A new Genealogy Friend!

So these past couple of weeks have been kind of frustrating for me. Last weekend I went to the State Archives and had some fun pulling records and copying them, then scanning and (adding the transcription part to my ever growing to-do list). I brought a friend with me (you can read about our trip here) and showed her the ropes around the Archives and watched as she got really excited about learning how to research one’s family history at an archives institution (oh yeah and reading all those really old documents!)

My friend has since then collected some of her family history materials and started her family tree on Ancestry.com and already is asking questions about the stuff that “went down” in her family. Her excitement has led to my excitement. My response simply was, “uh oh, you’re gonna be addicted before you know it.”

I am a little green with envy because right now she has more time to spend on researching her family history than I do.  And she has a strong background in courthouse research from her paralegal education training! Who would have thought she’d be applying it to family history research! But the green envy monster aside, I’m so glad to have a new-found genealogy/family history “friend” to putz around with and bounce ideas with back and forth.

I just wish I could turn this into a full time endeavor…you know, be a “genealogist for hire…” specializing in North Carolina records…but could that really pay for the mortgage? And health insurance? Oh yeah and finish putting me through school…ah sigh…we shall see ;-)

Fearless Females - My Grandmother Barb

March is Women's History Month and Lisa Alzo over at the Accidental Genealogist blog is hosting 31 blogging prompts for the month of March in order to honor all of the "Fearless Females" in our family trees. Although I will not be following along day by day, I would like to include some tales of my female ancestors, and maybe even one or two still living relatives who have affected my life.

I'd like to start off talking about my Grandmother, Barbara Jo Binns.  She is still living and she is an inspiration to my genealogy and family history goals every day.  Although I don't get to speak to her very often, the letters that we exchange every few weeks or so, tell the tales of a life led by a woman who wanted everything that life had to offer her.  But who knew the responsibilities of what home, family, and work entailed.

Dec 1956 Wedding Photo

Barbara Jo Binns was the second of three daughters born to John and Blanche Binns in the 1930s in the bustling town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Her Father John was a meat cutter and her mother stayed at home with the three girls. When they got old enough and started High School, both John and Blanche went back to school and got teaching degrees.

Barbara married her high school sweetheart, Darrel Smith, who swept her away as a United States Air Force wife.

Before long, she had been to California, Alaska, and Washington, D. C!!! But her heart was back home with her family in Arkansas. Her mother, Blanche, had a stroke in her 50s and Barbara's Dad did the best he could to take care of her while still teaching school.  Barbara returned home with two young children while her husband continued his military career overseas and Stateside.  They divorced but then remarried a few years later. A third child was born and they divorced for good a second time.  

In my last letter, I asked my Grandmother Barb several questions about her two marriages and divorces to my Grandfather.  She said that her family did not judge her; but rather, they supported her decision to remarry. She said she did NOT wear the same wedding gown twice. The second ceremony was in a church but a much smaller affair and much less formal; in fact she did not even wear a wedding gown the second time around and doesn't remember him wearing a tux either. The impression I got was that she had finally settled down into a house with the kids and he wanted to be a part of that, so he asked if he could come home. She believes he just didn't want to move back in with his parents. 

I find it very interesting learning about how people viewed the world and situations back then 50 years ago. It really isn't much different than it is today, I don't think. People fall in and out of love.  They do what they have to do to survive, to take care of their family. I was around when my Grandfather left. I can say that I was pretty heartbroken. But it wasn't until 25 years later that I learned that my Grandparents had been married and divorced not once but TWICE! 

What have you learned from the living recently? 

Godwin Research at the NC State Archives

Last weekend I spent a few hours at the North Carolina State Archives to check out some Godwin family wills, estate files and deeds in Sampson and Johnston Counties. Researching Johnston County is new to me.  This is the first time I have crossed over from Sampson to Johnston County.  Many of our Godwin families are from both Sampson and Johnston Counties. It seems, however, that one family in particular may have jumped over from Sampson to Johnston County - that of James Godwin. 

In 1801, James Godwin died in Sampson County, North Carolina, leaving a widow, Elizabeth and several heirs. In 1827, the widow, Elizabeth Godwin shows up in Johnston County Court Minutes! Evidently her estate is now being administered by a William Godwin. Even though mention of the estate of Elizabeth Godwin is made in the Johnston County Court Minutes, no record of a will or estate has been found. I searched through the original wills and loose papers of estates of Johnston County at the Archives this time when I went, but did not find anything.

I was able to take a new inventory of what Godwin wills and estate files were on hand in both Johnston and Sampson Counties at the Archives while I was there. As you can tell, there's no will for Elizabeth Godwin in either Johnston or Sampson County, around 1827.




 This particular James Godwin family is not even really a part of my Godwin family as has been determined by DNA testing. I have been working with some descendants of this line of Godwins, however, to help determine ancestry of this line.


Negative evidence can be positive evidence after all in most cases, especially in the case of all of these Godwin families who even to this day dominate these parts of North Carolina. The more Godwins I can identify as belonging to this family, the more I can eliminate as belonging to my own family. This is what I mean by negative evidence.

So five hours later I located and reviewed several Johnston County deeds for William, Elizabeth, and James Godwin in order to determine approximately when they removed from Sampson County to Johnston County in the early 1800s. I brought along a friend with me who was interested in learning how to locate records at the Archives. She caught on super fast and was going through microfilms and printing off deeds like she'd been doing it for years! It's so much more fun to have friends there with you!

I really enjoyed my time at the Archives, but it pretty tiresome. I was happy to hear that they no longer close their doors during lunch. They remain open now instead of uprooting us and kicking all of us out at noon and then letting us back in at 1pm. They also seemed to have more staff on hand than the last time I went (when was that again? like over a year ago? Maybe two years ago?) I even saw a guy named Chris who had talked to my Public History Class last semester about what it was like working in an Archives. I remember him because he was one of the brave souls who had made a career change late in life and had gone to school while working full time.

I'm also enjoying working with my Godwin researchers - they are so full of ideas and smart as whips! There are 5 of us in the ring now. And they are great researchers, so I don't have to worry or fear that their research is flawed or biased. And everyone is chipping in which is great because there is so much work to be done. We are collecting deeds, wills, estate records, scanning them, and transcribing them and sharing all of this info and then trying to make sense of it all via email discussions. I am very thankful and fortunate to have met such a great group of researchers. Even if DNA does divide us in half. Well I never heard of that stopping anyone! 

Photo by Ginger R Smith, taken 28 Feb 2011, Raleigh, NC.
Oh yeah, did you like the little labels I used to put the lists of wills and estate files in? Well I got these graphics from rubyblossom's FLIKR page. 

Random Ramblings

Me at Occoneechee Mtn, Hillsborough, NC, Jan 29, 2011

Hey ya'll ....

Yeah this is me actually composing a post on my genealogy blog but this probably won't be much about genealogy today. I wanted to make an appearance and give a few updates about what's been going on in my life ... First of all, let me say that I've been thoroughly enjoying reading all of my fellow geneapeeps' posts about last week's Rootstech Conference! I am totally bumming that I missed it, however I probably would have been sooo overwhelmed...in fact I'm overwhelmed now and I haven't even left Durham!

I also want to give kudos for my fellow geneapeeps for being soooo articulate. Have I told you how much I envy you? I started blogging so that I would learn to write better. And become more comfortable. I thought that blogging would be a good platform for me to use to increase the amount of writing I did. But I found myself falling into the same traps - being such a darned technical writer! And I keep getting hung up on looking for good or quality CONTENT!

I just keep doubting myself. But then I realize that frankly I just don't have the time to think. Forget actually putting those thoughts down on paper. And believe it or not, I've actually been in a genealogy slump! -- GASP!!!  a what? no seriously. A genealogy slump. I've been so ashamed. Well that's what happens when you are young and you let your personal life take over... but alas I'm getting back into the swing of things!

Of course...there is that one thing...it's called SCHOOL. Yes, I am still a graduate student and from the looks of it, I have approximately 2 more semesters left to go after this one. The second semester will be for writing my thesis paper. Ask me if I've even thought about what that will concern? And yes, I already took the class all about writing your thesis paper. I thought up and discarded a few topics already....

So I go to work and class and then I work some more to make up the hours I missed and then I have no time to blog or do genealogy. When I started school I didn't have much work to do at work. Now I've been slammed for the past year or two. I juggle with the idea of quitting and living off of financial aid every day. It's like a roller coaster.

So what's in my future? I still want to get a Master's in a Public History program, although don't get me wrong, I'm loving the library school thing. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when I'm not in school or working as a scientist in the lab, I'm working as a library intern at a very busy public library in N. Raleigh on the weekends and during the week. I love it! Oh yeah back to this whole Public History thing. If I don't get into the local program (they've already rejected me once), then I might apply to another program further away which would definitely require me to quit my job and **gasp** move? um how would I pay my mortgage? and pay for another place to live? financial aid will only go so far...So lots on my mind these days.

But I'm happy to be sharing this experience with you all...oh and don't worry, as you can see from the picture above, I do get out of the house sometimes!

Genealogy Goals for January 2011

So I didn't get as much done over the Christmas break as I had hoped. But I did start a couple of things that I hope to finish in January. I thought I would share them here:

1) To scan all of the genealogy documents that my cousin Richard sent me on the Binns and Brooks sides of my family and enter the information into my genealogy database

2) To enter all of the Binns, Anthony, and Pye names references from the Wilkes County Georgia books I copied from the Library into my excel spreadsheet. Determine the major Binns family lines in Wilkes Co. GA

3) To read Christine Rose's Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures book

4) Get back to working with some cousins on James Godwin Sr and Jr (not necessarily father and son) of North Carolina, including putting all relevant documents online on the Wiki site

5) Continue evaluating some Family Finder DNA test results of some Godwin relatives

Here's a toast to typing up loose ends!

Photo courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt 

A Day in My Dream Life

Amber Starfire offered the following writing prompt today on her Women's Memoirs Blog: If you’re not feeling motivated to write, ask yourself, “What would my life be like if I was living the life of my dreams?” and write a description of a typical day. Then, write about one small step you can take toward living that life.

First of all I just want to come right out and say that I would love to be a Professional Genealogist in my dream life. And since I'm such a well-rounded individual who likes to partake in several activities at once, I would throw in writing and speaking into the mix (also I'm sure it might provide additional income as well). 

I envision myself as having my own little niche inside North Carolina records specializing in historical documents that can be researched at the North Carolina State Archives.  I also envision myself as having acute historical knowledge of the State and various cultural events including the people, places, school, and geography.  

I would be well-organized (ha ha only in our dreams right!) and have each week planned out. I would work on research and reports for a minimum of two clients a week.  I would write for historical and genealogy journals, attend conferences, and book speaking engagements. 

I would keep up with technology and of course all of my genealogy cyber friends. I would assist, foster, and mentor new genealogy recruits and I would keep a daily log of how much time was spent on each process much like Randy Seaver does on his Geneaholic Blog. 

On a personal note, I would hope that I have a loving and supportive partner that I would have some free time to spend with.  Maybe make their lunches for them, or coffee in the mornings.  Or a brief visit or surprise lunch date would be nice. Oh yeah and of course I would drag them to my conferences as well, so they would have to be a good travel companion. 

What do you think? Am I on the right track or is it "Just a Dream?"

Photo by John Norton, lowjumpingfrog's photostream

Inventory of Beginner Genealogy Books at Wake County Libraries that Circulate

I’ve been interning for several weeks at a fairly big Wake County library in Raleigh and I was pretty surprised to see that their genealogy collection was pretty non-existent.

I think the only genealogy-related book I was actually able to put my hands on was the Genealogy for Dummies book.

I wanted to do a book display at the library on genealogy to celebrate Family History Month back in October. However, in order to do so, I would have to request genealogy books from other libraries because as I mentioned above, my library just didn’t have any.

When I started searching for genealogy books I kept running into the same roadblock – all the good ones were locked up tight at the Olivia Rainey History Library. Well, not really, this just means that they do not circulate, which would not be a good fit for my book display as the point of it was to get people to take the books home with them and read them!

I did an inventory of some of the basic genealogy books held throughout the 20 or so libraries in the Wake County system.  I ended up with a random collection of 13 books that are available to check out from these libraries along with 13 books that are only available at the History Library (that do not circulate).

Organizing your family history search : efficient & effective ways to gather and protect your genealogical research / Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. 1999 12 copies, 1 DNC at ORL	American genealogical research at the DAR, Washington, D.C. / by Eric G. Grundset and Steven B. Rhodes. 1997 DNC at ORL
Unpuzzling your past : a basic guide to genealogy / by Emily Anne Croom. 1995 5 copies, 1 DNC at ORL	Going to Salt Lake City to do family history research / J. Carlyle Parker. 1996 DNC at ORL
Uncovering your ancestry through family photographs / Maureen A. Taylor. 2000 2 copies, 1 DNC at ORL	Courthouse research for family historians : your guide to genealogical treasures / by Christine Rose. 2004 DNC at ORL
North Carolina research, genealogy and local history / edited by Helen F. M. Leary and Maurice R. Stirewalt. 1980 (older edition) 2 copies, 1 can circulate	Professional genealogy : a manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers, and librarians / editor, Elizabeth Shown Mills ; editorial board, Donn Devine, James L. Hansen, Helen F.M. Leary. 2001 DNC at ORL
Crafting your own heritage album / by Bev Braun. 2000 Several copies available	North Carolina Research : Genealogy and Local History / Helen F. M. Leary, C.G., F.A.S.G., editor. 1996 5 copies, none circulate
The researcher's guide to American genealogy / Val D. Greenwood. 2000 Several copies available	Land & property research in the United States / by E. Wade Hone.1997 DNC at ORL
Genealogy 101 : how to trace your family's history and heritage / Barbara Renick. 2003 Several copies available	Ancestry's guide to research : case studies in American genealogy / by Johni Cerny & Arlene Eakle.1985 DNC at ORL
Genealogy for the first time : research your family history / Laura Best. 2003 Several copies available	The Source : a guidebook of American genealogy / edited by Arlene Eakle and Johni Cerny. 1984. 1997. 2006 DNC at ORL; DNC at other Libraries too
The family tree guide book : everything you need to know to trace your genealogy across North America / the editors of Family Tree Magazine. 2003 Several copies available	The handybook for genealogists : United States of America.2006 DNC at ORL
The everything family tree book : research and preserve your family history / Kimberly Powell. 2006 Several copies available	Red Book 2004 DNC at ORL
A genealogist's guide to discovering your female ancestors / Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. 1998 2 copies, one at ORL, one that circs	Ancestors : a beginner's guide to family history and genealogy / by Jim and Terry Willard with Jane Wilson. 1997 DNC at ORL
The complete idiot's guide to genealogy / by Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls. 2005 Several copies available	A genealogist's guide to discovering your immigrant & ethnic ancestors : how to find and record your unique heritage / Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. 2000 DNC at ORL
The weekend genealogist : timesaving techniques for effective research / Marcia Yannizze Melnyk. Several copies available	Evidence explained : citing history sources from artifacts to cyberspace / Elizabeth Shown Mills. 2007 DNC at ORL

So from the look of this list, maybe we are not so bad off after all? I was thinking that because we had a dedicated History Library that the genealogy selection for the mainstream libraries which could circulate was reduced; However, it does seem like the beginner genealogist wouldn’t have to go very far to get their hands on some good quality books, albeit they might have to do some finagling to get them sent to their local library.

Transitioning from beginner to intermediate genealogist might present more of a problem, however.  Books like The Source, The Red Book,  and The Handybook are only available at the History Library. And any kind of specific type of research book covering records at the DAR library, cemetery research, immigrant research, land and property, court house, or North Carolina research is also only available at the History Library.

I was glad to see that Carmack’s Organizing your Family History Search, Greenwood’s The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, and Rising’s Family Tree Problem Solver were available for circulation through a couple of local libraries. Next time I will inventory the Durham Public Libraries’ genealogy collections. Durham County does not have a dedicated History Library, although they do have an “NC Collection Room” where they keep all of their non-circulating genealogy books.

How about your local library? Does it have any genealogy books that are available to be checked out? If not, are there other public libraries in your area from which you can request genealogy books be sent?