In May, I purchased DeedMapper 4.2 from Direct Line
Software. I had no problems installing
it and have found it to be helpful with what’s evolved into a mass platting
project. The software has made creating
the plats so much faster and easier than using graph paper and a protractor and
put an end to the Geometry class flashbacks/nightmares.
I’ve spent nearly every Saturday afternoon at my local Family History
Center this summer
reading through deed books page by page and scanning records that I believe to
be relevant to my platting project. My
vacation was even spent there reading through a deed book.
At first with DeedMapper, I was putting the plats where I
believed they were supposed to be on the map I’m using to place the
tracts. This became too problematic when
other plats didn’t appear to jive with tracts that I felt surer of their
probable location. This was resolved by moving
the questionably placed tracts out of the area until I had more information to
suggest where they were located.
So the end all is that I concentrated on plats that
mentioned creeks, rivers, and roads that I could readily identify on the map
I’m using. As I worked I felt a sense of
accomplishment when in reading some deeds more closely that specifically
mentioned relationships between the parties involved where an ancestor was
parsing out pieces of their land to their grandchild or child. Unfortunately, these records don’t completely
apply to the line I’m researching, but I felt it was good to see. One record was helpful as it concerned the
son-in-law of my ancestor John Washington Womble and coupled with some other
records I’ve found on the son-in-law it added more pieces to the jigsaw as why
my ancestor moved to Hardeman County,
Tennessee in the first place.
The deed books that I’ve read through at this writing are:
Vol. W January 1870-October 1871
Vol. X October 1871-November 1872
Vol. Y November 1872-February 1874
Vol. Z February 1874-January 1876
Vol. V September 1, 1868-January
29, 1870
Vol. U April 1867-September 11,
1868
Currently, I’m reading through Vol. T Oct. 30, 1866-April
29, 1867.
Another event in my research was reading a book on
Reconstruction. At first I checked out a
book titled, Reconstruction: America’s
Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 by
Eric Foner. The copy they had at my
local library was published in 1988. As
my due date for returning the book got closer, I tried to renew it, but
couldn’t. I wound up purchasing an
updated version kindle edition that was written by the same author and published
in 2014. This is a fantastic book in my
opinion and gave me more insight into the time period that John Washington
Womble lived in while he was in Nashville during
the Civil War and why he and his family relocated to Hardeman County.
Unfortunately, it didn’t give me insight as to why they left
briefly returning to live in Nashville for about a year or so and then
returning to Hardeman County, but I likely need to read about the Panic of 1873
or do more research on the family as to their motivations.
After reading the book it sort of made me wonder why that
point in history wasn’t covered in much detail in my American History class in
high school.
I feel that in my research I’m reaching the end of what’s
available deed wise just after the Civil War.
There appears to be a gap with either what the LDS church filmed of the
deed books during the Civil War years or the recording of the records was
interrupted because of the war. My
thought was to order the vols. AA-BB 1876-1879 next and then to move on to the
older records before making a trip out to the Bolivar Courthouse to see what
I’m missing.
It was interesting reading the Reconstruction book while
reading through the deed books from the same era because I found items recorded
that showed many people having financial problems as a result of the end of
their way of life prior to the Civil War.
An interesting sight, were records recorded about events that happened
before the war and the parties involved were now attempting to resolve their
issues now that the fighting had ended.
One record was about a woman who purchased slaves before the war as part
of an estate sale. She had apparently
purchased the people on credit and hadn’t paid what was owed on the
slaves. No mention was made in the
record that the slaves were now free--only that she was past due on her debts.
