Using An Index For Genealogical Analysis

One of the most time consuming activities for the genealogist is library work. At least that's the way it use to be. [Still an important aspect for those of us who like to smell a good book every now and then!]

In many cases, large volumes of texts exist with pages and pages of information. However, most texts contain an index which directs the researcher to a specific page number with information about that individual and/or subject title. For the surname JONES [my surname], the list is extensive with all those Johns, Williams, Richards, Thomases, Marys, Elizabeths, and the like. Likewise, the researcher may only have "clues" as to which John or Mary is important. Taking the time to "look up" each Jones listed [or any other surname], is sometimes necessary. Often, it will be more helpful to analyze the index before looking at each individual reference.

The figure to the right gives such an example. It uses a reference text entitled, Jefferson Co., VA-KY Early Marriages. Book I: 1781 - July 1826. This reference lists early marriages recorded in Jefferson Co., now KY in chronological sequence.

The first step is find a bland page such as notebook paper, copy paper, or graph paper. [By now you should have tons of graph paper!] The next step is to to find the length of the book or reference that contains the information. [This book is 200 pages.] Next, you select a scale between 1 and 200 that would represent the page numbers in the text. You place this scale along the top of the page and leave room for the alphabetical listing of the first names on the left hand side of the paper. You then turn to the index and begin listing the first names of all the JONES [or what ever surname you have chosen]. You place the page number of each along the scale at the point of each name. Thus you end up with a chart or table which list all names along a grid which fills up the paper. [Shown above] At one glance, each individual can be crossed reference for the same page number and approximate time period. Thus each person can be examined for relationship to all others listed.

This method allows the researcher to locate names which appear together (on the same page) without having to look up each name individually.

Table taken from an article written Jerry E. Jones, MD, MS, The Jones Genealogist, Vol. X , No. 6, March/April 1999 , pp. 5-7.

Learning Land Laws

The migration and settlement of one's ancestors is dependent upon the land laws that were "on the books" when they arrived to make their way. These laws would often change based upon the needs and political environment that produced them. It is helpful to be sure and try to understand the laws that were "in effect" at the time of settlement. I have written an example in a series of posts on Virginia Land Laws. These can be found at my blog,

http://thejonesgenealogist.blogspot.com in the following order:

Virginia Land Laws: A Chronology (Part I) - Sunday, December 19, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part II) Importation Rights - Monday, December 20, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part III) Treasury Rights - Tuesday, December 21, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part IV) Escheated Lands - Wednesday, December 22, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part V) The Processioning - Thursday, December 23, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part VI) The Surveyors - Tuesday, December 28, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws (Part VII) Surveyor's fees - Wednesday, December 29, 2010.
Virginia Land Laws after 1713 (Part I) - Wednesday, January 5, 2011.
Virginia Land Laws after 1713 (Part II) - Friday, January 7, 2011.
Land Laws Virginia - Meritorious Service - Thursday, January 13, 2011.
Land By Rank - Virginia Land Laws 1763 - Friday, January 14, 2011.
Virginia Land Laws : Cabin Rights - Saturday, January 22, 2011.
Tidewater Virginia - Thursday, March 3, 2011.

This gives an outline of the land laws of Virginia from the earliest days to the Revolutionary War period. Each colony would have their own laws. Identifying these laws could make a difference in a few brick walls!

Land Grant Analysis

Early land grants and patents become an important part of tree climbing. Understanding how to use the acreage involved will often make a difference in getting out the right branch. Also, placing various land grants together by associated surnames will help break down many brick walls.

The following pages show how this can be done using graph paper. [By now you should have bunches of this stuff!] Making a scale that can be used to give a general outline of a land amounts can be useful. The upper page is taken from an article written 1997 outlining the use of maps. It ends with the outline shown giving one square mile to every 640 acres of land. A line is then drawn showing that at 2 square mile = 1280 acres, 3 square mile = 1920 acres, 4 square mile = 2560 acres, etc., etc... If you have an ancestor who takes up a land patent of 4,000 acres, he would have a land area of six miles long and one mile deep, or any short of other combinations. If his initial grant was along one of the water courses marked by "mile markers", this would directly apply. [This was true of the first land grants in Virginia along the water highways!]


The figure to the right tries to show an enlargement of the graph which can be scaled to plot the grants as recorded. A beginning way to think about land grants!

Taken from: The Jones Genealogist, Vol. IX, No. 2, July/August, 1997, p. 4.

The Lay of The Land

Brick walls can come at you from all directions. They often sit there and smile while you get more and more discouraged wondering if you will ever get around them. Over the years, I have found that getting a "lay of the land" will often help one understand many of the dimensions of these brick walls. Knowing the historical and geographical factors that interplay with your tree climbing will frequently assist to "wipe that smile off their face"!

The drawing to the right is an example of such an attempt. My brick wall was in the geographic area of North Wales. A bunch of JONES were hidden in these mountains. How was I to sort them? I decided to try and understand the lay of the land. [called topography]

Since the earliest days, water [after oxygen] was the most important resource for survival. Streams, creeks, and rivers were the lifeline and highway to much of the human settlements. How these creeks and streams flowed determined much in the way of survival. Today, it is difficult to find maps that will show just the rivers. [especially in genealogy] Draw your own, I thought!

The most important item is a good starting map. Finding one that has the origin of your family tree is necessary. For me this was Touring Guide To Britain, published by The Reader's Digest Association, NY, 1992. Tracing paper was the next most important item. Removing all names, cites, locations, etc., etc., by just tracing the rivers, streams, and those items which might be of importance. [For me it was the iron age hill forts!] You then make a hard copy of the finished product so that you can write upon the finished product.

The tracing above shows the two main "head waters" of my family tree. The Dee and the Severn are shown, the Dee in blue. It is here that they almost touch giving a geographic location where one can reach both within 5 miles! Here, my JONES family had its roots many generations back. A strategic starting point it is. Dip in the Dee and you come out at Chester. (North) Dip in the Severn and you come out Gloucester. (South) It certainly would be a good location to start your day.

"Blog - O - Rama"

Several folks have written thanking me for "The Brick Wall Protocol". Genealogy for generations has been a personal motto. For those who have written, you are welcome.

I wanted to pass on to fellow time travelers other blogs and sites that I have been writing. You may or may not find them helpful, but they are centered around my 50 plus years of genealogy. My name is Jerry Jones, and the following sites have been written since July 2010:

thejonesgenealogist.blogspot.com/ - intended to give my genealogy travels from age 9 years old.

twitter.com/jonessurname - intended to give comments and titles to daily posts.

thejonessurname.blogspot.com/ - intended to concentrate on the history and origin of the surname JONES.

http://ge-ne-al-0-gy101.blogspot.com/
http://ge-ne-al-0-gy201.blogspot.com/
http://ge-ne-al-o-gy301.blogspot.com/ - intended to help those think outside the box.

http://thejonessurnamedna.blogspot.com/ - intended to help the genealogist understand DNA.

http://welshgenealogy.blogspot.com/ - intended to help those with Welsh background.

http://cadwalladerjones.blogspot.com/ - an example of genealogy on My Heart's Blood.

On facebook:

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jones-Surname/105264796202869
www./facebook.com/pages/The-Jones-Genealogist/154376591254070

It is my hope that these blogs and sites will help the next generation of tree climbers. Remember, we are the chosen.

Using This Blog

This makes the 48th post for The Brickwall Protocol since August 6, 2011. I thought it might be helpful to try and outline the blog for those who are just beginning to use the content. It is designed to help those serious genealogists who face the "Brick Wall". It is not for the faint hearted, and requires a great deal of work to complete the methods described within.

The first section is the actual protocol as written in 1989. It represents ideas produced from more than 50 years of tree climbing and brick wall destruction. [Having the surname JONES will produce a large number of brick walls!] Each post is identified by the label BWP(#). This tag shows that the post has content that was published in the original form. It guides the genealogist "step by step" in the concepts, methods, and tools, which I have found to be helpful during my own JONES tree climbing. These are numbered BWP(1) through BWP (14). This will also help find a post in sequence, and follow the posts in order of concepts.

Starting with BWP(15), there are post which give additional information and helps designed to supplement the first section. Additional helps are given which were not part of the original publication. BWP(16) gives an example of my own work.

BWP(17) discusses a family coding system method and BWP(34).

BWP(19) shows a method using "squares and circles" for research design.

Other topics which have been helpful:

BWP(20)- Genealogy and Geography
BWP(21)- Making Maps and BWP(22) Maps from History and BWP(23) Name That Creek.

Social roles in the context of history: BWP(24)

Understanding history: BWP(25), BWP(28), BWP(30), BWP(31) and BWP(33).

Your own research: BWP(34), BWP(35), BWP(36), and BWP(37).

The BWP labeling stops after BWP(37). After this post of October 31, 2011, the titles introduce themselves. Some are intended to be helps, such as "Clarify Dates"[Nov. 9, 2001] to a little bit of humor, such as "For The Serious Genealogist"[Nov. 16, 2011].

Some topics presented:

Clarify Dates- Nov. 9, 2011.
"Letters Patent" A 12 Step Process- November 23, 2011.
Conceptualize Content - December 5, 2011.
Poor to Peerage: Becoming an Adult 1650 England- December 16, 2011.
Yearly Income per Head 1688 England, Part(1) and Part (2)- Dec. 31, 2011 and Jan. 7, 2012.
Spelling Words- Jan. 12, 2012.

I hope this outline will help the reader use this blog successfully in your own tree climbing.

Spelling Words

Sounds to symbols has been a task since the first scribe dotted those symbols in the hardened clay of the Tigris River. Now how do you spell ...? This must be a question asked repeatedly throughout generations. For the genealogist, it is often a source of trouble, finding the spelling of the same name (words) occurring in various forms, even in the same document. "Be prepared!" The old scout motto would say. Sounds to symbols, what trouble it can be.

The following is an example of such a phenomena found in English records. "Peuman's End" it was called at first. It would seem that when Governor Bennett, in January 1653, ordered all Dutch ships seized, one fellow failed to get away. Both Wingfield [History of Caroline County, Virginia, p. 36] and Campbell [Colonial Caroline, A History of Caroline County, Virginia, p.16] relate the story. According to legend, a Dutch pirate was raiding the waters of the Rappahannock River. He was chased into a creek and met his death. The creek was named after the place where Peuman met his end! The two words thereafter were combined to become "Penmansind Creek", or "Powmansend", or "Powmansend", or ... . The following is an outline of the various spellings which were recorded in Cavaliers and Pioneers, by Nugent. The spelling is given first, followed by the reference (volume) and page number. You can begin to see the spellings, and why it is important to view a broad range of words when checking an index for your name.

The first listing of this name appears in Cavaliers and Pioneers (CP), Vol. I, p. 440:

Puamunaremo (?) CP I, p. 440
Puamunvien CP I, p. 442
Powmansend CP I, p. 526, 528
Pewamamcsee CP II, p. 138
Pewmansend CP II, p. 371, 380, 397
Puesmonseen CP II, p. 73
Pwomansend CP II, p. 8, 18, 20, 382
Pewamanesee CP III, p. 87
Pewmondsend CP III, p. 12, 136, 148, 182, 217
Powomasend CP III, p. 12
Peumansend CP III, p. 350, 355 (swamp).

Wow, how would you spell Peuman's end?