BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 It does take time, especially online where you can be taken in so many different directions and forget where you started. You end up getting sidetracked on collateral lines. It's best to do like I said... start with yourself and work your way back through marriage records until you've gone as far as you can with your direct lines (parents, grandparents, great grandparents), then you can add the collateral lines (aunts, uncles and cousins) later through census records, wills and obituaries. You can also get a free genealogy program from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadLegacy.asp It makes it easier to type in what you find and be able to look at it in a form that makes sense. It's free for the basic eddition but it's the best genealogy software I've ever used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 [ QUOTE ] Here are some of the earliest settlers. Most of us can trace our roots to at least a few of them. [/ QUOTE ] From that list, I know that I'm a direct descendant of Maxwell and one of the Peerys. Don't know whether or not that means I'm allowed to associate with any of you Wittens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Genealogy's one of my hobbies. I started tracing my family tree about a dozen years ago, mainly just out of curiosity. I now have about 2,000 individuals in my database. It's really not as difficult to pursue as one might think. Although one of my wife's uncles pretty much knows the family history of darned near everyone in Buchanan and Tazewell counties, so that's been helpful for me. Alas, there are no famous ancestors I've found thus far. One of my direct ancestors owned the land that is now the site of Tazewell County Country Club. My 3rd great grandfather participated in the burning of Chambersburg, PA during the Civil War. And another direct ancestor was the next door neighbor of Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law. Otherwise I am apparently descended from a long line of civilians, Democrats, and horse thieves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcecilgolf 11 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Here are some of the earliest settlers. Most of us can trace our roots to at least a few of them. [/ QUOTE ] From that list, I know that I'm a direct descendant of Maxwell and one of the Peerys. Don't know whether or not that means I'm allowed to associate with any of you Wittens. [/ QUOTE ] haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Well you do have a famous relative even if he wasn't an ancestor, Governor George Perry, and of course Perry and Maxwell are two of the most prominent families in Tazewell County history. I became interested in genealogy 5-6 years ago because of a family mystery concerning our surname. Most of the extended family used a different surname than my grandfather and his offspring. We sort of knew why but there were so many different versions of the story we didn't know which to believe. Once I got started I actually solved it quickly, and then when I found the connection to Daniel Boone through my grandmother's line I was hooked. I haven't done much research in the last few years though. I have all my lines back to brick walls but I've never compiled it all. It's just boxes full of documents right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 By the way Alum, you should pm me with some of your surnames and we can see if we have any common line. It's a pretty safe bet that we do if any of yours are from Baptist Valley, Bandy and some parts of Buchanan County. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaveFan09 50 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 wooooot Buchanan baby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 [ QUOTE ] By the way Alum, you should pm me with some of your surnames and we can see if we have any common line. It's a pretty safe bet that we do if any of yours are from Baptist Valley, Bandy and some parts of Buchanan County. [/ QUOTE ] Done. Seems like we conversed about this briefly a while back, and I think you're probably kin to my wife's family as well. Hope this doesn't wind up making my kids inbred or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs52 484 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] By the way Alum, you should pm me with some of your surnames and we can see if we have any common line. It's a pretty safe bet that we do if any of yours are from Baptist Valley, Bandy and some parts of Buchanan County. [/ QUOTE ] Done. Seems like we conversed about this briefly a while back, and I think you're probably kin to my wife's family as well. Hope this doesn't wind up making my kids inbred or anything. [/ QUOTE ] LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 [ QUOTE ] That's very true. Buchanan County has lost records to flooding. ..reporting of births and deaths wasn't required in Virginia until 1910. [/ QUOTE ] Births/deaths were FIRST required in Va. starting in 1853. It was repealed in 1896 & re-instated 1912, so lots of localities have records from pre-1910. We haven't lost anything due to flooding that I'm aware of. The only thing I know of that was "lost" were the marriages for 1881 & 1882 (our courthouse burned down around 1882), but our death records go back to our "birth" in 1858. A lot of records don't exist for the Civil War years, and 99% of the 1890 NATIONAL census was destroyed due to a fire and bad management in D.C. If you visit the Grundy library, you'll find about 3 dozen books of local county census, marriage, birth & death records that my dad put together in the 80's & 90's. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html. http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/vital/dripabout.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 The way I understand it is they were voluntary until 1896, not record at all from then until 1911 and have been required since 1912. I've seen the pre-1896 death records for Buchanan and Tazewell but neither has very many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 hmmm... now dad says he doesn't know if the '37 or '57 floods destroyed anything. I asked him the q. a diff. way & got a diff. answer. He's getting that way now. Being required and actually existing are diff. things. He said he wasn't able to find his dad's death record from 1937 ... he knows it was recorded, because he was the one who filed it. Very frustrating stuff, this research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 I seem to remember someone saying they lost records in a flood. I could be thinking of another courthouse though. I've been to a few of them. That's strange that he couldn't get a death record from 1937. Did he send to Richmond for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLU 10 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Here ya go guys! you can take it a new level http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070110/wr_nm/britain_passengers_dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 That's great! It doesn't help me since all of my ancestors were here pre-1800 but it will be a good resource for a lot of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 It's kind of a small world after all. After checking some records, it appears that my 2nd great grandaunt was the first wife of BigD's great grandfather. Which makes us completely unrelated, yet almost cousins-in-law. Is there a word that is defined as "almost a coincidence?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 So you are related to her. I'll dig up her info and send it to you when I get the chance. I'm sure you'll also be interested in the 3 children (the ones who lived) she had with my great grandfather. The oldest left the area in the 1920's and spent the rest of his life in Seattle. I have extensive information on him and the family he raised there just because it was another one of those mysteries I wanted to solve. It's an interesting one too. Lots of twists and turns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 [ QUOTE ] So you are related to her. I'll dig up her info and send it to you when I get the chance. I'm sure you'll also be interested in the 3 children (the ones who lived) she had with my great grandfather. The oldest left the area in the 1920's and spent the rest of his life in Seattle. I have extensive information on him and the family he raised there just because it was another one of those mysteries I wanted to solve. It's an interesting one too. Lots of twists and turns. [/ QUOTE ] That would be way cool. You know where to find me, Cousin D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 [ QUOTE ] That's great! It doesn't help me since all of my ancestors were here pre-1800 but it will be a good resource for a lot of people. [/ QUOTE ] Same here. We have a NC deed from the late 1700's. Let us know if you see of any listings from Europe before that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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