One of the best resources you have is your local public library. Most have some kind of genealogy room. Some even host the local genealogical society.
The three libraries I am most familiar with are the ones I will talk about today. They are the Boone-Madison Public Library, Ritchie County Public Library, and Martinsburg Berkeley County Public Library.
Boone-Madison Public Library is a special place for me. It is the place I first found others looking into their family trees. And as it happened they were looking at different branches of my tree. I learned the basics of genealogy there. The library is also home to the Boone County Genealogical Society, the group I went to when I first started. They were, and are, a bunch of knowledgeable, helpful people.
Ritchie County Public Library moved into a new building last year. The have a nice "genealogy room" on the second floor. They mostly have local genealogy items, but they do have a pretty good selection of West Virginia historical books. I even found a book on Pocahontas County there that has some of my relative in it. If you need documents from the courthouse, it is only about 3 blocks away. So if your are in Ritchie County, it is a good place to make your base.
This leaves my current local library, Martinsburg Berkeley County Public Library. Both the library itself and it's online resources make it a good tool for genealogical research. They have a nice genealogical/WV history room and a fairly large selection of books about West Virginia. They have a library subscription to Ancestry.com that you can use on a PC in the library if you have a library card. Using your library card you can also access Heritage Quest's US Census database and images even from home. The library also has a link to WV Info Depot, which allows free access to archived newspapers in West Virginia, the US and some foreign papers as well. Contact me if you want the ID and password, or better yet, go to your local library in West Virginia and ask them for it.
The library is one of the best and cheapest sources for a genealogist, not only in the information they contain, but in the work space they provide. And happy, helpful librarians done hurt either.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Millie NELSON found!
When I first got interested in genealogy, my Mother told me about the story of Millie Nelson.
Apparently Millie, who was not married, came up from North Carolina with her brother Joe, her three children, and a bunch of other Nelson relatives sometime in the 1830's. Talk about scandal! This was extremely scandalous for the time period and for the family.
Of course, I wanted to know more, enquiring minds and all that. So I borrowed my Mother's copy of the "Branches of Turtle Creek" by W. W. Nelson and started reading. Not much more information was available.
It goes on to talk about the brothers and then it talks about Millie. With no mention of a husband, it talks about her seven children and a bit about each one. Nothing too scandalous there.
Flash forward about 40 years. I recently saw my aunt at my step-father's funeral. At the dinner afterward, she turned to me and said, "I found Millie."
I sat there for a few seconds and about 3 different Millies ran through my brain. I asked, "Millie Olden?"
And she said, "No, Millie Nelson."
I asked her where she had found the information and she said from a website. I asked her to send me the link.
I went to the house that night and did a web search on Millie Nelson. The last time I had searched was about seven years ago and did not find anything. Right off the bat I found not one, but two websites.
The first was a forum for the Genealogy(.)com site. It listed Millie, her children, her brothers, and... her parents and grandparents in the Nelson line. They had indeed come from North Carolina!
The source listed for this site was the second site I had found in my web search. I found it to be well organized, apparently well sourced, and full of information.
Of course I copied down the information and the sources to check. I didn't just copy and paste the new information into my tree. (More on why in a future post.) I am now in the process of going through and verifying the sources for the information. I don't want errors creeping into my tree. If it all holds together, then I will have taken back the Nelsons two more generations than I currently have. I also have some ideas for sources that would add to the information I found.
A week after the funeral, my aunt got home and emailed me the link she promised. It was the same as the second site I found in my search.
Just because you looked for something and didn't find it, doesn't mean the information isn't out there. It just means you didn't find it. Look through your family tree and see if you have a "brick wall" you haven't looked at in a while. Check again, you may be pleasantly surprised.
If you have any questions or comments, or if you find you are related to me, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email.
See Ya Later!
Apparently Millie, who was not married, came up from North Carolina with her brother Joe, her three children, and a bunch of other Nelson relatives sometime in the 1830's. Talk about scandal! This was extremely scandalous for the time period and for the family.
Of course, I wanted to know more, enquiring minds and all that. So I borrowed my Mother's copy of the "Branches of Turtle Creek" by W. W. Nelson and started reading. Not much more information was available.
"About 1838, it seems, a whole colony of Nelsons and near relatives came up from North Carolina to what is now Boone County -- but what relation each one was to the other is a question that no one seems to be able to answer."
It goes on to talk about the brothers and then it talks about Millie. With no mention of a husband, it talks about her seven children and a bit about each one. Nothing too scandalous there.
Flash forward about 40 years. I recently saw my aunt at my step-father's funeral. At the dinner afterward, she turned to me and said, "I found Millie."
I sat there for a few seconds and about 3 different Millies ran through my brain. I asked, "Millie Olden?"
And she said, "No, Millie Nelson."
I asked her where she had found the information and she said from a website. I asked her to send me the link.
I went to the house that night and did a web search on Millie Nelson. The last time I had searched was about seven years ago and did not find anything. Right off the bat I found not one, but two websites.
The first was a forum for the Genealogy(.)com site. It listed Millie, her children, her brothers, and... her parents and grandparents in the Nelson line. They had indeed come from North Carolina!
The source listed for this site was the second site I had found in my web search. I found it to be well organized, apparently well sourced, and full of information.
Of course I copied down the information and the sources to check. I didn't just copy and paste the new information into my tree. (More on why in a future post.) I am now in the process of going through and verifying the sources for the information. I don't want errors creeping into my tree. If it all holds together, then I will have taken back the Nelsons two more generations than I currently have. I also have some ideas for sources that would add to the information I found.
A week after the funeral, my aunt got home and emailed me the link she promised. It was the same as the second site I found in my search.
Just because you looked for something and didn't find it, doesn't mean the information isn't out there. It just means you didn't find it. Look through your family tree and see if you have a "brick wall" you haven't looked at in a while. Check again, you may be pleasantly surprised.
If you have any questions or comments, or if you find you are related to me, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email.
See Ya Later!
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