It may appear that I’ve been neglecting my genealogical
research since my last post. You likely
know the saying life happens while you’re making plans. When last I left off with my research plans
I’d finished reading through vol. N, but had yet to plat any of the deeds that
I’d found.
I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of this land
research project after being away from it for some time. Earlier last month I was finally able to get
over to my local Family History Center
in Annandale
and finish reading through vol. O and make the copies of the various pertinent
deeds that I’d found in both volumes O and P.
Since then, I’ve reviewed my previous work so that I could
find my way back to the train of thought that I’d lost. I read through my last blog post and notes
I’d taken about the project and these seemed to help me. This holiday weekend has been partly devoted
to running down my lost train of thought, platting deeds I’d discovered, developing
an extremely rough and unofficial research plan for my next trip to my local
Family History Center, and reading digitized documents on FamilySearch.org
about some of the still unaccounted for land that’s missing. Then updating my
landownership spreadsheet and coming up with other ideas for keeping track of
further records I should try to find on those land owners.
My next step before reading through the microfilm I ordered
is to create the official research plan, so that I stay on focus with my
research system.
The game plan that I’ve come up with thus far is that I’ll
try to locate some of the land owners for who I’ve been unable to find deeds
for in petitions that are on microfilm at the FHL. I’ve already indicated on my land ownership
spreadsheet which land owners have petitions.
Then for those who are still missing such as the infamous
Amos Reed, I’ll see what the microfilmed Trust Deeds have in store for me. If nothing’s found there either, then a trip
to the Bolivar Courthouse is in my future.
I’m also in the process of trying out Evernote as a means of
trying to keep track of some of my genealogical research—I joined the fb group
some time ago and have yet to read any of the posts. Many people have mentioned how helpful the
program is, and so I finally decided to give it a shot. We’ll see how it goes with me using it. I’d love to find books on it at my local
library, but for some reason haven’t been able to find one in my area that owns
a copy.
