Category: Court Records

Adoption Records Bastard Bonds Court Records Deeds divorce records Militia Records Road Orders Wills

Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions

James L. Douthat

In doing genealogical research, we often ignore the sources where we will find the information because we think it is too difficult to locate. The Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions as some states call them, is one of those sources. In every state and every county, there is an organization established to handle the day to day matters of that area. It is called by different names, but the actions are pretty much the same. A world of important records is found in their minutes with notations that are…

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Court Records Family History Genealogy

Surname Spellings

James L. Douthat

In genealogy, we are all researching at least one if not multiple surnames. Most of us are aware that many of the names we are researching may come with different spellings. Take for example the name Faris. I was working on this surname with a friend of mine as he could not find anything on his grandfather. As we drove over to the county we were going to research, I commented that we would look for Farris and Fariss as well as Faris. He assured me that it was only…

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Bondage Orders Court Records Land Transfers Ministers Returns Road Orders

Genealogy Information in County Court Records

James L. Douthat

One of the last places to look for your ancestors are the minutes of the official body that runs the county. They are sometimes called County Court, Court of Pleas and Quarterly Session, or later Board of Supervisors. The names will sometimes change within a county and within a state, but they all have much the same information. This body handles the day to day business of the county where your ancestors were or are living. Digging into these minutes is frequently very revealing. Depending on the time frame, there…

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Bible Records Biographies Church Records Court Records Marriage Records Wills

Finding Great-Grandma

James L. Douthat

Who was great-grandma?? This is a very frequently asked question since most of the time only her given name is known. We find this from the census beginning in the 1850 forward. We also find the name on deeds when the property is sold as is stated, “John Smith and his wife Alice sell to Robert Black….”. But the question remains, what was Alice’s last name? I’m sorry to say, there is no single silver bullet that takes us to the answer, but following are some clues to help up…

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