Follow the Wagon Roads to Discover Your Ancestors
Most genealogists begin their research using census records. That is the appropriate startup. You can compare that data with tombstone records and Bible records. But when it comes to discovering past generations, one must consult county records.
This is the real locator of the oldest generations that begin to emerge on your pedigree chart and family group sheets. After the American Revolutionary War, the colonists began registering their deeds, taxes, wills, estates, and marriages in the county of residence.
It is possible to trace your ancestors back to the early 1600s, when Europeans first began arriving in Virginia. Charleston, South Carolina, an early port city frequented by merchant ships, preserved all of its records. These records include everything from affidavits concerning pirates to land parcels and detailed estate records!
As new settlers moved from place to place, they followed the wagon trail from Philadelphia south into the Carolinas, Georgia, and to far-west Virginia. It is not a question of connecting them to one state or county, but rather to all thirteen colonies.
The earliest emigrants to America sprang from England, Ireland, and Scotland and crossed the plains westward. This is the reason that Pioneer Families created databases that include Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia, and merged the work into one website —
FREE NEWSLETTER - GENEALOGY TIPS & BEYOND