1. In the beginning. Basic principles of genealogy -- Two basic charts -- Tips for success -- Creating a knowledge base -- Consult the elders -- Family gatherings, reunions, and funerals -- 2. Census records. About census records -- Where to find census records -- Using census records -- Indexes and soundex -- A case study: the search for ancestors of Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Blount) Armstead -- 3. Federal sources. Social Security records -- Military records -- Bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands -- Freedman's Savings and Trust Company -- Federal land records -- NUCMC -- Southern Claims Commission -- 4. State, county, and local sources. State records -- County records -- Local records -- Combining records: The case of William Collins -- Research guides to the states -- 5. Special situations -- "Free Negroes" before the Civil War -- Manumission records -- Free Black registers -- Census records -- Guardianship records -- Tax rolls -- State records -- Land records -- Urban rree Blacks before 1865 -- Native American connections -- Immigrants -- For further reading: free persons of color before 1865 -- 6. What's in a name? -- Given names -- Surnames -- A case study: one Crossley family -- The next steps -- 7. Location, location, location. 1870 families in the north or west -- 1870 families in the south -- 1860 census schedules -- Using land records -- Miscellaneous records -- On location: a study of Thomas Bowen -- 8. The other family. Studying the slaveholder candidate -- The other family: a family profile -- Case study: Caldonia (Short) Hilson -- 9. The search for ancestors in slaveholder documents. The slave as chattel property -- The records -- Legal and public domain records -- Deeds and property records -- Estate documents -- Court records -- Business and personal records -- Other resources -- 10. Case study: the issue of mixed race. The search for Henry Dotson -- The post-Civil War search -- The pre-Civil War search -- William Dotson, the slaveholder -- William Dotson, the father -- 11. Case study: a story of triumph and tragedy. The first steps: tracking back to 1870 -- The search for a cluster in 1870 -- The search for the slaveholder -- Focus on pre-Civil War documents -- 12. Case study: all in the neighborhood. Post-Civil War research: identifying Archie's family -- The 1870 community -- Pre-Civil War research: identifying the slaveholder(s) -- A candidate family to study -- The parent generation -- Appendix A: Free and slaveholding states and territories in 1861 -- Appendix B: Federal census, 1790-1930. Which census reports ...? -- First federal census available for each state -- Appendix C: State archives -- Appendix D: National archives and regional branches -- Appendix E: Blank forms.
|
