Legislative petitions
Americans have been complaining about things to government — and about government — since they stepped off the boat in the New World, long before there was an America.
The Legal Genealogist is willing to bet that if there’d been easy access to pen and paper on the first ships carrying colonists — and some possibility of action that didn’t involve being pitched overboard — they’d have been complaining then too.
And the way we Americans have complained, in writing in the form of petitions for redress of grievances, has created records that are largely unused by genealogists and yet can rightly be described as containing a treasure trove for almost any family.
Want to know more? Join me tomorrow night, Tuesday, September 10th, at 9 p.m. EDT, 8 p.m. CDT, 7 p.m. MDT and 6 p.m. PDT, when the Illinois State Genealogical Society hosts a free webinar, “To the Honorable, the General Assembly” – The Treasure Trove in Legislative Petitions.
You need to register in advance here, but the webinar is free and all attendees will get the handout.
Now… I know. I know.
It’s Tuesday. At 9 p.m. EDT, 8 p.m. CDT even.
Head to head with Jim Parsons and his French ancestry. The season finale, I do believe.
Webinar, WDYTYA. WDYTYA, webinar.
What a conundrum!
Except, of course, that you can always watch WDYTYA online after it runs on TLC. And there’s only one webinar. Unless you’re a member of the Illinois State Genealogical Society you won’t be able to watch the webinar afterwards.
So come join me, tomorrow, at 9 p.m. EDT, 8 p.m. CDT, 7 p.m. MDT and 6 p.m. PDT. You can catch Jim Parsons later.
… Or you could join the Illinois State Genealogical Society and get long term access to this webinar and a whole host of others — 20, at last count, from a host of top notch presenters — as a member benefit.
Just sayin’…
You’re not up against WDYTYA. I can DVR that. You’re competing with the Rangers. I will be multi-tasking.
Gasp! You mean the Rangers didn’t check with ISGS? Well… of all the nerve…
This was one of the best webinar that I have attended, Judy you definitely raised the bar a few feet.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Gus!
Judy, that was one of the best webinars I’ve been to in a long time – talk about eye opening! I hope you find out what happened to Sarah Martin at some point 😉
But what I wanted to ask was – on all the sites for finding aids for Michigan for legislative petitions, all the links were bad. Do you have any idea where to go for theirs? I didn’t find much in Google Books or on MeLcat.
Thanks for the kind words, Concetta!
Looks like Michigan is a tough nut to crack — the only legislative materials listed on the Archives website are fairly recent (well into the 1900s). But I’d check for two key options: (1) contact the archives and ask them where the records of the early legislatures are; and (2) use the State Library to access the legislative journals for the years you’re interested in.
Good luck!!!