Adventures in an Archive

I'm pretty lucky.  I've got a great family. My kids are pretty awesome people who have not totally made me regret being a mother and actually all make me very proud to be their mom. But besides that, I am in love with the fact that I live within 30 minutes of about 5 or more archival repositories.  That's a big deal in my book. (sorry, kids! I love you, too!) 

So today was field trip day. I've been attempting to get up to the archives, but I also babysit my only granddaughter and well, she's a good deal cuter than the archivists are, so I've not made it up there. I've got a busy schedule this upcoming few weeks so this is about my only chance to go. I got up early, got all ready and headed out. 

Laptop, pencils, paper, (charging cords just in case I stay too long). 

It's early, coffee in hand I drive to the Archives and run in.  The Archivist, John Allison is on site and welcomes me into the building.  If you've never met John, you should. He's very knowledgeable and helpful, but the whole staff is! 

While I'm wandering, and looking at all the options, I remember a conversation I had about an ancestor of mine who was a judge here in this town. I look him up on the laptop and explore some options about what docs are here. A few minutes into it, it occurs to me that he died in 1829. He was working as a Judge here in 1824 which is just a few short years after the the state became a state. (1819). 
I'd know a little about him in the past and I recall having seen his digital files of his estate records on Ancestry.  

Morgan County Archives - Decatur, Alabama

I mention to John that I've been in a rut lately, and I just need a refresher on what is currently existing in the building. I have a habit of searching the exact same things over and over. That's a whole other blog post by the way. So watch for: "Writing Effective Research Goals", and probably also "Keeping a Research Log"..... 
But I digress.... 

He kindly walks me through the index books and reminds me of other items that I may want for other areas outside of the county. Of course, I do want those. Yes!! haha. There are wides ranged from state to state and topics like Native American research. Just take a look around.

A small portion of the article by John Knox.

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John points me to a collection of newspaper articles written by a local man, John Knox. These are in very large books and indexed for easy look ups.  I know very little about his family so the whole story is pretty interesting - however John (The Archivist) mentions  that his estate files are probably here since he died here. "Would you like to see them?".... awwwhh heck yeah! 

The truth is, although digital files are great and easy to enlarge, there is nothing like the actual feel of those original documents. You get a feel for how people thought and write, you see the ink on the paper. It is breathtaking sometimes just seeing them.. and I'm about to see and touch something that someone from 1829 actually touched. 189 years ago. Put that into your brain for a moment and let that soak in.  Wow, right?! 

Some of you who have read previously on my blog posts and over on "The Facebooks" that I have been working with extracting enslaved person's names from files in my tree.  I also have been doing a little research on local families and slavery, still to be put out here yet as it's a work in progress. 
When opening the file, I realize, I've not extracted the names from these digital documents and here I am holding them in my hands the names of his enslaved, in this town.... purchased then by his son, also in this town.  

My point is, although you will here repeatedly how keeping a research log file will keep you organized, it will never hurt you to review what you've worked on. And any time you get a chance to view the actual files themselves, do it! I promise you it's not ever going to hurt. 
Since my initial research on this man, new things evolved in my search. I started the extraction of names of slaves. Of course, I'm not always going to remember which people in my tree had them. So getting this gentle reminder was just the thing I needed to move forward in research. 

​Archives around you contain a wealth of information not only for your ancestors in your own town, but also all around the country.  Look around your area and see how many repositories might exist and get in the mood to go exploring. Libraries? Research rooms? Archives? Courthouses? Genealogical Societies? Museums? Go... get out there and soak up all that dust and dirt into your sinuses!! And Enjoy your Adventures In Genealogy!!