This session will focus on the effort to balance time, quality and completion of a research project. The first segment will look at the process from research concept to logistics including the conflicting issues between the researcher and previous research. This will include the movement from basic data collection, evaluation and analysis to the development of a direction and specific actions.
1 hour 36 minutes Free to non-subscribers through January 17, 2018
Courthouses are places where you can find answers to genealogical problems. They are a rich source of written records created as a result of the laws, the time period, and personal activities of your ancestors. The steps delineated throughout this course will assist you to be more effective as you visit courthouses in your search for genealogical information.∗∗∗Note: To view this video please use Internet Explorer or Firefox as your web browser.
And a two-part blog post from Linda Stufflebean ("12 Tips: Preparing for the Family History Library and Rootstech 2018. There is an emphasis on Rootstech in Salt Lake City but really these are great tips any time you venture out of your house into a family history library: Part 1 Part 2
I know this isn't Mahlon Hibbs' origin story, but it sometimes feels like it. "Athena is "born" from Zeus's forehead as a result of him having swallowed her mother Metis, as he grasps the clothing of Eileithyia on the right; black-figured amphora, 550–525 BC, Louvre." By Wikipedia User:Bibi Saint-Pol (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
I have a lot of "brick walls" in my tree. They are likely brick walls for me because I am still too disorganized and unexperienced a genealogist to break them down yet. Mahlon Hibbs is one of my most vexing "brick walls."
He emerges fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus, in his 50s, in eastern Tennessee (Anderson County) about 1802. A few years later some local records indicated that he petitioned to be exempt from paying taxes due to his advanced age. He had a large family, participated in some land sales and road work, and moved to Putnam County, Indiana in the early 1820s. He either died there or in Iowa some time after 1850, well over 100 years old. His birth place in the 1850 Census indicates that he was born in Virginia.
This guy had lived an entire life already by the time I find his first record. I need a plan!
I need to review the records I've gathered so far:
some early Anderson County, Tennessee tax records
early Anderson County, Tennesse court minutes
Anderson County, Tennessee land records
BLM record for Putnam County, Indiana
Federal census records 1830-1850 (before 1830 he was in areas where the federal census no longer exists)
I already have a fully developed tree for his children, and I need to review his family and neighbors using the FAN club method:
Right away I see that I have only focused on very particular areas, not the surrounding counties in either Tennessee or Indiana. I also know that I lack knowledge in general of the formation of Tennessee and the role North Carolina in Tennessee history (and where to find those records). I am also not very skilled at research in Virginia.
The above shows how Tennessee was when Mahlon Hibbs likely first came on the scene. The area in what is now Clinton, Anderson County (close to where Anderson and Knox counties meet) was in Spencer County (State of Franklin). Before it became Anderson County in 1801 it was part of a series of other counties, including Knox, Grainger, Hawkins, Spencer and Sullivan counties. It is possible that Mahlon was actually in Washington ("Was") county until about 1802. (from the Tennessee mapofus which uses AniMap Plus 3.0, permission of the Goldbug Company).
The above shows how Tennessee was when Mahlon Hibbs starts showing up in records in Anderson County (shown above as "An") around 1803.(from the Tennessee mapofus which uses AniMap Plus 3.0, permission of the Goldbug Company).
The above shows how Tennessee looked when Mahlon Hibbs and family moved out from Anderson County ("An"). (from the Tennessee mapofus which uses AniMap Plus 3.0, permission of the Goldbug Company).
The above is how Indiana looked when Mahlon and his extended family moved to Putnam county (shown above as "Put") (from the Indiana mapofus which uses AniMap Plus 3.0, permission of the Goldbug Company).
The above shows how Indiana looked when Mahlon Hibbs last appears on a record in Putnam County, Indiana (1850 Census). (from the Indiana mapofus which uses AniMap Plus 3.0, permission of the Goldbug Company).
Reviewing these maps, I see I need to create mini locality guides for Anderson County, Tennessee (and surrounding/previous counties), and Putnam County, Indiana (and surrounding counties), with a table including the following categories:
Vital records
Land records
Probate records
Cemetery records
Church records (Quaker and Baptist denominations would take priority as those the the most likely from what I already know).
Census records
Finally, I need to review my father's DNA cousin matches (particularly at Ancestry.com, where there are the most amount of trees to compare). He has steadily been gaining Hibbs related cousins, and they have yielded a number of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky Hibbs lines that might help me (maybe Mahlon was in those places at some point).
![By Farragutful (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Washington_County_Courthouse_-_Iowa.jpg){kind=link}
