Genealogists spend their careers searching in courthouses, archives and now online, but sometimes records they need are right where they started, at home.
I recently came across my own “baby book” created after World War II by my parents, during the lifetime of several of my great-grandparents. The family tree chart therein shows what the family knew then. I also have the baby book created at my mother’s birth, copyrighted in 1915, showing people had the opportunity a century ago to record family information.
Have you looked at yours? At what you wrote in your own children’s books? Asked your cousins where theirs are?
I interviewed my brother-in-law’s aunt about 20 years ago and obtained copies of her ancestor’s 1912 Russian passport, as well as money order receipts where her son sent money from the U.S., and the address was specific down to the province, the town and the road.
So, check around, ask your relatives, make copies, and share what you have as well.
Mitchell County marriages
Jessie H. and Robin R. Paulk continue to publish books on Georgia and Florida county records, families and cemeteries. Their latest is “Mitchell County, Georgia, Marriage Records Index, 1867 to 1940.”
There are two alphabetical lists of marriages; first, the men, giving the groom, the bride, the date, the book and page number. The second list is with the bride first, and the same information. It includes all marriages, black and white. Omitted, unfortunately, is the name and affiliation of whomever presided at the wedding.
The printing was underwritten by the R.J. Taylor Jr. Foundation, which bought 45 copies to be donated to major genealogy collections in Georgia and elsewhere. Copies are available for $35 plus $7 shipping from Paulk Research, P.O. Box 275, Salem, FL 32356. Check segenealogyrecords.com as well as the bookstore site: jessie-h-paulk-research.myshopify.com.
Newsletter is a must
Lisa Louise Cooke is a major presence at National Genealogical Society conferences, offering practical advice in her lectures on various topics. Her website is equally useful and her free newsletter is a must to get current information. Check out lisalouisecooke.com for her Genealogy Gems.
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