GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - From the Pages of a Book

GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021

From the Pages of a Book - January 17th entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.  

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

If you're lucky, you may find an ancestor in the pages of a county history book. County histories became popular from about the late 1880s through the 1920s, with another resurgence around the nation's Bicentennial in 1976.¹

Earlier county histories were inspired by President Grant, who encouraged communities to write their histories as a lasting legacy at the time of the United States Centennial in 1876. Publishers would come to a community and ask individuals to prepay for a book, and in exchange included their family's story. Later county histories were more likely created by historical societies.²

County histories can include information on various towns, maps and illustrations, portraits of prominent citizens, and valuable facts on the development of churches, clubs, schools, industries, etc. 

But the real county history gold for a family researcher are biographies of individuals in the community. Often a page or two in length, a sketch may include details on birth and death dates, migrations to the locality, names of family members, occupations, and more. As the sketch was only as good as the source who gave it, they should be regarded with some skepticism until verified with other original documents.³ Since subjects may have paid a fee to be included, their sketch may sing praises while glossing over less savory aspects; occasionally incorrect info was deliberately given for various reasons. 

Our family is lucky to have several ancestors included in county history sketches. Many of my husband's ancestors were pioneering folk who left their roots in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arkansas, to push into territories in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 

Dewitt Samuel Blackman, one of my husband's third great grandfathers, was featured in a sketch from Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, Containing Full-Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County, published in 1890.

The book's publishers noted, "...instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by their enterprise and industry brought the county to a rank second to none among those comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles."⁴

Dewitt's sketch brims with personal details regarding his family members, residences, occupation, Civil War service, and personal affiliations.⁵ As a bonus, it also gives facts regarding his parents and siblings—useful information for a family researcher looking to push back into previous generations of the family. 

I'm using the facts as clues to Dewitt's life, and so far have verified several, such as his Civil War service. On the other hand, the date of his marriage is slightly off when compared to his actual marriage record. The verifying continues.

Still, to have all these details in one place is a real discovery in our family's history, and shows the value to be found in a county history book.

¹ Janice Schultz, "County Histories and Your Family," The Midwest Genealogy Center Independence, Missouri, 14 January 2011; video, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/lessons/county-histories-and-your-family  : accessed 17 January 2021), minute 0:44.

² Ibid, minute 01:00-2:09.

³ Rich Venezia, Family Tree Magazine, (https://www.familytreemagazine.com/records/other/unusual-records-country-histories/ : accessed 17 Jan. 2021), " Unusual Records: Researching County Histories."

⁴ Chapman Brothers, Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, Containing Full-Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County (Chicago : Chapman Brothers, 1890), preface; digital image, Google Books (https://books.google.com.ag/books?id=CAiLmQEACAAJ&pg=PA9&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false : accessed 17 January 2021).

⁵ Ibid, p. 366-367, "De Witt S. Blackmon."