In the hand of the law
When speling wazn’t standerd Reader Austin Gray is struggling with a document from the Laurens District of South Carolina from the early 1800s where one of his ancestors relinquishes her right of dower in a piece of property being sold by her husband. The hitch:...Dead-letter clues
Because the law said so Maybe you descend from J.B. Arnold or Miss S.S. Berry or Georgia Dennise or William Murphy or James Parker. Perhaps you’re researching Seth Cockerilie or Emma Johnson or Josiah Price or Rose Anne Regan or Cole Watkins. They all had one...The laws of Christmas: 2019 reprise
It wasn’t always a holiday In keeping with The Legal Genealogist’s holiday tradition of keeping the blog going while scrambling to handle holiday duties, this post (a reprise from years past), has a question for you: Are you planning for a good rest in...The first to record
With all due respect to the State of Georgia… There are times when The Legal Genealogist just can’t manage to silence that ear worm. You know the one I mean. It’s the Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess with the title that’s just too appropriate...The records of freedom
Not from the proclamation It wasn’t the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the enslaved population of the United States. Oh, that helped, for sure, but it was effective only in the states then in rebellion — in other words, in the Confederacy. The exact...History too
The Legal Genealogist is thoroughly embarrassed. Yesterday’s blog lamenting our newly-acquired headaches in finding federal court records due to the relocation of some records to a different National Archives repository missed part of the issue. Yes, as the blog...Mapping San Diego
Revisiting county boundaries The Legal Genealogist is heading off to Carlsbad, California, tomorrow on the last long-distance road trip of the year, for a a day of fun with a return visit to the North San Diego County Genealogical Society and its 2019 Fall Seminar at...In gold or silver coin
About those lawbooks… What exactly did Elizabeth Wright do for a living around 1867? You won’t find the answer in the 1850 census, even though you can find her in the 1850 census of St. Louis, Missouri. She was recorded as 38 years old, born in Scotland,...Mapping San Mateo
Just where would that ancestor have lived? So… an ancestor died in San Mateo County, California, on 1 January 1886. His obituary kindly informs us that he had lived in the same house for exactly 40 years, having moved in on 1 January 1846. Here’s the...Subscribe by Email
