Category: Research Page 11 of 14

As always, what is held at county level can vary state to state, county to county. So again, it’s always best to seek more information on your county of interest by calling or seeking information online. Also, if you’re looking for more legal information with genealogy in mind, I can’t recommend The Legal Genealogist highly enough! She’s wonderful!

There are a number of court records that genealogists can use. However, these aren’t always easy to find or use so they do tend to be avoided. I’m going to go over some of the most common and more useful records for genealogists but know that each county (and city) courts have their own rules. So it’s best to contact the courthouse or county and see if they have the specific records you are looking for. Some of the older records can be kept in city/county/state archives, in state libraries, or even in historical societies as well. It’s also a good idea to be aware of the laws for that area at that time as some items (like naturalization – which I’ll discuss later) weren’t dealt with in the courts all the time.

Adoptions

This will be a tricky issue if you’re looking for adoption records. For one, depending on the time, adoptions weren’t a legal issue. People could have taken in their neighbor’s children, a relative’s children, or even a stranger’s children, without letting any legal entity know about it. It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that laws were made about adoption. [1]

Generally adoption records are sealed, so the process for getting them varies state by state and normally requires a number of forms and lots of patience! Even if the records do get opened, there is no guarantee you’ll find the birth parents listed on the birth certificate or much of anything. Now this issue has been changing and there are several states that are making the records available to the adoptee. For example, Illinois changed their law in 2010 on these and now anyone who was adopted there before 1946 can get their birth certificate by writing to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (See the Illinois Department of Public Health for more information.)

There is also DNA testing! If you’re curious about using that path, see the website Your Genetic Genealogist written by CeCe Moore. I highly recommend her!

Civil Action Documents

A civil action is when one person goes against someone else (sues them really) for a grievance of some kind. Depending on the area, this could be handled by an equity (also called chancery) court or a court of law (usually this was when money was wanted for damages).[2]

To find a case file, you also need something called a docket (or journal) where the court cases are normally listed chronologically. Sometimes an abstract is also included in the docket. There can be many documents in these files! However, not everything has survived and if they have, they are sometimes not accessible for researchers. These records can sometimes be the hardest to find!

Court Minute and Order Books

There are many of these books microfilmed at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. You can order the microfilm or see if it’s been put online. Most of the time, these books are indexed by the names of plaintiffs and defendants, however you can sometimes get lucky and find an every name index too. If these books aren’t at the Family History Library, check your county for more information on where to find these. In my county, many of these older court indexes are held in the county archives.

These books are pretty much what happened in court on that day. That means that they will not only have the names of the plaintiffs and defendants, as already mentioned, but they could also name the judge, legal representatives, the jurors, and witnesses, not to mention the case information. It could also include information on licenses given out that day, appointments for city projects, and more.

Divorces

These are normally found in the court where the divorce was granted. If you know the county and city of where the couple lived, narrowing it down to the court it was granted in shouldn’t be too difficult (of course, this isn’t always the case). Depending on the court, these records are kept separate or with other civil actions. The information they can contain are wonderful for genealogists: the names of the couple, when they were married and where, where they currently live, children involved, etc.

More Information

For more reading, check out these two websites, which discuss some of the background and other information on the United States court system:

• United States Court Records on FamilySearch’s wiki

Anyone want to chime in on court records they’ve found? Did I leave something out you feel is important? Let me know in the comment section!

Happy hunting!

 

 

[1] University of Oregon, Department of History, The Adoption History Project, timeline (http://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/timeline.html : accessed 2 Feb 2015).

[2] Professor Vernellia R. Randall, University of Dayton School of Law, Distinction Between Law and Equity, 2008 (http://academic.udayton.edu/legaled/remedies/Unit03b.htm : accessed 2 Feb 2015).

Going along the same theme of county records, today I’m going to look at probate records. One thing to keep in mind is there isn’t a hard and fast rule for where these records are kept and what each record has. This is a general idea for what can be found and where you can find the information.

Probate Record

A probate record is a court record created after someone has died and their real estate and personal items need to be distributed. These are usually pretty easy to obtain and they tend to go back pretty far into American history. These records have wonderful information in them about an ancestor and can help with figuring kinships, approximate death dates, and finding land records.

Location of Record

First, where you’d normally find probate records would be in a probate court in the county where the ancestor died. This court can have many names. For example, the one in my county is called the Circuit Court. Other names can be Register of Wills, Superior Court, District Court, etc.

Some of these records can be held in multiple areas as well. For example, in my county the older records are held by the County Archives and the more recent ones are still in the Circuit Court. Others may be held in the state archives or in the state library. Normally you can call your county probate office and ask them where the records are held for the time frame you are looking for.

Types of Probates

There are two different types of probate records: intestate and testate.

• Testate is what most would hope for; it means the person died with a will. The will itself can have a lot of genealogical information contained in them, like naming of children, which is especially nice when they name married daughters.
• Intestate means that someone died without leaving a will and it’s up to the court to settle everything and distribute items to heirs. The way this is done has to do with the law at the time in that area so it’s a good idea to know the probate laws for that county during your time frame.

Information in Records

This varies greatly but is my favorite part of working with probate records! Here’s a rundown of what you could find in nor particular order:

• The Will – This is only in testate records of course. It can include the name of his wife and his children. Sometimes it’ll simply be “my loving wife” instead of her name, it really varies.
• Letters of administration – This names the administrator of the will, who will settle the estate, and is probably a member of the immediate family of the deceased.
• Administration bonds – The administrator had to pay a fee to settle the will although this could be waived by the will. This document can help identify approximate date of death
• Sale bills – These can be items like the sale of personal property as well as funeral expenses.
• Receipts – This is a simple acknowledgement that someone received what they were supposed to from an estate.
• Inventory – Probably my favorite part of probate records is the listing of everything the deceased owned. It can include things like livestock, dishes, farm equipment, furniture, clothing, and more.
• Final Settlements – This is rather self-explanatory but it covers the debt that was paid, what was given to whom, and other fees were paid. This is usually the latest document in a record.
• Proofs of heirship – This can happen when a will is contested and can lead to a lot more information that you can find in court house records.
• Assignments of dowers – This would give the widow’s name and specifies what portion of her husband’s estate she has use of for her own life. Normally it would be one-third of her husband’s property.
• Decrees of distribution – This outlines the division and distribution of an estate and can list descendants with their relationship to the deceased.
• Guardianship appointments – This names a guardian if the deceased had minor children. It could be the surviving parent or some other close relative. These records can help determine age for a child too. In early American history, if a guardian was appointed that normally means the child was under 14. If the child chose his own guardian, that means he was over 14. This rule can vary and it’s always best to check the laws for that time. More about this is below.

Women

For early American history, women’s part in this is interesting. A married woman usually did not own property. Anything they had prior to being married – any inheritance or wages earned – became their husbands unless there was a will that specifically stated otherwise. So, few married women had wills. Widowed women who never remarried did make wills though. Of course, once again, each place is different but it’s good to know how women were viewed in the law to help you to understand how probate rulings could affect them.

The Legal Genealogist wrote a post about a Reversion of Dower that touches on women’s rights when it came to property. I highly recommend reading her blog by the way. She’s very informative and has a great writing style.

Guardianship

Since widows weren’t normally considered capable of taking charge of their children’s property, a child was normally appointed a man (usually a relative) to be the guardian for the children. This person could be appointed by the will or by the court if the will didn’t do so. These records are normally restricted now. Sometimes there can be a time frame for this restriction but often all of them are restricted.

Other Places to Find Probates

Probate records are normally in the county the person lived in at the time of his death. However, there are other places where you can find this information:

• There can be published wills and abstracts, which can help you find the original.
• Sometimes there are indexes to help you find these records. There are lists on the USGenWeb Project website and some on FamilySearch.org.
• FamilySearch.org has many indexes, abstracts, and whole collections of probates for specific counties available on microfilm. Go to the catalog section of the FamilySearch,org website (under the search tab). From there put in the county you need in the search box. Once found, hit enter and it’ll take you to a list of records for that county. You can scroll down to Probate Records and see what it has. Some of these are available to look through page by page or you may have to order the films. Obviously seeing the original is best, but this is wonderful if you aren’t able to go yourself.

There are many other records you can also find in courthouses and I’ll touch on what those are next week. Happy hunting everyone!

 

As many genealogists come to find, all the records they need aren’t online. (You are all shocked, I know!) The amount of what’s available changes nearly daily as more and more records are becoming digitized but suffice it to say, you will have to go out and about to get your many of your ancestor’s records.

Besides local libraries, one of my favorite resources are the county clerk offices.

(Some of the County Clerk offices are in amazing buildings like the one pictured above!)

I’ve been to several and noted that they are ALL different in some ways. Some have dedicated genealogy areas, some do not. Some have dedicated volunteers or even staff to find records, some do not. Some just let you almost have a field day with the original records, some (probably most) will not. It all varies.

First, what is the point of a county clerk? What does a county clerk do?

For the most part, a county clerk is responsible for public records. They can also be responsible for other things like issuing licenses (think marriage or even gun licenses), dealing with local elections, working with financial records, etc. It’s always important to check out the county of interest’s website for more information. For example, my county clerk is technically the clerk of the circuit court and is responsible for court issues and marriage licenses. So I wouldn’t go there for birth records or death records (those are in our health department) BUT, in my hometown in Michigan, I DO go to the county clerk’s office for birth and death records. Always check out the websites or call for more information!

So, what can you usually expect to find in a county clerk’s office?

Obviously, as I already showed, this can vary. But there are a few things you can expect to find:

• Vital Records – as one of the purposes of the county clerk is the official keeper of records, most will have access to vital records in their office. Birth and death records are normally kept here or in a county health building, or sometimes in both. Usually the websites will let you know where these records are and the years they are from.
• Marriage Records – this is normally going to be found here and is probably one of the easier records to find (not always the case though!). Again, check to see what dates the county has for recorded marriages. These usually start much earlier than recorded birth/death records. Also note that divorce are sometimes kept here too.

In areas with a smaller population, you can also find other records in the county clerk office. For example, some county clerk’s are also the county recorder, which deals in land records/deeds. Some county clerks also deal with passports. It really does depend.

So how do you get this information?

Doing some research before actually going to the office is your best bet. Find out what records are there and make a note of the records you wish  to find. Have as much information on that ancestor as possible! This includes birth/death date if you’re looking for either of those records plus their full name (maiden name too if possible). For marriage information, try to have both parties names and even the date or date range if possible.

Also call them or check out their website and ask them about their research policies. Some might have a form you can fill out before you get there. Some may have a dedicated section in their office to genealogy. Some may have local genealogy society members that volunteer their time and researchers are to only come during those times.

And ALL will have restrictions on birth and death records. Marriage records are less likely to be restricted but that is always a possibility as well. Many times you’ll see a restriction like 100 years after the birth date for either birth/death. There are ways to get through the restriction but it usually includes proving kinship and normally it has to be something close, like parent, children, and sometimes grandchildren.

Here is how it works in my hometown:

1. I make sure I have all the relevant information I can find on the ancestor. If I’m looking for a marriage record, I have an approx. date and names of the parties (although not usually the woman’s maiden name). For birth records, I make sure I know the birth date or approx. date and a name. For death records, I know the approx. death date and the name. My hometown county rule is for it to have been 101 years since the date of birth for either of those records, so I make sure the records do not fall into that restriction OR I fill out the forms to get around that before hand.
2. I go to my county building where the county clerk’s office is held. After going through the metal detector and being sure ALL electronics are not with me (ALWAYS CHECK THIS POLICY!), I proceed to the office.
3. The County Clerk office has HUGE books in corner shelving for genealogists. I head straight there. None of the clerks are dedicated to that section but will help you with questions and finding things as long as there isn’t a line of people.
4. I first look through the indexes to see if I can find the birth/death/marriage book and page number.
5. Once found I note it down (for citations of course) and then go to the book and find the information. Most of the time, these are simple registries. Depending on the year of the record, this may be all that is left of the record. If I want the official copy, I note down where it can be found from the index and then fill out a form to hand to one of the people behind the desk who then make me a certified copy for a fee. At this office, only certified copies are available for people to take and it’s about $15 per copy.
6. If I couldn’t find them in the index, but I know the date of the event, I will find the appropriate register book for the time period and hunt line by line. If it’s more recent and I still can’t find the information, I will then ask my question at the desk.

It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours for a research trip, depending on what I am looking for.

County Clerk offices tend to be the next step for most beginner genealogists after writing what you know and searching online. Be sure to check the county’s website or call them for information on restrictions, electronic policies, research policies, and what records are available. If the records aren’t there, they normally know where they are and can tell you where to go. Be aware that county records vary county by county (sometimes township by township) and it’s always best to know as much about them and their policies before going in to do research!

Happy hunting everyone!