Using Archives to Fill the Gaps in Your Ancestor's Timeline

Using Archives to Fill the Gaps in Your Ancestor's Timeline

Do you have gaps in your ancestor's timeline? Are you curious about what your ancestor's did in-between the time the census was taken? You might just find what your looking for in the many records collections of an archive.

Lyle Family Records Collection, Houston County ,TN. Archives

Working daily in an archive, I get to work with many kinds of records that are not your "normal" genealogical records. A lot of these unique records are not online and have to be sought out by the genealogist. Records in archives can help you fill in the gaps in your ancestor's timeline.

As a genealogists for the past 27 years, I have been working diligently on my own family history and that of my husbands. Recently, I was able to combine both archives work and genealogy research all in one with a fantastic result.

The Stewart County, Tennessee Archives is just one of our wonderful archives here in Tennessee and the area where my husband's family lived back in the 1800's. I recently became aware of a packet of records that had been found in the Stewart County, Tennessee Archives for a Jesse Glasgow (1816-1892), my husband's great great grandfather. I requested copies of these original records that included over 50 pages of documents and receipts that have never been microfilmed and are not online anywhere.

Inside the Stewart County, Tennessee Archives. Photo courtesy Stewart County, Tennessee Archives

One of the documents that was sent to me was a copy of a receipt for a Louisiana Lottery Ticket that Jesse Glasgow had purchased in June 1888. Jesse bought 1 ticket and the ticket number was #92074.

Courtesy Stewart County, Tennessee Archives, Jesse Glasgow Louisiana Lottery Ticket Notification, June 9, 1888

I found it interesting that Jesse Glasgow was buying a lottery ticket from Louisiana while living in Tennessee. And I didn't even know there was a lottery in the 1800's. So I did some research and found that the Louisiana Lottery was a very controversial event in the history of the State of Louisiana. You can read about the Louisiana Lottery here: http://www.nola.com/175years/index.ssf/2011/09/1888_the_louisiana_lottery_was.html

It is not known if Jesse Glasgow won anything from the Louisiana Lottery but the fact that he bought a ticket and I have a copy of the receipt from the Stewart County, Tennessee Archives helps me to document an event in his life that happened between the 1880 and 1900 census records. I had nothing recorded for Jesse between these census years and now I do because of a county archive with records that they have archived and preserved.

Courtesy "The Times-Picayune" Newspaper Photographs, an example of a Louisiana State Lottery Ticket, May 8, 1888

Remember: It's Not All Online, Contact or Visit An Archive Today!


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Get More Information About Filling in Those Gaps With My New Legacy Family Tree Webinar!

Using Archived to Fill the Gaps in Your Ancestor's Timeline
http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2538

NEW! Webinars from The Archive Lady!

Legacy Family Tree is celebrating a Summer Spectacular! Releasing brand new webinars series every two weeks!

The first series is the "Archives Series" by ME, The Archive Lady!

The 4 NEW webinars in the series are:

Family Gatherings: Dragging Genealogy Information Out of Your Family
http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2536 

Family gatherings are the ideal place to collect genealogical information. Sometimes it is difficult to get your family members to give up the knowledge they have because they are just not interested. This webinar will give you handy tips and tricks to get your family members talking and sharing the information they have and they won't even know they are doing it!

Disaster Planning for the Genealogist, Safeguarding Your Genealogical Records
http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2534 

Natural disasters and man-made disasters happen all the time. Are your genealogical records stored and archived in such a way that they will survive through a disaster? Learn from an archivist how to come up with your own disaster plan and safeguard your genealogical records from destruction.

Scrap Paper and Orphan Documents in the Archives
http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2537 

Many of our archives have scrap paper and orphan documents that are discovered on a daily basis that don't belong to any particular records collection. In this webinar find out what archives do with these records and how you as a genealogists can discover these pieces of scrap paper and orphan documents in archive to help with your own family research.

Using Archives to Fill the Gaps in Your Ancestor's Timeline
http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2538 

Do you have gaps of missing information in your ancestor's timeline? Using archives and the records they hold can fill in those gaps. Learn about unique records that are found in archives that will help to tell your ancestor's story and add information to your ancestor's timeline.

REMEMBER: IT'S NOT ALL ONLINE, CONTACT OR VISIT AN ARCHIVE TODAY!


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Unprocessed Records Collections in the Archives

Last week I presented a webinar for the Ontario Genealogical Society on It's Not All Online: Researching in Archives. One of the questions asked by an attendee was "Are there unprocessed records in an archive?" and my answer was YES!

As an archivist, working in an archive everyday, I get very excited when someone walks through the door with a records donation in hand. Many of our archives would not have the historical records they have without the generosity of others that make records donations. Whether it's documents, photographs, ephemera or artifacts, our archives are constantly accepting records donations.

Parker Surname Vertical File, Houston County, TN. Archives

Many archives have back rooms full of unprocessed and uncatalogued records collections. Sometimes they are even sitting in the original boxes they were donated. These records collections have not been microfilmed, they are not online anywhere but they exist and the genealogist needs to seek them out.

One tip that I like to share with genealogists is to ask the staff at the archives about these unprocessed and uncatalogued records collections. Many times these records collections haven't even been processed yet but the archivist might let you look through a specific collection. Be prepared, sometimes the archivist doesn't allow patrons to view unprocessed collections. But like I always say "It doesn't hurt to ask!" The archivist should know what they have in those collections and should be able to help the genealogist decide what could possibly help them with their research.

Many of our archives and archivists are very busy processing records, helping patrons, answer email, etc. that many records collections could just be sitting waiting to be processed. If you have made a research trip to an archive, it wouldn't hurt to ask about any new record donations or collections. There could very well be records in those boxes about your ancestors.

Houston County Lions Club Records Donation, Houston County, TN. Archives

If you are emailing or talking to the archives by phone, be sure and ask about any new records collections that have been processed or that have recently been donated and are waiting to be processed. Most likely you will have to travel to the facility to see the records but you can get an idea of what is available. 

The next time you are at an archive or communicating with them by email or phone, don't forget to ask the archivist about uncatalogued records or any new records donations that haven't been processed yet.

REMEMBER: IT'S NOT ALL ONLINE, CONTACT OR VISIT AND ARCHIVE TODAY!

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Not All Genealogy Records Are Online! 

Get Tips from an Archivist on How to Use Archives!

Legacy Family Tree Webinar

It's Not All Online: Researching in Archives

http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1145

Legacy Family Tree QuickGuide

It's Not All Online: Researching in Archives

PDF Version: http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1202

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