GENEALOGY DATABASES

Where to find databases to help locate your Ancestors and their Origins

During troubled times, the English Parliament sought to rid itself of its perceived enemies. That included Irish Tories and Royalist prisoners.

Genealogy Tips:

Scottish emigrants owned large, productive sugar plantations in Barbados. After the Revolutionary War, Tories who feared being hanged fled to Canada and Barbados. Genealogical Publishing Company published the following books by Joanne McRee Sanders.
Barbados Wills and Administrations, Vol. 1 (1639-1680). Vol II (1681-1700. Vol. III (1701-1725).

Jacob Johnson was remembered as a hero when a headstone was placed over his grave on June 4, 1867. The eyewitness was Captain William Peace of Raleigh, North Carolina. Captain Peace said: “At a large fishing party at Hunter’s Mill Pond on Walnut Creek, near Raleigh (North Carolina), upwards of fifty years ago, the late Colonel Henderson proposed for amusement a little skim in the canoe on the pond. He, a young Scotch merchant named Callum, and I entered the canoe. Henderson was the helmsman and knew that neither Callum nor I could swim. He soon began to rock the canoe, dipping water at times, and, above the pier-head of the pond, he bore so heavily on the end where he was sitting that it tilted and turned over, throwing all three into the pond.

“Callum caught hold of me. I begged him to let go, as I could not swim. He did so and seized Henderson, and both sank to the bottom in ten feet of water.

“I struggled and kept myself above water until they came to my assistance from the shore and carried me out. A cry went up for Henderson and Callum.”
“Jacob Johnson was standing on the pier. Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped into the pond, dived in the direction of where he saw them sink, caught hold of Henderson, and brought him up. In an instant, a dozen swimmers were in the water from the shore to assist in bringing Henderson out, and Callum with him, who was clinging to the skirt of Henderson’s coat underneath, and at the moment invisible.” Source: The North Carolina Booklet, Vol. XI.

Discover Great Stories of the Past

Genealogy Tips

By Jeannette Holland Austin:

Find the Old Neighborhood

One of the first visits to make when searching for your ancestors is the cemetery where your people were buried. First, locate the old section. This is also the location of the graves of other relatives, such as aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Notably, the tombstones also include distant ancestors that you have not yet discovered. You will see their names as witnesses on special documents, such as old wills and testaments, estate transactions, receipts, and land plats. Sometimes there are surprises! I once discovered inscriptions on several tombstones naming the husband, the wife, and their children! A good idea is to write down all names in the old section.

GENEALOGY DATABASES

Notes from Jeannette Holland Austin:

The southeastern United States played a major role in the European migration of families to America. Religious persecution of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries was a driving force that sent the largest population of English, Scottish, Irish, and German families to America! The early port cities were Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Charleston. After crossing the Delaware River, the old wagon trail took thousands of families south and southwestward. The first regions in the southeast to be colonized were Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia.

As a result, Americans lay claim to this important heritage, and this is where to begin your research.

Just before Tomichichi died on October 5, 1839, he asked General Oglethorpe to be buried in the city square. A pyramid of stones marked the grave. In the 1880s, few people in Savannah, Georgia, believed that Chief Tomichichi had been buried in Wright Square. The debate was in the local newspapers. Finally, in 1899, the site was excavated, and the bones of the old chief were discovered. Thus, to honor the legacy, a large granite boulder with a copper plate was installed on the southeast corner.

While archaeologists speak of Indian “burial grounds,” old Indian maps reveal a network of villages across America. After the Indian Removal Act of 1833, there is no mention of Andrew Jackson ordering the villages destroyed. It is assumed that the large, red clump of dirt was a burial site. Also, it is assumed that the Indians could not speak English. Yet, Cherokee Indians published a newspaper in Cartersville, Georgia, before the removal.

The true history of Oglethorpe’s friendship with the Creek Indians has long since been forgotten. It is assumed that the Indians were the “bad guys.” Yet, there are so many stories that will surprise the reader. You simply have to find them through personal research.

The point of this story is that people forget, and time goes on. It is the genealogist who scans old records, asking questions, and seeking details of events. Because all possible surviving records are reviewed, this type of research is intensive and often lasts a lifetime! Cudos to those who preserve the research and pass it on!

The real heroes of the past are your ancestors. Remember that! Source: Old newspapers at Savannah Historical Society in Savannah, Georgia.

Georgia
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships, marriages.

Bibles, cemeteries, military, Georgia Obituaries (database) 1740-1935, traced families, obituaries, etc.
Kentucky
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships.

Bibles, books, military, deaths (selective), wills, estates, guardianships, distributions, Irish prisoners, American-Irish Society Notes, Ulster Plantation Notes, marriages for counties: Shelby, Pulaski, Mercer, Mason, Harrison, Fayette, Clarke, Boyle, Barren
North Carolina
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships.
Bibles, books, Quakers, Wills, estates, distributions, Palatines (1709-1710), Obituaries (Greenville News), Genealogy Research Notes, Colonial Wills 1677-1722, biographies, Cherokee removal (1838); marriages to 1799 in counties of Alamance, Ashe, Bertie, Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Carteret, Caswell, Chowan, Gates, McDowell, Mecklenberg and Pasquotank Counties. Genealogy Research Notes of North Carolina Families and genealogies.
South Carolina
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships.
Bibles, French Protestants, cemeteries of St. Michael's Church and Huguenot Church in Charleston, deaths in the South Carolina Gazette (1732-1774) and (1766-1774), Marriage Settlements 1775-1835 (includes Revolutionary War participants), Obituaries and Marriages in the Abbeville Banner (1847-1848), Notes, Origins
Tennessee
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships.

Virginia
County Records: Wills, estates, distributions, guardianships.

Genealogy-Books
A valuable collection of out-of-print books published during the 19th and 20th centuries that contain genealogical databases, family information, biographical sketches, cemeteries, and historical data. Includes England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Wales, and Scandinavian countries.
Special Collections
Miscellaneous: 1. Confederate Dead Database 2. Austin Collection, 2 vols. (traced families by Jeannette Holland Austin, for clients, et al, in most US States). 3. Genealogy Vault (5000-6000 traced families).