Hello my genealogical friends and welcome back to my blog. Today I would like to dive into county histories and their role in furthering your genealogical research and hopefully your family tree! If you are unfamiliar with the use of the word county maybe the term subdivision, borough, or parish rings a bell. Most commonly within the U.S., States use county systems to divide their landmasses into different areas. However, outside the U.S. division of land into counties or smaller regions is also common. Finding county histories can be helpful in rounding out your ancestors’ lives more specifically getting to know where your ancestors’ have lived, or even where your family roots descend from!
An important question I’m sure you have stumbled across as you have built your catalogue of sources on your ancestors is what type of information can these particular sources provide? I am sure you are no doubt asking yourself right now what exactly county histories could provide that you haven’t been able to get out of other sources. Well unlike sources you may have targeted that have direct relation to your ancestor, county histories can provide you with broader context about the region your ancestors lived in and therefore the culture and distinctive area systems and events that helped shaped the larger country and even your ancestor. Events you could find might include: military involvement, history of settlement, and, information on lost records. You may find that these events and other records associated/compiled by the county fill in the gaps that other sources you found were unable to.
I hope that these nuggets of wisdom that I have laid out as possible finds for you has gotten you excited about the idea of finding county histories, but I also know that it can be a daunting task trying to track these records down. If you haven’t already read my blog about beginning research, please scroll up and take a look. Those tips still apply here! Specifically, you may want to try searching county name alongside your ancestor’s name and include the state that they lived in. You could also use terms along the tracks of “settler” or “pioneer” to try and narrow sources down. This is especially helpful when using online search engines. For more in-print information sometimes county information can be found in books referred to as mug books. Mug books refer to a popular form of biographical sketching done between the 1800’s and 1900’s. You may also want to check with libraries, and genealogical and historical societies within the county area that may have access to county history books that you could check out.
I wish you all the best of luck searching for county histories to add to your collection of sources that are building your family stories and trees! It is the moments when you find that new information about your ancestors that just give you the best feeling as genealogist! Once again please take a look at my longer form content located under the webinars tab of this same website. In my lecture on County histories, I go into further detail about what county histories look like in other areas of the world, more tips and tricks on how to search for them, and how and what sites to use to search for records. If you have further questions not answered by more webinars or blogs, please reach out to me using the above contact information and I’d be happy to help! Happy researching!
Winona I Laird “The Genealogy Granny”
