Using Estate Files to Document Family Relationships on FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch

The other day I had a Facebook exchange with a fellow genealogist regarding the valuable resource of FamilySearch.org. This researcher was looking for estate records for South Carolina, and since my husband's maternal line descends from Horry County, I continued to tell her about the records on FamilySearch.org, until I rediscovered why I had chosen to work on my husband's paternal line from North Carolina:
not all states' records are represented equally on the site, by far! 

Browsing records by location
In case you've never searched using the "browse the records" method, here is the process:

1. After signing in and clicking on the "Search" option, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the country file you would like to explore. For this purpose, I'll be clicking on "United States."
2. On the left side of the screen you will find a listing of states to select from. I'll be clicking on "South Carolina" for the purpose of this demonstration.
3. There are two options provided for Probate Records here: "Bound Volumes, 1671-1977", and "Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964." This looks promising!
4. First we'll take a look at the Bound Volumes. Robert Livingston, the master of Frank Livingston and family, lived in Little River, Horry, South Carolina, USA. So, let's take a look and see if we can find Horry County here. Click on "Browse Images." Sadly, you will find that Horry County is not among the available records.
5. So, let's go back and search "Files and Loose Papers." Again, Horry County is not listed here. The available records are from the following counties: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Barnwell, Charleston, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Fairfield, Greenville, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, Oconee, Richland, Sumter, Union, Williamsburg, and York. 

Browsing North Carolina records, Name variations

North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979 contains 4, 120, 631 images. Currently, I am working on Carter, Dove and Perkins records; but, the primary emphasis at this time is the Estate File of Isaac Dove. 

He was the father of three women who married into the Carter, Fenner and Godette families, and two sons who married Carter and Gaudett women. Note the two different spellings of the Godette family here; yet, they are of the same family. Another spelling variation I have found is Godett. Sometimes there are spelling variations for the same people within the same document. The same is true of given names, evident especially in Isaac Dove's daughter Susannah's name variations: Susannah, Susan and Sukey.

The county records are organized alphabetically by surname. 

What's coming up on In Black and White...

While some of the records I will be sharing here on the blog are related to my BCG porfolio, I will not be discussing them within the context of the family. That would be a violation of the terms of certification. I will, however, share transcriptions of records I am working on. 

As far as building my family tree documentation within Legacy 7.5, I will share with you how I've attached records to the individuals recorded within the pages of the estate files. This can be done with other databases as well. By keeping record images attached to the vital and event statistics they support, it becomes easier to work on proving relationship and establishing estimated dates when no specifics are stated.

I hope you'll return soon!

Forming Your Character's Distinctive Personality

Vintage Puzzle by Fel1x

Following the post on composite likeness,
I began giving some thought to the next step....Since I am writing about a person I've never met...a black male in a time not my own...in a world with differing social mores...I must find devices to piece together the complete man from a fourteen-year-old boy through the stages of manhood.

Composite Personality
Just as I had morphed the photos of four generations of Carter males to come up with a visual representation of my protagonist's physical appearance, I have overlaid the layers of our elders' comments with observations of living descendants for three generations of Carter men.

Layer 1: Hezekiah Carter (son; deceased)
In the summer of 2004 our family traveled from our home in New England to the Livingston Grand Reunion in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Prior to the in-gathering of the descendants of Frank Livingston, we stopped over in Whiteville, North Carolina to visit with family from the Prince Livingston branch who were unable to attend the reunion.

Our first stop after visiting the Charles Spencer Livingston home place on Fruit Ridge Road was to interview the matriarch of our family's branch. Now Aunt Albertha holds another special place in our family because she is a double aunt. She was married to my husband's paternal Uncle Jesse Carter...and her youngest sister Lillie Stean had married Uncle Jesse's youngest half-brother, my husband's father...Chester Carter.

As my husband and I interviewed Aunt Albertha and Cousin Ruth about the Carter side of the family, our aunt recounted the day she met Hezekiah and Hannah Jane Carter...my husband's grandparents.

Hezekiah was also our protagonist's third born son of nine surviving children. Born in 1874, Isaac Carter was 35-years-old at his son's birth.

Hezekiah was a very kind, soft spoken man. And you could tell he loved his wife very much. He said he was glad that Jesse had me in his life because his first wife had been so much older...more like a mother figure.

The first wife is a mystery....

 Layer 2: Bert Carter (grandson, oldest son of the first wife; deceased)
Although we attended two George family reunions in North Harlowe, North Carolina, I met our cousin Napoleon online via Ancestry.com. In a correspondence thread back in February 2011 he said:

I used to visit Miss Hannah when I was small and I knew your Uncle Bert pretty well. And like most Carter men in our family...they had a temper...smile...I guess it skipped me...

Layer 3: Chester Carter (grandson, youngest surviving son of the second wife; deceased)
My mother was also so impressed with my father-in-law, stating that he was a fine, distinguished looking man. I will always remember him as a quiet, peaceful man who sacrificed for his family whom he loved dearly. Pushed far enough, however, his anger would flare...but only momentarily. He would take quick, decisive action, and then resume his normal state.

There is a story which he told me years ago when my husband and I were newlyweds, living in their home.... I was suffering from a lung infection caused by a severe allergy to cats. The doctor had told me that even if we got rid of the cat, it would take ten years of vacuuming to rid the carpets of the cat hair and dander unless they were torn up, the floors cleaned, and new carpeting laid down.

Years ago, he said, I was frying a pan of fish and had set it out to cool. I came back into the kitchen later only to find that the cat had eaten the fish! I got angry and Stean yelled, Why don't you just shoot the cat? I think I will, I said, and got my gun. I nearly lost my marriage over that cat, so you'll understand why we don't get rid of it....

Layer 4: Living Carter males (great grandsons)
Though diverse in interests and expression, each of one of the next generation of Carter males has several aspects of personality in common:

• a deep and sincere faith in God
• issues they feel passionately about
• a deep sense of responsibility and love for family
• a good sense of humor
• an even-tempered outward disposition
• enjoyment when interacting with people

Composite temperament for Isaac Carter's character
I see Isaac as a mixture of all these aspects of personality. The challenge will be in finding situations that occurred in his life to visually illustrate these inner facets of personality.

I can see now that I need to devise a check-list to ensure that I reach my scene objectives. For me, this is uncharted territory. . . .

Those Places Thursday -- Robert Livingston House, Little River, SC

In July of 2008 we attended the Prince Livingston Family Reunion in Wampee, Horry County, South Carolina (my husband's maternal family). During our down time we decided to take a drive through Little River where the plantation owner, Robert Livingston, had once lived. 

We inquired at the Visitor Center, and learned that the Robert Livingston House had been preserved as an historical landmark. The brochure we received listed several different sites that interested us, but the Livingston House was our first destination. 

We drove along Highway 17S and drove past the turn off for Lakeside Drive. At the next light we turned around and headed back down the highway until we came to the street. About two-thirds of the way down the road we saw a sign along the roadside: 19th Century Victorian Home for Sale. Was that the house? The number on the mail box was 4441. That's it!

We got out of the car and looked around only to find that the owner was at home, and he was in the process of completing restoration of the house. He gave us a guided tour...and we learned that Robert Livingston had been Little River's Postmaster. 

My husband relished the idea of the descendants of slaves becoming the owners of their slave master's house...possibly turning it into a bed and breakfast...but it was a dream.

In the rear of the house was what first appeared to be a shed, but upon closer examination proved much more. The rough wood structure served many purposes over the years...a lodging...a jail...slave quarters...But the sign about Washington's horse was truly amazing! 

Wordless Wednesday -- Charles Spencer Livingston Homeplace: Then and Now

 Charles Spencer Livingston Homeplace, circa 1943
Whiteville, Columbus, North Carolina

This is the original home place.
It burned down and was rebuilt years ago.

Charles Spencer Livingston Homeplace in 2010