The Lincoln County Trip

     Yesterday, my mom and I went out to Lincoln County, Georgia to walk some cemeteries where my Albea family ancestors are buried. This family was a brick-wall up until a month ago, when I finally had enough proof to make connections to older generations. Having made the connections, I wanted photographs of their graves. Luckily, I had access to cemetery transcripts, and didn't have to hunt around for their graves - I just had to make the two hour trip.



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     Most of my ancestors are buried in two church cemeteries: Bethany United Methodist and Pine Grove United Methodist, which are very close to each other. Both cemeteries are relatively small, and I hoped to fully photograph every stone in each. However, the temperatures were around 99 degrees, with a heat index over 100. Given that I didn't want to get heat stroke, I ended up photographing Bethany (abt 230 stones), but only got my ancestors and a few other graves at Pine Grove. I'll upload all of these to FindAGrave.com

     Before heading out on this trip, my mom had suggested visiting the local library. I'd researched this library, but was having trouble finding an address, phone number or contact information. On the drive through Lincolnton, however, we noticed a sign directing us toward a library. So, after visiting the cemeteries, we went to the library.

Located at the corner of North Peachtree and Humphreys Streets in Lincolnton, the Lincoln County Library has a great genealogy collection. Mrs. Dianne Poteat is the head Genealogist, with Mr. Cullers being a benefactor. Both were in the genealogy room when we arrived, and were extremely eager to help us. Mrs. Poteat is working on a Lincoln County genealogy index, having started with the 1850 census. If your ancestors lived in Lincoln County, she's heard of them!

    Ok, well, she actually hadn't heard of some of ours. She had the same problem that I had in researching my Albea family branch: second wives, families living in divided households in census records, etc. Also, our Albea ancestors moved out of Lincoln County.

    To get us started, Mrs. Poteat handed us the "Albea file." Inside were descendent reports for my ancestor, Joseph Albea of Maryland to his son Thomas and his son Tilman. That's where the library's research lost mine. They were unaware of Tilman's son, William, who was my GG-Grandfather. So our line was missing... except for a single scrap of paper with a list of William, his wife, Nina Sprouse, and their children. Apparently someone had come in while Mrs. Poteat was out and left this note, but no contact information. My mom and I were able to identify everyone on that paper for her, and she'll be able to add this family to her database. Once I got home, emailed her more of my research for her records.

    For anyone researching in this area, the library is a great resource. The genealogy section is only five years old, but the Library and the folks there are passionate about it. There are tons of books, as well as a photograph collection and extremely knowledgable staff.