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Civil War 150: US Colored Troops now online

May 27th, 2013
by Genealogical Services.
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Image of the U.S. Colored Troops from Wilmington, NC

US Colored Troops in the Wilmington Campaign Members of Company E, 4th USCT
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

May 22, 2013 was the 150th anniversary of the formation of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).  Almost a year ago, I posted about U.S. Colored Troops in North Carolina (please see this post to find out which regiments of the USCT were from NC).

On May 22, 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced that all services records for the USCT have been fully digitized and available on Fold3. The records for all Infantry, all Artillery, and all Calvary are available on Fold3 to research.  (more…)

Genealogy Tip of the Week

Mar 11th, 2013
by Genealogical Services.
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Genealogy Tip of the Week

Today’s tip: Searching Ancestry.com’s North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 database. 

GHL provides patrons access to Ancestry Library Edition, but many of us have our own personal subscriptions, too, and from time to time we have problems finding things that we know should be there.  Today, I helped a patron find a death certificate she could not find for an infant who was born and had died in 1930.

Ancestry is an extensive database. There are many options in it to search for names, but sometimes the names that are in the database are misspelled or are completely different.  Using the soundex to search for a surname can result in having to wade through hundreds of hits, so, when known, using only the date and county will give you more accurate results.

In my experience, if you cannot find an ancestor in the North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 database, but you know the date they died and county, leaving the name out of the search helps.  In this case, the family called him Henry, but I found him under John.  In the 1930 census he is enumerated at Henry J. When I first put in the name Henry with the county and date I did not find him, but when I used just the county and exact date, voila! There he was.

Civil War 150: Women in the Confederacy

Mar 4th, 2013
by Genealogical Services.
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North Carolina Women of Confederacy book coverIn honor of March being Women’s History Month, I thought I would highlight an interesting book I found in our genealogy collection at the Government & Heritage Library – North Carolina Women of the Confederacy as well as a few other resources.

Although women did not serve in the military, women had helped the cause, often taking control of the land in their husband’s absence.  Many also filled the absence of men in industry and manufacturing as well. North Carolina Women of the Confederacy was originally published in 1926 and the United Daughters of the Confederacy Cape Fear Chapter received permission from the author’s heirs to reprint and update it.  The book is a great resource about how women in North Carolina helped the Confederate cause and there are many cases to illustrate points throughout the book about specific women.  For example, pages 71-73 give a story about Mrs. Eliza Hicks.  She made clothing for soldiers who passed by the family plantation and her house became a courier station. The index in the back of the book is full of names of women who helped Confederacy.

Another resources is an article written by the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial entitled The Home Front, which discusses women helped on the home front.

Monument to North Carolina Women in the Confederacy

Image courtesy of NCDCR – Monument at the North Carolina State Capitol to Confederate Women in North Carolina

In 1914, North Carolina erected the monument above on the grounds of the State Capitol building in Raleigh, NC to acknowledge their part in the Civil War.

To find more resources for Women’s History Month, please visit the Government & Heritage Library’s page specifically created for this topic: http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ghl/themes/march.html

To few biographies of women from North Carolina, please visit NCpedia‘s page: http://ncpedia.org/biography/women

To learn about the education of women in North Carolina, please visit NCpedia‘s page: http://ncpedia.org/education-women

 

The History of Apprenticeships in North Carolina (part 3)

Feb 18th, 2013
by Genealogical Services.
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Apprentice and master

Courtesy of History.org

Today’s post is the last of the series on apprentice bonds. On January 21, 2013, I talked about the history of apprenticeships in North Carolina. Last week on February 11, 2013 I talked about laws regarding apprenticeships. Today I want to share some examples of what you might find in apprentice bond records.

In 1770, a free African American child born out of wedlock was bound out in Granville County.  Below is an excerpt from the record.

Dicey Bass Apprentice Bond, Granville County 1770

Dicey Bass Apprentice Bond, Granville County 1770. North Carolina State Archives call number C.R.044.101.7

From this, we learn that Dicey Bass was base born – this is also referred to as a bastard or born out of wedlock. This information leads us to another source of information for Dicey by looking at the Bastardy Bonds located in the North Carolina State Archives. (Note: Bastardy Bonds are bonds against the mother so one would need the mothers name. Often they were filed when the child was an infant or while the mother was still pregnant.) We learn that she was mulatto and my prior research on this family shows that she was a free African American during this time. Also, we learn her mother is Lovey Bass and that Dicey is about 4 years old. Another clue that she is a free African American is that she is bound out until age 21. Remember from last week, the 1762 law stated all white females were only bound until age 18, all other females until age 21.

In 1787, a girl in Granville County was bound out. This child was only 1 year old, and surprisingly not the youngest I’ve seen bound out.

Betsey Lankford Apprentice Bond, Granville County, 1787

Betsey Lankford Apprentice Bond, Granville County, 1787. North Carolina State Archives call number C.R.044.101.7

From this, we learn not only her age, but the month, day, and year she was born (October 3rd the previous year, which was 1786). The reason why she was bound out is not said. To learn that information it would be good to check through the Civil Action Papers in the North Carolina State Archives to see if there is more information.

Leaving Granville County and moving south to Richmond County, there is a bond dated 1870.

Manda Griffin Apprentice Bond, Richmond County 1870

Manda Griffin Apprentice Bond, Richmond County 1870. State Library of North Carolina microfilm call number C.082.10001

Manda Griffin is an orphan age 16 and she is bound to Benjamin Griffin. Since she is an orphan, this may be an uncle, older brother, cousin, etc. Further research would need to be done to determine the relationship. A good place to start in this case is with Civil Action Papers located in the North Carolina State Archives. Although we don’t know exactly how old she is to the day, we can see that she is 16 years old and 9 months. The bond is from October 1870, so we can determine her to have been born around February 1854. We can also determine she is white since the age listed as the the end of her apprenticeship is 18.

This is a petition to the court to bind out a child named William Red (or possibly Reed or Reid) in Richmond County.

William Red or Reed Apprentice Bond, Richmond County 1900

William Red/Reed, Petition to Apprentice, Richmond County 1900. State Library of North Carolina microfilm call number C.082.10001

From the petition we can determine that the mother is Ellen Red who is an “idiot”, that the child William is illegitimate, and he is age 12. In the actual bond (not pictured) dated September 3, 1900, the only information given is his name and age. This is an example of extra information you might learn by going through Civil Action Papers as well.

Finally, the original records are located at the North Carolina State Archives. The Archives have also created microfilm versions of some of the apprentice bonds. These microfilms are available in our library for Interlibrary Loan if you are a North Carolina Resident. Check the catalog of the  Government & Heritage Library. Use the county and the word apprentice as your search terms (for example: “Granville County Apprentice”) to see what is available in our library.

In addition, we do have some books that provide abstracts of apprentice bonds for various counties.  Some search results from our online catalog may be microfilm and some may be books.  None of our genealogy books circulate via Interlibrary Loan.

If you are not a North Carolina resident and do not know when or even if your ancestor was bound out as an apprentice, one other possible location for microfilm records is the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Visit your local Family History Center and you can request any microfilm in their catalog.

Finally, if you would like to contact GHL for assistance with looking in a book of ours for apprentices, please view the following information before making your request: http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ghl/faq.html#genealogy. To request copies of documents from the State Archives, please view their website for specific guidelines to follow based on your residency: http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/mail.htm.

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