Witnesses are not afterthoughts tacked onto the end of documents. Although they filled a routine role for our ancestors, they are significant informants for us—once we learn how to use those names to develop evidence. This session approaches the topic in two ways: theory and application. It explores record types that offer witnesses, ways in which witnesses were used, situations that affected the choice of witnesses, signals that indicate whether a witness would be important to our research, and methods to apply in our development of the clues they offer. A challenging case study presents an unmarried freedwoman, never named in any census, who died about 1817—and applies key strategies to determine her death and burial sites.
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What a treasure! This strategy with witnesses has opened a whole new path. Thank you for doing these webinars, Elizabeth.
And the tour of Coincoin and the Cane River area was so very helpful to understanding how my ancestors lived/worked/bought/sold and died.
ESM this was amazing. I am so thankful for you doing these webinars.
Elizabeth is just so inspirational! I’ve been researching for 35 years but she gets me thinking down new or different avenues. Her presentations just ignite my genealogy research fire. Her case study here shows how important maps are to research, especially in earlier years. They are invaluable.
ESM is 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 5. Her methods and research are incomparible.
This is the 9th webinar by Elizabeth Shown Mills that I have watched. They are all excellent. I have been doing genealogy for 40 years and I am still learning from webinars such as these. All of the ancestors whose parents I am looking for were married prior to the 1850 census. In all of these webinars by Elizabeth there seems to be at least one inspirational moment when I say to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”. Thank you for this series.
Not only is Elizabeth Shown Mills an excellent genealogist and teacher, she is a terrific storyteller, weaving all the facts into a cohesive, educational, and entertaining case study.
I have been dealing with a very tough case for the past several years. During that time, I’ve solved several genealogical questions. Most of these have been done from tricks I’ve learned from furthering my education. I’ve always loved participating in national conferences, in order to learn from the best. Unfortunately, over the years my travel has become less but I still want to learn. This is why I’m so grateful Elizabeth’s has been willing to share her knowledge on Legacy Family Tree webinars with us.
This was amazingly helpful. I have a couple (well, you know …) of blocks on my tree about which I question other relatives’ documentation. Now I have insight into how I can satisfy my curiosity without just “accepting” that they knew family lore to which neither my siblings nor I had access. Thank you!