Since before my research trip to Texas last May, I have been working on my mother’s family line involving N.H.O. Polly. He is her third great-grandfather. His daughter, Martha Jane, married George W. Lancaster. Part of the goal of the research trip was to locate more documents about him at local historical societies and archives.
Timeline
Family trees online name NHO’s parents, but I am not yet
convinced. So, what I am doing is writing up what I know into a report. I am
also creating a timeline of the events in his life and the source citations to
those documents. This timeline is mostly of deed transactions, tax lists,
census enumerations, and court records. I have added some historical events to
put the times into context, such as the start and end of the Civil War, the
formation of new counties, and the births and marriages of his children.
Adding the source citations has been tedious. Some of the documents were found years ago on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I want current citations, so I go to FamilySearch and try to locate the digital image. However, many of the Texas counties’ films are locked and I must wait until I get to the Oakland FamilySearch Center to view those films. I keep track of which ones I need by coloring the text in the spreadsheet red. As you can see from the sample, the citations include the direct URL to the image. That is so helpful when I want to review the image, and I will be able to just copy and paste the citation into any writing I am doing.
Newspapers
I have found many newspaper articles about NHO Polly’s work
as a traveling minister with the Christian church. My primary source for Texas
newspapers is the Texas Digital Newspaper Program on the Portal to Texas History website which is
free to search and use. Other newspaper titles can be found at Chronicling
America and Newspapers.com.
I have left these articles out of the timeline as they do not fit in as an “event.” Instead, I have a Word document where I write out the complete citation and then transcribe each article. There, I make note, using red text, of future research these articles point to. If a newspaper points to a new residence, then I may add it to the timeline, because there might be documents such as deeds or tax lists that I can search for in the new location.
Social and Historic Context
The other part of writing up this family’s story is
understanding the time and place in which they lived. I start by locating county
histories, maps showing the area, and academic articles written about the area
or people who lived in the area. One such book I found is The History of
Lewis County, Kentucky by Rev. O. G. Ragan. He read the court order books
and published many of their actions. I could cite the book for things I find,
but with the clues from the book, I have found the actions in the digital
version of the order books on FamilySearch.
In the book, I am looking for clues about the settlements on the creeks where the Pollys lived. And since NHO Polly became a minister, I have been looking for clues about the religious organizations in the area. I hope that I can locate some first-hand accounts of people who lived in Lewis County.
My final goal is to write a genealogy (KDP) beginning with NHO Polly and ending with his six children. I have begun the draft.
Note: I am posting about the progress on this research goal on my regular blog as I have more readers who might be interested in how I am working on this research project. But I usually write about my grandmother's ancestors (Pollys included) on Mam-ma's Southern Family blog.
Your meticulous citations will pay off in the long term, especially when you continue writing a genealogy that covers Polly's life and the children as well.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm hoping. It'll save me time, too!
DeleteThanks so much for setting this out in detail. Reporting to yourself -- capturing what you have and what's to be added or updated. It's daunting in the abstract, but possible when you show how it can be done.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. I hope some ideas resonate with you.
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