia-North Carolina border. I currrently live about a mile south of where he lived then, and it’s about a 45 minute drive from here to Walhalla. Imagine what it would’ve been like then to travel that distance on horseback, in a wagon, or on foot!

At any rate, the record Al sent me had been generated upon William’s death on April 13, 1862 in Fort Moultrie, SC, to record his effects. Two years later, on April 30, 1864, a man named “Amos Curtis, Fa.” presented a claim to the Office of the Confederate States Auditor for the War Department to pick up William’s personal effects. We believe the “Fa.” means “father”. If so, this is fairly convincing evidence that this William is the same William who was born to Amos and Naoma Curtis. I would, however, prefer to see an enlistment record with William’s birth date on it or something else to corroborate the connection. There were other Amos Curtises in this general area at the time. As always, further research is needed, but this is still a very exciting find.

Which brings me to *footnote. I have not had the opportunity to dig around in *footnote’s databases myself, although I have had other researchers send me information they had found on my ancestors. (Isn’t the genealogical community wonderful?) Currrently, *footnote is running a special on annual subscriptions in honor of Black History Month, at a rate of $59.95 per annum (a savings of $10). This is a steal, especially for those searching for their ancestors’ military service. The quality of the captured images is outstanding, but that is the only part of *footnote’s service to which I can attest, as I have never used it.

I will add a precaution to check the services offered at your library before you subscribe to *footnote. If your library offers the Library Edition of Ancestry.com and/or Heritage Quest, check those first to see if you can find your ancestor’s record. If, however, you do not have access to the (mostly) free versions of Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest, then look into *footnote’s services.

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