Here's advice that can smooth the trail for the roving rooter
By DONNA MURRAY ALLEN
Published May 27, 2004
A couple of years ago, I spent a few days at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton. The heat was stifling. When the temperature edged toward the 100 degree mark, the governor shut down state office buildings. His decision caused a near riot in the archives. Plaintive cries arose from those who had trekked across the country to trace their New Jersey roots.
You can't control the weather. And you aren't going to stop the endless flow of rooters who gravitate toward archival repositories like heat-seeking missiles. But you can get the most out of a research trip by creating a game plan.
The place to start is right at home. Become familiar with the government bureaucracy at your destination. Find out what records are actually available for the time frames you're researching and where you must go to get them. Much of what you want will be at the county courthouse, the local public library and the state archives. Be sure to make note of the summer hours of operation for any place you plan to visit. You'll also want to make a list of historical societies in the area. Most of these entities have Web sites. Go to www.dumond.org/links/themeindex.html to get some ideas. If you don't have a computer, visit your public library. And finally, conduct a quick review of county, parish and township boundary changes before you leave to avoid searching in the wrong locale.
Unless you have a photographic memory, log on to www.mapquest.com or a similar site where you can print out small area maps with detailed directions. Not online? Your travel club can give you a few pointers.
Pack light. Bring good walking shoes and comfortable clothing. Instead of lugging huge notebooks with you, pare your traveling data down to pedigree charts and family group sheets, a list of the documents you want to obtain, relevant time frames and a few notes to help jog your memory. Create "need to get" categories. Under "marriage license applications," for example, write "Robert Mills, 1895-1900." It saves thumbing through reams of paper.
Stick a magnifying glass, a notebook and/or handheld tape recorder, pencils and rolls of quarters into your "roots kit." (Parking meters, copiers and microfilm readers with print capabilities eat quarters). Take a camera for snapping pictures of the old homestead, schools, people and tombstones. Wear clothing with pockets. You can't bring handbags and large notebooks into most state and national archives. Many ban pens, too.
Plan an itinerary. If you're just starting your search, put the county courthouse first on your agenda. That's where you'll check out wills and probate records, early vital records, marriage license applications and land records. (Not all courthouses have all these records.)
Hit the main public library next to view census returns, collect obituaries, scan old newspapers and browse through the special collections section.
Visit cemeteries and funeral homes next. Anyone searching for pre-1900 records should plan a stop at the state's archives and the state library if the two entities aren't the same.
Remember that the "early rooter gets the reader." Many libraries and archives have just a few microfilm readers. If the place is crowded, the machines are divvied out in one-hour increments. By being first in line, you are more likely to get another opportunity to commandeer a reader later in the day. In any case, you will have gotten at least one shot at the resources if the place closes early.
Stay flexible. You may uncover vital data early on that will send you off in a completely different direction. Or the county courthouse may have shipped off many of its older records to the state archives and you'll need to head there.
Read past Donna Murray Allen columns online at www.sptimes.com Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box. You can write to Allen c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com Her Web site, www.rootsdetective.com includes information on classes and lectures. Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns.
