Exiting the Subscription Site Hamster Wheel

We are all guilty of it. In our quest for an elusive ancestor, we waste endless amounts of time searching those subscription websites again and again and again – hoping for different results. I think we have this tendency because we see the situation from a limited point of view. We are not ready to give up on the search for this ancestor – our “Option A”-- So we keep looking – “Option B.” And for many people, the only way they know how to look is to use one the major genealogy subscription sites.

Now don’t get me wrong. I rely heavily on subscription sites as does any genealogist – particularly when initially building a family tree.  However, the time will come where we need to expand our search beyond the obvious places. I want to touch on a few of those places today.

1)      Local State and County Historical Society or Genealogy Websites.

The past two weeks found me elbows deep in an intriguing client case. I traced the family line back to an ancestor born circa 1802 in southeastern Tennessee. This person’s unknown parentage presents an intriguing mystery based on information left by his grandchildren.

My search for the facts led me to the TNGen Web Project website. Here, I found a plethora of links and databases to aid me in my search for this ancestor. Most important to my specific research question, I found an indexed database of abstracted Monroe County Chancery Court records. Using the index, I searched for this ancestor’s surname. Long story short, I found a court record that has blown this case wide open with a brand-new research hypothesis.

Now, this particular ancestral line has been worked by a number of Ancestry.com users. Based on what I saw of their public trees and research notes, I think I can safely say not one of those individuals has EVER seen this court record.

Now keep in mind, after I found the abstract, I did not rely on it. I used this abstract to find copies of the original records. When I saw the digitized copies of the originals, I found them very difficult to read. Understandably, I believe the person who originally wrote the abstract (which led me to the copied originals) made some errors in that abstract. So, I am particularly glad I was able to access copies of the originals and read them (to the best of my ability) myself.

https://www.tngenweb.org/monroe/chancery/chanceryindex.htm

Copied original from Monroe County Chancery Court deposition records.

Court Depositions, Monroe County, Tennessee, 1849-1853, Case nos. 449-516, case 500, Asa Anderson v. Jefferson Gallaher, filed 11 March 1852; "Court depositions, 1832-1870," database online, FamilySearch (Familysearch.org : accessed 24 September 2020), FHL microfilm 8478649, non-consecutive images 817-835.

2)      State Archives

The Chancery Court case referred to a will, and wills often name relationships. I wanted desperately to be able to see the probate case relating to the will mentioned in the Chancery case. I already knew that a number of probate records for this county for the year in question had been lost. However, the value of finding the will to this case would have been so great that I could not leave any stone unturned. I ended up chatting with a Tennessee State Archive librarian just to confirm what I already feared – the probate cases for this time had not survived. In this instance, I had no luck – but YOU may have better luck with your ancestor!  It is absolutely worth your time to visit the State Archives website where your ancestor lived to see what they have. Your search may require you consult a librarian. “Well,” you might say, “I don’t know if my ancestor left any court records,” for example. Inquire anyways. There are indexes of which you may not be aware, or to which you may not have access  – but a librarian might. Particularly as our research takes us to those years before the creation of vital records – court cases, land records, and probate records can give to give new life to your search for your ancestor.

3)      Published works

Example of a published county history book

Marie Ross Peterson, Compiler, Echoes of Yesterday: Summit County Centennial History (Summit County, Utah : Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1947), p. 107.

I think those of us working ancestral lines that date back to the early 1800s and prior feel a little cheated when we can’t find those birth, marriage and death records -- Or when the records we do find are written in faded, archaic script almost impossible to read. The silver lining to early research is that you can often find very informative published works that can lead you to find your ancestors. I’m talking about county histories, biographies, published genealogies, abstracted court records and the like.

I recently conversed with a fellow genealogist who told me a story about how she found the origins of her brick wall ancestor. She was able to take a rare opportunity to research in Salt Lake City’s Family History Library. While there she decided to consult the published books section. Now, if you have spent any time researching at the FHL, you will know that the books section is organized by locality. So, she went to the shelf for her ancestor’s county in the United States. One by one, she opened up the index of each book, ran her finger down the alphabetical listings, looking for her ancestor’s surname. A few books into her search, she found it. She opened to that page and knew right away from the context that the paragraph was referring to her ancestor. The brick wall came tumbling down.

There are many such books out there. You may have to spend time researching “what is out there” and how you can consult those books. Start with the FamilySearch catalog. If you find something of interest with a call number, find out how you can access it. You may need to hire someone to look for you, or it may be in a local library somewhere available via interlibrary loan, or on ebay or from another used book seller. It may even be digitized. Don’t forget to query Google Books, Hathi Trust, Library of Congress or Internet Archive – where many of the books are not only digitized but also searchable.

So there you have it. Three less obvious places to check for your ancestors.  Also, don’t forget to look not only for your ancestor, but for their relatives and friends as well. Finally, after you’ve taken a break from those same search terms on the genealogy subscription sites, feel free after some time has passed to try the search again. New records are being added all the time. But until then, you may find the answer to your research question elsewhere!