Family History Compass
Researching in Unfamiliar Territory
by Juliana Smith
It all started with a call from a family friend who had a question about Family Tree Maker. From there the conversation turned to an ancestress she had been trying to locate. The family hailed from Georgia and had moved through several other southern states. I volunteered to do some preliminary poking around to see what I could find. (Yes, my obsession has reached the point where I'll hunt for just about anyone's ancestors!)
Starting a new research project is an exciting challenge and learning experience. It's like trying out a new recipe in someone else's kitchen. You're not sure where everything is kept, what tools are available or how it will turn out, but it's fun to try it. Today, I thought we'd take a look at some of the things we should consider when embarking on a research project in unfamiliar territory.
Get to Know Their Surroundings
This would be my first research expedition in Georgia, and I knew relatively little about Georgia history. Elizabeth Butcher was said to have been born in the "Cherokee Purchase," 21 March 1829. So what was the Cherokee Purchase? My first step was to Google it so that I would have a rough idea of where I was looking. My first search for Cherokee Purchase gave me a slew of hits, mainly for Jeep Cherokees and property for sale in Cherokee County. I got more specific and searched for:
"Cherokee Purchase" Georgia -jeep
The quotes told the search engine that Cherokee Purchase was an exact phrase that I wanted, Georgia narrowed it down further and "-jeep" eliminated any hits with the word "jeep" in it. I found several sites that told me that the Cherokee Purchase covered land from the Chattahoochee River west to Alabama, and north to Tennessee and North Carolina. I found a historical map of Georgia in the Perry Casteñeda Library's online map collection at www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/georgia_1895.jpg.
Although it was for a later period than what I was searching, it showed the Chattahoochee River and the counties as they were in 1895. Using Red Book (published by Ancestry), I could find out the dates the counties were formed and the parent counties for those that were formed later. Red Book would also be useful later in determining what records were available and when civil registration began in each county. It would also give me information as to any research peculiarities for Georgia.
Has It Been Done?
Now that I was a little more familiar with the geographical area in which I would be looking, my next step was to see if anyone had done work on this family. I found a tree that included an Elizabeth Butler in Ancestry.com's OneWorldTree (www.ancestry.com/trees). Although it listed her birth date as 21 March 1828, the fact that it was exactly one year off to the day, and that her birthplace was listed as Georgia, was enough to make me think she might be the right person. The father's name was listed as Henry P. Butcher and there were two spouses listed--Martha Wilkins, whose death date was listed as 22 May 1826, and Elizabeth Wilkins, whose first child was the Elizabeth I was looking at as a possible match.
There were six children listed with the first wife and fourteen by the second. Wow! That's quite a family. There was also an entry that said "Five Children Butcher." I also noted that one of the children was listed under both mothers. OneWorldTree pulls the records from the Ancestry World Tree and stitches possible matches together. The information found there is a compilation of what is found in the various databases submitted by users and is only as good as the underlying research. While there were these two obvious problems with the entry, there were also a whole lot of clues that I could follow-up on--eighteen of them in the form of siblings.
Timeline
Next, I went to my favorite tool for organizing and drew up a timeline based on the tree I had found. (Click here for more on creating timelines.) Since there were birth dates and places for the family, I started with those and began plugging them into a word processing document. Arranging the births as listed chronologically, I could see roughly where I would need to look to locate them in the census. The migration path they took matched what my friend had told me, so I was even more encouraged that I had perhaps found the right family.
Gathering and Organizing
At this point I went on a searching spree at Ancestry.com. I found census records for the father, Henry P. Butcher, from 1830-1860 and entries in a number of other databases as well. The pile on my desk began mounting, and I decided it was time to step back and organize what I had located. I opened a new family file in Family Tree Maker and began entering the information I had at that point, noting the sources as well. Since I had already noted discrepancies in some areas, I didn't want to have to keep going through the stack looking for where I had found a particular date.
I chose Family Tree Maker because it comes with the ability to search all of the Ancestry.com databases for all of the people I had entered into that family file. This was a timesaver when it came to searching for the siblings, and when I found records that matched the family, I was able to merge them into the file through the web merge tool. This made citing the sources a breeze.
More Creative Searches
Recognizing that I'd also want to do some more creative searches, particularly for years in which I wasn't able to locate the family, I also went directly to the databases in some cases. I went to the main search page at Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com/search/) and selected Georgia on the map. This allowed me to see a list of the databases that were available for that state.
I spied two databases of early Georgia marriages and tried a search for Butcher. I wasn't able to find Henry and either of his wives using the exact search and the Soundex option. To be thorough, I also checked under the bride's maiden name, and sure enough I found an entry for Elizabeth Wilkins and Henry Bucher. While it was a slight variation, it was enough to change the Soundex code from B326 to B260.
Another search that I needed to be creative with was a census search for Henry. The online tree listed Henry's place of death as Quachita Co., Arkansas in 1864. There is no Quachita County in Arkansas, but there is Ouachita County. I searched the 1860 census for the surname Butcher in Ouachita County in Arkansas and found Henry listed as H.P. Butcher. Another son was listed on the next page with only initials for his given and middle name as well, as were other people in that area. So if you are unable to locate an individual with a given name, try an initial. Since most of the census indexes at Ancestry.com are every-name indexes, you could also try the name of another member of the household.
Next Steps
The next steps will be up to my friend. Once I get her the information, she may wish to contact the person who submitted the tree online and exchange information. That person may have sources that we have not been able to access.
She can also check the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC), as well as libraries and archives that hold the original copies of the records. A quick check of the FHLC has already told me that the marriage records for the county where I found Henry and Elizabeth in the index are available on microfilm at the Family History Library. The film can also be ordered through a Family History Center near her for a nominal fee.
Research should also be done on siblings (and there are plenty of them!). Records available for Elizabeth's brothers and sisters may lead to more clues.
The cool part about this search was that all of it was done from home over the course of a few nights with resources that are available online. Now my friend has follow-ups that will keep her busy for quite a while.
It has also whetted my appetite and made me anxious to dive into my own family history again. And now that my column for this week is done, that is exactly what I plan on doing!
Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at ADNeditor@ancestry.com, but she regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.
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