Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=gpc0806317140_simsindex)

Land records comprise one of the most important sources for early American genealogical research, since sometimes they are the only records that can place an individual in a particular place at a particular time. For this reason Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia is an essential resource for anyone researching their early Virginia/West Virginia ancestors. A comprehensive guide to pre-1900 land records in West Virginia (which until 1863 was part of the Commonwealth of Virginia), Sims Index lists land grants that were made by Lord Fairfax prior to the creation of the Virginia Land Office in 1779, as well as those issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia for land now located in West Virginia, and by the State of West Virginia under its first Constitution.

The information contained in this exhaustive compilation was compiled by Edgar Sims, the State Auditor of West Virginia, from copies of land grants filed in his office. More than 50,000 entries are included, each containing the name of the grantee, amount of acreage, location and date of grant, and the grant book and page numbers. Sims meticulously examined each record to ensure that the spellings of the names of grantees, location, and descriptions of tracts were accurate, and that any variations of spellings of grantees’ names were also indexed or noted. Records are listed for Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Uphur, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood, and Wyoming counties, West Virginia, as well as for the portions of Augusta, Bath, Botetourt, Frederick, Montgomery, Russell, Tazewell, and Wythe counties, Virginia, that were used in the formation of West Virginia.

In a great many cases the land grants indexed here pre-date the earliest extant census records or supplement existing census records, and are thus indispensable for finding individuals who lived in the area that later became West Virginia.

**Editor’s note: In this week’s newsletter the following GenTip appeared. Samuel, a newsletter reader was kind enough to email me and point out the the url for George Morgan’s blog was outdated. My apologies to George and newsletter readers for this mistake. A corrected version of the GenTip appears below.**

Reading the Blogs
by Gena Philibert Ortega

Blogs are a great way to stay informed about the world of genealogy and to learn about documents, repositories and research techniques. The following are just a few of the genealogy blogs you might be interested in.

Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) at is a great place to check on a daily basis for updates in the world of genealogy. You can learn everything from what new databases are available from online providers to future conferences.

Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings blog, is a combination of thoughtful genealogical analysis of current events and postings of his own genealogical research.

Dear Myrtle is a well known name in genealogy. Her blog at not only provides informative articles but also updates her readers on the latest genealogical developments.

There are several other professional genealogists who regularly post to their own blogs. Arlene Eakle posts educational articles on topics such as research strategies and records. George Morgan’s blog includes genealogical articles. Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak’s ‘Megan’s Roots World’ is hosted on Roots Television.

Don’t forget to check out our blog, the WorldVitalRecords Blog where I post information found in this newsletter as well as genealogy announcements and news.

Some blogs are just plain fun. One of my favorites is Chris Dunham’s ‘The Genealogue.’ Chris must scour hundreds of newspapers everyday to find some of the most funny and bizarre news stories that help us poke a little fun at this genealogical pursuit we love so much. But there is a more serious side to Chris and that can be found on his genealogy blog finder. Blogs are categorized into various topics including, Genealogy News, Technology, Single Surname, Locality Specific, Jewish, Obits, Professional Genealogists, and Humor.

Lastly, don’t forget to check out blogs on other subjects that are of interest to genealogists. Blogs on the Civil War, women’s studies, photography, and scrapbooking are just some examples of what might be of interest to you. Check out the Google Blog Finder, to find other types of blogs

by Gena Philibert Ortega

The following list is adapted from the book, The Weekend Genealogist: Timesaving Techniques for Effective Research. By Marcia Yannizze Melnyk. Ohio:BetterwayBooks, 2000. It can be found on page 108. I have included website links to some of the resources on the list.

Groups of Societies that May Already Have the Information You Need:

• National Archives and Records Administration
• Family History Library and local Family History Center
• Vital Records Offices- State, County, or Town
• State Archives
• Daughters of the American Revolution
• Historical Societies-State, County, Local
• Genealogical Societies-State, County, Local
• Surname Societies and Family Associations
• Libraries-Public, State, College, and Academic
• Town Halls
• County Courts-Probate, Land, and Vital Records
• Fraternal Organizations
• Ethnic Organizations
• Churches
• Cemeteries and Undertakers
• Internet
• Employers
• Occupational Organizations
• Book Publishers-Historical and Genealogical
• Military Facilities

By Gena Philibert Ortega

Google Scholar, http://scholar.google.com, is a specialty search engine powered by Google that you can use to find scholarly type articles and books on topics related to history and genealogy. While you are less likely to find an article or book about your particular ancestor, you may just find an article about the place, era, occupation, or religion of your ancestor which can then help you learn more about their life.

According to Google Scholar’s about page,”you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, thesis, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.”

Now in some cases, the articles might be available through services that are subscription based. That’s ok-just jot down the title of the article, author, publication title, volume, number and number of pages. Then go to your local library and explain that you need an inter-library loan on an article. Basically, they can then find the article and ask a library that has that journal to copy the appropriate pages for you.

From the Google Scholar homepage, you can type in your phrase or keyword that you are interested in searching. If you prefer you can click on the link, ‘Advanced Scholar Search’ and limit and define your search more precisely. Advanced Scholar Search allows you to choose the exact phrase to search and what words to leave out of a search. You can even specify articles written by a particular author, published in a certain journal or in a specific time period. If you want, you can even tell Google Scholar what academic fields that you want to see articles from. This can be good when using a term like “genealogy” which can have meaning in other fields like philosophy and biology.

Although it seems like the Holiday Season is far enough away, it will be here before you know it. Now, while many of those on your list might not be thrilled to hear about your genealogical research, they may be delighted to receive a gift that is the result of your research.  The following ideas use photos that you may have taken or scanned from other family members. Many of these gift ideas do not need to take you very long at all and may just require you to gather some photos or documents and head to your computer or to your nearby copy shop.

The Gift of Photos
Photos of family members now or from the past are always welcome. Sharing photos you have gathered from distant cousin might become a treasured heirloom for those in your family.
There are so many things you can do with photos. One example can be seen on the website,   BigFamilyPhotos, which allows you to take photos from your computer, enlarge them and have them printed on canvas. 

If you have been scanning family photos, documents or memorabilia you may want to burn a CD or DVD and share them with other family members.  This is not only a great gift but it also ensures that your genealogy will survive should something happen to you or your home.  You can use programs like Picasa, available for free at http://picasa.google.com/, to organize your photos and share them on CD’s or even online photo albums.

Calendar
Let’s face it-we all need a calendar, why not have one that includes pictures of your ancestors or modern day family members or a little of both.  With scanned photos you can create a calendar through your genealogical database program or through a publishing/photo program like Microsoft Publisher.  If you feel like you just can’t do that, take your pictures or your thumb drive/CD and go down to your local copy store (office supply places, neighborhood packing/shipping stores, even copy/photo machines at drug stores will also do) and have a sales associate help you design a calendar that includes your pictures. 

Mouse Pads
Many copy shops are now offering to personalize almost anything including mouse pads.  You can have a photo scanned and printed on a mouse pad or you can buy a mouse pad that has a clear photo pocket where you can insert a picture of an ancestor.  You could even provide multiple pictures that could be inserted throughout the year.  One place to find these photo mouse pads are at the online store Fun Stuff for Genealogists at http://www.funstuffforgenealogists.com/store/enter.html.

by Gena Philibert Ortega

Finding aids assist genealogists in obtaining the information they need. According to E. Kay Kirkham’s, A Study in Finding Aids for American Genealogical Research, “A finding aid assists in locating additional information, it gives reference to more information along a sustained line of searching in a given area.” One finding aid valuable to the genealogist is encyclopedias. Now most of us are familiar with a standard encyclopedia, whether it be online or in a series of hardback books on our bookshelf. All types of encyclopedias exist that can help researchers increase their genealogical knowledge, provide information about their ancestor’s way of life, and uncover additional clues.

Genealogical Encyclopedias
Sometimes an encyclopedia can provide you with an overview of a subject. Dick Eastman’s Encyclopedia of Genealogy located at http://www.eogen.com/ includes genealogical articles of all kinds. This is a place to find out how to conduct research, what different genealogical terms mean, and where to find historical records. This collaborative website allows you to search on a term and then choose the corresponding articles. Searching on the term “Canadian” brought results ranging from specific terms involved in French Canadian research such as dit names, Filles du Roi, and a generalized article on Canadian townships. In addition, there were general articles on sending cash overseas and research facilities.

The web site Family History 101, http://www.familyhistory101.com/encyclopedia.html, has several online encyclopedias and glossaries that can assist in your genealogical research. GenealogicalAabbreviations; Early Illnesses & Diseases; Early Occupations; Common Nicknames; Tombstone Symbols; Genealogical Terms; and Worldwide Epidemics are all represented here.

Religious Encyclopedias
The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, 1750-1930 is a six-volume work compiled by William Wade Hinshaw from Quaker monthly meeting records. This work provides information on over 400,000 Quakers that lived in New Jersey, New York, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This collection is available online through Genealogy.com at http://www.genealogy.com/192facd.html. An index of the encyclopedia is located at http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/hinshaw.htm . The actual encyclopedia is available for purchase through various book retailers. It is also available on microfilm through the Family History Library.

An encyclopedia that can assist you in learning more about the
Catholic faith is found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html. While this will not provide information on your specific Catholic ancestor, it will provide you with a better understanding of their faith. Several other faiths have similar online or encyclopedia books that explain tenants of their religion, including the Encyclopedia of Mormonism by Daniel H. Ludlow (ISBN 0028796063); Seventh-Day Adventist Encyclopedia (ISBN 082800918X); Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online at http://www.gameo.org/; and the Baptist Encyclopedia available at http://www.baptisttop1000.com/Baptist_Encyclopedia.html. A web site provides digitized pages of biographies from the Baptist Encyclopedia (1883) at http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/reference/ref2.htm.

Fraternal Orders
Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry can be found at http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mackeys_encyclopedia/index.htm. Part of the web site for Phoenximasonary, several e-books can be found here. This encyclopedia is also available as a download for $6.99 at ebookmall at http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/title/encyclopedia-of-freemasonry-mackey-ebooks.htm. For those interested in fraternal and secret societies throughout time there is The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders (ISBN 0816038716). The EH.net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History has an article entitled Fraternal Sickness Insurance at http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/emery.insurance.fraternal that explains organizations such as Woodmen of the World and the important role they played in the lives of workers.

States
When researching a family it is as important to learn about the time period and locality the family lived as it is to know about the family’s biographical information. This can be especially vital in researching places that you are unfamiliar with. Life is different from one region to another. Learning how a region is different can help us better understand our ancestors.

To better understand your ancestor’s life, you may want to check out an online state encyclopedia. Not every state has one, but those that do include articles on people, localities, events and history that can assist you in researching and understanding your ancestors. These encyclopedias are different from traditional print or online encyclopedias in that they solely focus on a particular state. I have used The Handbook of Texas Online numerous times to research my family and the cities they lived in. This has made it easier to find out more about cities where my ancestors were from but that only exist as ghost towns in present day Texas.

Some examples of state encyclopedias include:

Encyclopedia of Alabama
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
Laptop Encyclopedia of Connecticut History
Floripedia
The New Georgia Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis
The Kentucky Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia Louisiana
Maryland Online Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri
Online Nevada Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia of New York
North Carolina Encyclopedia
Ohio History Central
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
The Oregon Encyclopedia
South Carolina Encyclopedia
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
The Handbook of Texas Online
Utah History Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia Virginia
History Link, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state
West Virginia Encyclopedia

It can be frustrating to look for a marriage record. You check in the county the couple lived in, you check neighboring counties and still find nothing. If you are researching a marriage but cannot find the record where you think it might be, you might want to explore the possibility of a Gretna Green.

Gretna Greens are cities where people traveled to to get married. The term “Gretna Green” come from the city Gretna Green, Scotland. According to the web site for the Gretna Green, http://www.gretnaweddings.com/, due to Scotland’s historical lax requirements for marriage; the couple only had to be over 16 years of age and declare themselves husband and wife in front of witnesses. People from neighboring countries like England flocked to marry there. Gretna Green was the first post along the route from England to the Scottish border, so that’s where eloping couples would stop to get married. With no restrictions such as residency requirements or parental consent (as long as the couple was over 16 years), Gretna Green, Scotland continues to be a place where couples from all over are married.

Gretna Greens in the United States were popular places to get married for a variety of reasons. One Gretna Green that existed about one hour from where I lived near Victorville, San Bernardino, California did not require a blood test to get married. Young, in love couples, could go there and get married quickly, without much fuss. Other reasons for going to a Gretna Green to get married include, low fees, little paper work, and maybe even to get away from disapproving family members.

Some Gretna Greens exist because they may lack a waiting period. In 1927, California enacted the Gin Marriage Law. This law provided for a waiting period where a couple had to wait three days from the time they purchased their marriage license before they could get married. This was enacted at the height of Prohibition. The law was meant to give intoxicated couples some time to sober up and reconsider their wedding plans. While this was the intention, the result of the law was that it drove couples to other places such as Yuma, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, where couples could get “quickie” marriages. Additionally, California passed a 1939 law that required a medical examination before marriage. During one year of the enforcement of this California marriage law, Yuma recorded 17,000 marriages for a town that had only 5,000 residents. Both Yuma and Las Vegas became the place for Hollywood stars and the everyday person to get married.

Divorces can also be had in Gretna Green type places. Las Vegas, Nevada and Tijuana,Mexico had been popular places for Californians to run off to for quick, cheap divorces since about the 1930’s. These are places where not only could the person seek a quick divorce; they could then get remarried quickly.

** Editor’s Note. This Friday and Saturday is the Family History Expo-SLC sponsored by Family History Expos. The following excerpted interview, that ran in the WorldVitalRcords newsletter last week, provides some information on not just the Expo this week but the Expos that Holly and her staff put on throughout the year.

Gena: I have been attending the St. George Family History Expo for years, but can you explain to our readers what an Expo is.

Holly: A Family History Expo is an event that includes professional genealogy presentations on a wide variety of topics designed to help the beginner get off to a quick and successful start. We also have classes that are aimed at helping experienced and professional researcher sharpen their skills. Our Expos have many great sponsors such as your company, WorldVitalRecords/FamilyLink.com and other companies such as FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Footnote.com, RootsMagic, Generation Maps, and more. Our Exhibit Hall is a place where genealogists can peruse and purchase books to help with their research, ask genealogy exhibitors lots of questions, and they have the opportunity to have personal research consultations with professionals if they have registered to attend the Expo. It is also a great place to try out the latest Internet resources, where you can learn about blogging, twitter, and other social media.

Gena: Specifically, what is the benefit of going to the SLC Family History Expo?

Holly: Wow! That is a loaded question. There are so many benefits that it is hard to name them all. Let me give you a basic list of benefits:

1. Experts teach best practices for successful research and how to avoid common mistakes (Value $25 per class)

2. Receive FREE research consultation (Value $50)

3. Receive handouts for all classes on one CD, there are 10 classes each hour so this is a great tool for getting more information from the classes you are unable to attend

4. Talk directly with genealogy resource providers in Exhibit Hall and try it before you buy it. To learn more about our exhibitors and what there services, see our Web site at http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=50#exhibitors. Our exhibitors always give away fabulous door prizes (you can view the list online too).

5. Social networking with other genealogists and beginning family history researchers, this is one of the most valuable aspects of the Expo. Yes, you can connect with people who want to help you succeed with your research goals.

6. If you are a Family History Center worker, or a Family History Consultant (LDS Ward Consultant) there are some additional benefits for attending this Expo. FamilySearch is offering three specific Consultant Training classes (details were emailed by FamilySearch to their list of registered Consultants). If any consultant has not received a notice from FamilySearch they should contact Family History Expos for details. To be sure they do not miss information from FamilySearch in the future they should go to http://consultant.FamilySearch.org and register or update to their current email address.

7. As the Banquet Sponsor, Ancestry.com is giving a FREE copy of Family Tree Maker 2010 software to each banquet attendee and there will be 10 drawings for gifts valued at $400.00 each gift.

8. If you can’t attend the whole conference and only have time for a presentation or two, you are in luck, you can register at the door of one or more specific classes for just $12.00 each class.

9. Don’t miss out on our Bloggers of Honor and all the fun stuff they will be tweeting about the Expo. Event attendees just cannot see it all! We have a nice team of bloggers of which you are one and the information that will be forth coming will be helpful to all of us during and after the Expo (even those not able to attend will have fun hearing what is happening while it happens.

Gena: What other Expos are planned for the future?

Holly: Our last Expo for 2009 is the California Family History Expo which will be held in Redding (Northern California) on October 16-17. We have scheduled our 2nd annual Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona for January 22-23 and our 6th annual St. George, Utah Family History Expo for February 26-27. We are still in the negotiation stages for several additional Expos and they will listed on our website once we have contracts in place. Keep checking our Events Tab on our website at http://www.fhexpos.com/events/ and make sure you are on our free mailing list as we send out announcements for all new events with our free newsletter.

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Please join us tonight for a chat with Dae Powell and Jayne McCormick. Come early-this chat will fill up fast.

Monday, August 17, 8:00pm (MDT) GENTREK: Orphan Trains
In the early 1850s, thousands of children roamed the streets of New York in search of shelter, food and money, many of them prey to disease and crime. In order to survive, many sold matches, rags, newspapers, or whatever they deemed saleable, and banded together in gangs to protect themselves from street violence.