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Write Your Family History – And Send it to the Library of Congress!

2/3/2023

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Picture​Blank family record. 1888. Prints and Photographs Division.
Re-sharing a great informative post from the Library of Congress

January 13, 2014 by Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by James Sweany, head of Local History and Genealogy in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division.)

The best way to preserve your family history is to write it down. By publishing your family history, you are able to capture and preserve the stories, pictures and genealogical data, making it available for other family members and future generations. A history of your family will make a wonderful gift for your relatives, and you may find that your family becomes inspired to help you seek out additional family branches.

As my colleague Anne Toohey wrote in her blog post on Christmas Day, by writing your family history, you are taking the known names, dates and places of your ancestors, and providing a historical context in a story-like form. This way, your ancestors become much more than names on a pedigree chart. They become people who lived during an earlier time, who had experiences through which you and others can get to know them through your narrative. If you include photographs and images of vital records or other significant events, the text will come alive and will be much more interesting for the reader.

The key to making your family history useful to others is the organization. A table of contents and an index of names and places used in your history will take additional time, but these added details will be very useful to future researchers consulting your history. Also, it is very important to document your research. By compiling and publishing a family history, you are inviting others to continue your research. Cite your records and document your sources.  With documentation, others can build upon on the work you have done, and your history is more credible. There are various style manuals that can assist you with citation styles for footnotes, endnotes and bibliographies. If you decide to distribute your family history outside of your immediate family, be sure not to include personal information about people who are still living in order to protect their privacy.

The Library of Congress can help you find books about writing and publishing your family history. For example, how-to guidebooks that will help you organize your family history and resources on how to find a publisher can be identified in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. We invite you to seek guidance from our reference librarians through Ask a Librarian.  For assistance with resources that may be found in your local area, consult your public or nearby university library to search other library catalogs. Local genealogical societies and historical societies are also great resources for additional guidance.

When you write your family history, you may only be doing so for your relatives. However, we also invite you to consider sending a copy to the Library of Congress. Compiled genealogies and U.S. local histories are very important to the international research clientele who frequent the institution. The Library seeks to collect all published and self-published works available on these important topics. Through generations of such gifts, the Library has assembled the leading book collection of genealogy and local history information in the world.
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And who knows, perhaps not yet discovered relatives will be led back to your family line through your sharing of your family story!

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Revolutionary War Bounty Land

10/8/2019

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Although Tennessee is not a federal land state, meaning none of its land was owned by the federal government, some North Carolina Revolutionary War veterans received bounty land in the state. Bounty land is land the federal government set aside as a reward for those who served in the Revolutionary War as well as the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Indian Wars.

Modern day Tennessee was once part of western North Carolina. However, in 1784 North Carolina gave the lands back to the United States to create a military reserve. This land was to be used for land grants to North Carolina Revolutionary War veterans and their heirs. North Carolina did not use any of its own land for bounty land grants.


Revolutionary War bounty land grants and warrant records can be found in the major online genealogy databases. Remember, just because a man’s name was on a warrant does not mean he was in the war. Many grants were sold to individuals other than the veteran and there was a lot of cheating in the grant process. It is wise to search a roster of soldiers in the Revolutionary War to verify that the name on a warrant was a veteran. One such list is contained in this digitized book, Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the American Revolution. 
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Ancestry.com: North Carolina and Tennessee, Revolutionary War Land Warrants, 1783-1843
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Free State of Scott

10/7/2019

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by Barbara Hermann

This bit of information would have startled me awake in my 7th grade Tennessee History class: While doing research on Scott County, I discovered that in 1861, United States Senator Andrew Johnson made a speech in Scott County against secession from the Union. Scott County voters voted against secession. A short time later the county court, by resolution, formed “the Free and Independent State of Scott.” This took place after Tennessee voted to secede in June 1861. Although neither Tennessee nor the United States government  ever  legally recognized the Free State of Scott, the vote to create it was rescinded in 1986 as part of the statewide Homecoming ’86 celebration. You can read more about it in the Tennessee State Library archives at https://sos.tn.gov/tsla/tri-star-chronicles-scott-county.
 
Recently, I saw an ad for a movie on Netflix titled “Free State of Jones” and thought it might be fiction relating to Scott County, but it is actually the story of the real Jones County in Mississippi that became an independent state after a Confederacy draft law passed allowing one white male to be exempted from military service for every 20 slaves on a plantation. Poor farmers did not want to “fight a rich man’s war.” It turns out there was also a county in Alabama (Winston) that also chose to become a “free state” instead of joining the Confederacy! You can read more about these three counties in the online encyclopedias for each state.

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Burned Counties in Tennessee

10/6/2019

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Courthouse fires and other natural disasters caused records held in certain Tennessee counties to be permanently lost. These are termed “burned counties.”  For a complete list, visit “Lost Records: Courthouse Fires and Disasters in Tennessee” at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. 

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Pictured is the fourth Putnam County Courthouse,  taken sometime in 1900, probably not long after its construction was completed. The third court house in the county caught fire and burned on 13 May 1899. Many of the records housed in the court house were destroy.

Here are some tips for research in burned counties:
  • Create a detailed family group record to use as your guide.  Research the family as well as their friends, associates, and neighbors.
  • Check for relevant records in counties surrounding your burned county.
  • Look at records held by the state and federal government, such as land grants, censuses, and pension records from wars.
  • Also check church records, newspapers, as well as published county histories and biographies.
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County Boundary Changes

10/5/2019

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County boundaries changed frequently in the early years of the state. And continued to change, with Loudon, Monroe, McMinn, Sumner, Macon, Haywood and Tipton all experiencing changes in the second half of the twentieth century. There are several websites, including the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, the TNGenWeb Project and Map of Us, that are excellent resources for tracking boundary changes through time.
 
In order to locate records, it is critical to know the correct county for the time period you are searching. One of our clients was looking for an ancestor from Hillsdale, TN. Today, Hillsdale is in Macon County; but when her ancestor lived there, the area was part of Smith County. Knowing that, we were able to find the information she was looking for.
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Know Your County History

10/4/2019

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When you begin to research an early Tennessee ancestor, it is very important to take time to learn about the history of the area. Which county was the area in when your ancestors were there? Who were the first settlers; what drew them to the area and why? What was the predominant religion? This information can provide clues for not only finding your ancestors, but understanding potential migration paths.
 
Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee From the Earliest Time to the Present, (1887) including its Early Explorations and Pre-historic Races, also its Aboriginal and Pioneer Annals, which includes county histories for 82 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, is one source for early historical information. It provides a nineteenth century perspective along with information on early settlers and settlement locations, and the significant geographical features, climate, crops and roads that influenced settlement. The county histories also discuss the growth of churches, schools, businesses and county government.
 
Other sources for county history information include the Tennessee County History Series published by the Memphis State University Press in the 1980’s, books published by county historical societies, and county websites. TSLA has two very useful resources: the Bibliography of Local History Sources and the County Genealogical  “Fact Sheets."

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Before Statehood in 1796

10/3/2019

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Before Tennessee statehood in 1796, parts of Tennessee were located in present day North Carolina. For example, in 1775, Washington District, North Carolina was formed from land around the Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky Rivers. This later became part of Washington County, Tennessee. Davidson County, North Carolina was formed in 1783 from the Cumberland District and later became part of Davidson County, Tennessee. 
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​Keep in mind when doing research that some persons born before Tennessee became a state may report their birthplace as North Carolina rather than Tennessee.

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​Maps from mapofus.org
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Tennessee State Library and Archives

10/2/2019

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This world-class facility will blend the necessity of historic preservation with the ever-increasing demand for digital access. - Secretary Tre Hargett, 
The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA), located in Nashville, will soon be opened in its new 165,000 square foot facility on Bicentennial Mall at the intersection of Sixth Avenue N and Jefferson Street. Scheduled to be opened Fall 2019, the new building will ensure Tennessee's history will be preserved for generations. 

"This world-class facility will blend the necessity of historic preservation with the ever-increasing demand for digital access. I applaud Gov. Haslam and the entire General Assembly for making this a reality so we can better serve Tennesseans,” Tennessee State Secretary of State Tre Hargett said during the facility's ground breaking ceremony.


TSLA will be referenced frequently in this month’s blog posts. They have a wealth of information available to the genealogy researcher. Some of the information is online at https://sos.tn.gov/tsla, and some of it is just a phone call, email, chat or visit away. One resource that is still growing is the Genealogy Index Search. This index searches across many of the databases at the archives and identifies available records. 

In addition, TSLA has partnered with Ancestry to provide Tennessee residents free access to a number of Tennessee specific databases. These databases can be accessed through the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL).
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Celebrate Family History Month with TNGS

10/1/2019

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​October is Family History Month, and to celebrate, we will post a Tennessee genealogy research tip each day this month. The series will culminate on October 26th with a presentation at TNGS by Nancy Walczyk, Director of Research, on Tennessee Research (a part of our State Research Series.) This month's blogs reflect the experience of our volunteer researchers.

TNGS does research for individuals on a Tennessee ancestor as a fundraising project for the Society. More information about that project can be found on our website at https://tngs.org/Research-Requests.
Family History builds bridges between the generations of our families
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DNA for Newbies

4/11/2018

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If you've considered taking a DNA test but you're not exactly sure which one to get or even what you can learn from them, then this two-part series lecture is for you! 

Join us on Thursday, May 3 at 12pm at the 
Tennessee Genealogical Society, 7779 Poplar Pike in Germantown, when Debbie Atchley presents DNA Part 1 - Which test do I need to order?  She will discuss the difference between the three main types of DNA tests used and which ones each of the four major DNA companies use.

Part 1 of the DNA series will answer basic questions for those new to the science of DNA, such as which company uses which test, how to choose the correct test to answer your particular genealogical questions, and how DNA is carried through the generations. 

The Part 1 workshop will not cover analyzing or comparing DNA, chromosome browsers, GEDMATCH, or any other DNA analysis. These topics will be covered in DNA Part 2, which will be held on Saturday, July 28. That registration will be made available soon. 


Click here to register for DNA Part 1 - Which test for I need to order. The lecture is FREE for members and $5 for non-members. 

Click here to join the Tennessee Genealogical Society and receive all lectures given by TNGS for free or at a discounted price in addition to other fabulous benefits!

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