Planning ahead...

What's the first thing you do when you go on a vacation? No, go shopping is not the right answer. Usually you begin with deciding where to go and where to stay when you get there.  It's the same thing when you are planning a genealogy trip to hunt ancestors and their paper trails.

Today, I am planning a spring trip to Perry County, Alabama. While I haven't yet decided exactly when I will be going or where I will be staying while I'm there, I am planning what I want to get answered and how I will answer it.

In my Civil War family, there are several people for whom I do not have much information on. The missing puzzle pieces seem like the key to the family legends. As great as the Internet is, it still is fairly limited on what may be available in certain parts of the country and with certain historical items.

One family legend is that the twin brother Newton was shot on the Perry County courthouse steps when he was mistaken for his brother Jasper. While some known facts leads me to believe there may be some truth in the story, I just have not found the smoking gun, pardon the pun.

In the next few weeks I will be planning on answering this question. It may be a tough road. However, just in case it is not, I need some back up questions to have answered as well. Another problem area is where everyone may have been buried. Very few of them who stayed in the area have been found. I'd also like to know where their property was and what is on it now.

I'm continuing my planning and will add in all the historical sites to visit and places to stay with things to fill in the gaps, but for me, the most important question is when and where did Newton die, and why? I'm hoping to find out the answer, but I also just want to enjoy my Adventures in Genealogy!