Probate notice for Mary Pitman, single woman. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.02917
By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student
Up to this point in the US: Probate Records course we have learned a lot about the history and laws of the U.S. concerning probate situations. There were a lot of terms, examples, and information in the first three modules but I managed to make it through. The next two modules contained a directory of states which broke out information even more and concluded with a bibliographic resource list in Module 6.
The directory will be a useful tool for me in the future as I research my family across the country. Each entry gave a brief description of what information you can usually find, where it is typically located and any interesting facts about the state. Particularly useful is the information on lost record locations. We all know of counties or towns that have lost records due to natural disasters or war. There are records still being lost today due to fire, flood, or neglect. It makes us look outside of our comfort zones for more potential records, but it is nice to know some of the possible problems up front before you start looking for something that no longer exists.
Finally, in Module 6 the course concludes with a directory of websites and books that are useful for research in each of the states. It is not a complete listing because let’s face it, that would be hundreds of pages long! This listing contains larger inclusive books for the states and in particular indexes. A few states do not have listings though since they only had county books or websites and nothing for statewide research.
I think I will take the weekend and see what I can find for some of my ancestors in the resources listed here. It will be a great way to put what I learned into practical application. Look for my next post to see what I found!
See you online!
