‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ returns April 3

As in earlier seasons, researchers will meet with them and pick one branch of their family to trace, sometimes including an overseas research trip.

For further information, see tlc.com.

South Carolina grants

Brent H. Holcomb, a well-known author and editor of hundreds of books on genealogy records from North and South Carolina, has published two more volumes: “South Carolina’s State Grants, Volume Four: Grant Books 16 Through 20, 1786-1787” and “South Carolina’s State Grants, Volume Five: Grant Books 21 Through 24, 1786-1789.”

Included are abstracts of each grant, giving the name, acreage, location, adjoining neighbors and dates. There is a full-name index in each book.

State grants are the first item in the history of the land and where one starts in understanding how, where and when their ancestors got land. These will be a great addition to any genealogy library with a South Carolina section and a must for researchers.

Original grants are at the South Carolina Archives in Columbia, but books of this caliber can help you locate them much easier. Also, knowing your ancestors’ neighbors often helps trace them in other records in case your person’s name is perhaps garbled.

Each volume contains more than 2,000 grants. They are available from Brent H. Holcomb, P.O. Box 21766, Columbia, SC 29221 for $40 each, plus $5 postage for one volume and $1.50 for the second one in the same mailing. For more on Holcomb's publications and his magazine, the South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, see scmar.com.

Florida migration

Florida is not usually a place we think of our ancestors moving to temporarily.

Recently, I traced the Harrod family from Laurens County, Ga., to Henry County, Ala., where a daughter married in 1828. Then they were in Leon County, Fla., in the 1830 census, and in 1832, when another daughter married. Afterward, they returned to Alabama by 1840.

So, don’t count Florida out if you have lost some relatives.