Documenting Existence
It is noteworthy while tramping through old graveyards that while there are broken and unreadable tombstones, many graves went unmarked.Perhaps you noticed some impressions in the soil which appeared to be graves of children? A great deal of work is required to ascertain who the missing children were of a particular family. From one census 10-year span to the next, all small children should reappear. Yet, they do not. We are aware of these children, but do not know happened to them? Are there common dates in families or in the cemetery which suggest measles or typhoid fever? The cemetery tells its own story, if one examines it closely by viewing all of the tombstones. In past eras when the keeping of the family bible was important, a family register was maintained. Such bibles (if you can find one) fill in the blanks left out by cemeteries. Perhaps someone posted an obituary an old newspapers, however, such a notice could appear in a regional newspaper, or even one in another State where the person had relatives. There is one thing for certain. The search requires many long hours of tedium. How many people, do you suppose, were lost to history?Index to Kentucky Wills and Estates
Even before the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee and Yuchi were removed from Kentucky, there were European settlers. Counties were not formed until after the American Revolutionary War. Thus, in wilderness regions, the genealogist must really dig to locate old colonial forts and militia records. My personal procedure is to read every page of the tax digest in the county where my ancestor resided, recording the description of acreage, number of acres, names of neighbors, waterways, district, etc. (whatever the tax digest provides) for each year, then trace that same acreage forward. This information provides a time-line for when he resided in the county. When his name no longer appears, I search the default list. A sensible place to search next is the adjoining counties because the old parent county lines changed with the ascent of the formation of new counties and even States. For example, Hampton County Virginia went to West Virginia. The boundary lines frequently changed. Next, I look at marriages with that surname. This also gives me a time-line of the marriages of the sons and daughters as well as an idea of whether or not any members of the family were still around. If there was a ten or twenty year gap, say, that means that the older generation has either died or moved away. Of course, a thorough search of the deed records tells a better story, but there may be little or nothing there.
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