Visiting Elmwood Cemetery / RestingSpot Review

     Mom and I left the South Carolina Archive around 3:30 pm and headed a few miles over to Elmwood Cemetery. We'd tried to get there the day before, but the office closes at 4:30 pm and we hadn't made it. My Great-Great Grandparents, John and Ida Hyler / Huyler are buried in Elmwood Cemetery. A volunteer had taken photos of the graves years ago, but I wanted to visit the actual location while we were in the area.

     Elmwood is a large cemetery, so we had called up the day before to ask for the locations of the graves. When we went into the office, we discovered that the staff had pulled up a listing of the burial and marked the location on a map. Then, the lady actually drove out to the location while we followed in our car. Talk about customer service!



     While we were there, we used my mom's Android to add the graves to two cemetery websites: BillionGraves and RestingSpot.  As usual, I had trouble getting and maintaining a GPS signal with the BillionGraves app and the new "linking photos" feature didn't work as it was supposed to. 
     This was the first time I used the RestingSpot app.  I'd previously signed up for a RestingSpot account and downloaded it to my mom's phone. I hadn't tried out the app or really knew how it worked. Well, here's how it works:

1. Log in and click "Add RestingSpot"
2. Create the listing by filling in names and dates and save the information
3. Take a photo of the grave or add one from your camera

     That's pretty much it. The process does take a few minutes, mostly since you add the names and dates at each grave.  However, I was not held up by waiting for a GPS signal like I am with the BillionGraves app. But I can't see walking a large cemetery and having to constantly type in names. A small church cemetery though? That would be very feasible. Also a nice feature on resting spot is the listing on the website. Once you've added the grave you can go to the website and add more information about the person. Photos, biographies, your relationship to the person, etc. There's also a map of the grave and you can even get directions to the GPS location. 

     I only had a chance to play with the app for a few minutes, but I liked it. It was user intuitive and has a great website. However, as I mentioned, having to input the vital information at each grave does take time. Also, saving that information can take a while too. I'm not sure how long, but it was at least 30 seconds. Maybe there's already a way around this? If not, it would be nice to be able to log the information into the phone and have it upload later to save time. 

     Next up: Lexington County Museum

_______________

  Also in this series:

1. Tweeting My Trip
2. Visiting the OEDGS at the Tompkins Library
3. Visiting the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
4. [This Post]
5. Visiting the Lexington County Museum
6. Visiting the Franklin Memorial Library (Emanuel County, GA)

Visiting the South Carolina Department of Archives and History

     This second stop on my recent genealogy trip with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (aka the SC Archive). My mom and I woke up bright and early to get there just after they opened. The Archive is located in Columbia, just off of Highway 277. When we arrived it was raining a bit and there were only two other cars in the parking lot.

     Making our way up to the building, the windows were dark and I was a bit worried that I'd gotten their hours wrong. Never fear! The automatic doors swung open we stepped up the the reception desk. Like visiting other archives, we were asked to fill out a form and agree to the rules (no bags, pens, etc). Unlike other archives, we didn't get a researcher card. Instead, our information was put into the computer and they would look us up during future visits. We put our bags into the free lockers and took our notebook, pencils, laptop and camera into the Research Room.

     The first thing I did was approach the desk and ask about the room's layout and available records (I'd looked up available county records on their online index, but finding them at the location is a different thing) The very helpful archivist showed us the microfilm index drawer and explained about some of the available materials. Unfortunately, South Carolina records are very spotty, due to a lack of record creation and massive record destruction. For example, government marriage records aren't available until 1911.

     We grabbed some indexes for deeds in Lexington and Edgefield Counties and headed to the microfilm readers. There were perhaps as many as 40 of the older hand-cranked microfilm readers available and three of the more modern electronic readers with printers attached. Researchers are asked to take only one film at a time, which will prevent folks from hogging the printers.  Mom and I sat down at the manual readers and started hunting for ancestors. I used my laptop and genealogy software to keep track of names and the free wifi to tweet about my experience.

    Mom at the machines:



    After we had found a number of records in the indexes, I would pull the films with the actual documents and have mom print them. I was surprised to see that the print capable microfilm readers had coin slots on them that required you to pay 50¢ per copy in advance. We weren't prepared for this and had to get some change from the information desk. Due to this, I decided to only print copies of records for direct line ancestors and take photos of records for collateral line ancestors (I'd expected to save records to a flashdrive).
     Going back to pulling the microfim records: a list of all available microfilms were placed in binders. I used the information I'd found in the index and look up the corresponding film in the binders. This wasn't hard, but it wasn't super easy either. The binders were a mess! There were also additional records that did not have a separate film index, so we used the binder to locate them as well.
     We took an hour break for lunch, but otherwise spent six hours researching at the archive. I didn't break down any walls or find any new relatives. Instead, I concentrated on finding supporting documents for the ancestors I already knew. Records included: marriage licenses, wills of three multi-great grandparents, deeds of two multi-great grandparents, mortgage of GG-granfather Witt and the knowledge of what records didn't exist. 

     Next stop: Elmwood Cemetery

_______________

  Also in this series:

1. Tweeting My Trip
2. Visiting the OEDGS at the Tompkins Library
3. [This Post]
4. Visiting Elmwood Cemetery / RestingSpot Review
5. Visiting the Lexington County Museum
6. Visiting the Franklin Memorial Library (Emanuel County, GA)

Visiting the OEDGS at the Tompkins Library

     I started out at 8:30 am Monday morning, driving 200 miles with my mom to South Carolina. Our first stop was Edgefield, South Carolina and the Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society (OEDGS).  The society is located in the Tompkins Memorial Library, which is next door to the Edgefield County Library.

     I have previously been an OEDGS, but neglected to renew my membership (a bad habit of mine). Regardless, the materials are available to all. I browsed their books and indexes, but what I really found helpful were the surname files. The Quattlebaum, Dorn and Ouzts families are pretty prolific in the area and each family had a good sized file.

     I was probably most excited to find photos of the homes of two of my ancestors. First, I found a newspaper clipping of the home of John Dorn Jr, my 5x Great Grandfather. The house was dated 1819 and the photo was dated c 1902.

     Next, I found a photo of my 6x Great Grandfather Peter Ouzts / Utz's family home. This one was built in 1873 and rebuilt in 1810 and the photo was from 1928.

     After leaving the OEDGS Library we headed to our next destination: Columbia, SC.






_______________  Also in this series:

1. Tweeting My Trip
2. [this post]
3. Visiting the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
4. Visiting Elmwood Cemetery / RestingSpot Review
5. Visiting the Lexington County Museum
6. Visiting the Franklin Memorial Library (Emanuel County, GA)

Tweeting My Trip

     I just got home from a three day (two night) trip to South Carolina for genealogy research. Most of my mom's family is from South Carolina and I wanted to go find original records. I plan to write a few posts about my trip. To start, here are my tweets from my journey:

 Day 1:

#Genealogy trip starts today: 1) Edgefield County Gen Soc Library, 2) GG-Grandparents' graves, 3) @SCArchives, 4) the zoo! 

No one else on this road knows how to drive #roadtrip

#wafflehouse in Augusta, Ga #roadtrip twitpic.com/6nerlr

Welcome to South Carolina! #roadtrip http://twitpic.com/6nfby1

Mom (@rubyacraft) doing #genealogy research at the Edgefield gen society http://twitpic.com/6ngt4t

At hotel now-Didn't really learn much new at Edgefield #genealogy soc library, but did get pic of 5x G-Grandad Dorn's house c1819 #roadtrip

As in, house was built in 1819 #genealogy

Day 2:

Things to remember: load the film rightside up! #genealogy #roadtrip http://twitpic.com/6nt01w

Did expext 2 pay4 copies on microfilm like they are bubblegum #genealogy http://twitpic.com/6ntpmj

@ACoffin Guess i didn't need to bring my flashdrive!

@Smitty327 I'm being overcharged! Didn't expect it, keep having to get change. Which is a good thing!

Found originals of docs I had info on (ie marriage licenses) & some records on index, time for lunch then back to @SCArchives #genealogy

Yay, #genealogy happy dance at the @SCArchives - finding lots of stuff, including my Grandparents' marriage license and wills

I'm supposed to use this to find microfilms @scarchives #genealogy #fail http://twitpic.com/6nx6cu

Day 3:

Went to the zoo, now at the Lexington Co History Museum #genealogy #roadtrip

   
________________
  Also in this series:

1. [This Post]
2. Visiting the OEDGS at the Tompkins Library
3. Visiting the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
4. Visiting Elmwood Cemetery / RestingSpot Review
5. Visiting the Lexington County Museum
6. Visiting the Franklin Memorial Library (Emanuel County, GA)

My Most Wished For Genealogical Records

     A little less than a year from now the genealogical goldmine that is the 1940 census will be released. It will be online just as soon as it's available for the public. But there are so many records that aren't available online, records that require travel, money and long waits to acquire.

     This is a list of the top 5 record databases that I would love to see placed online and would help my genealogy research the most. (Note that most of my ancestors lived in Georgia and South Carolina for the past two hundred fifty years or more, so my wants are mostly limited to these states.)

• USA Navy Records. There are so many Army records online - what about the other branches of the military?
• South Carolina Marriage Records, 1600-1930s. Many GA Marriage records are already available through Ancestry and FamilySearch
• SC & GA Divorce Records. If I can see the beginning of the marriage, I'd also like to see the end.
• SC & GA wills, 1600-1930s. There are some SC wills online via the SC Archive, but I'd love to see more and also wills for GA.
• SC & GA land records. All types: deeds, plats, homestead exemptions, mortgages, etc.

     For now, I'll have to send off for Family History Center Microfilms (that take about six weeks to arrive) or travel to libraries, archives and courthouses. 

The Popularity of Edgefield County

As I've stated in previous posts, my Family Finder DNA test from FamilyTreeDNA gave me five "close relative" matches and a large number of speculative matches. As of yet, I haven't identified a common ancestor with any of the matches, thought there are a few promising leads. And just about all of those leads lead to Edgefield County, South Carolina.

My matches and I have been exchanging a variety of family tree charts and websites while we look for matches. Here's what we've seen so far:

• My closest match, a predicted 3rd cousin with Mr. A Peppers, might match a Parish / Paris family in Edgefield County.
• A 4th cousin match with Mr. E Hill might match a Harris family in Edgefield County.
• A 4th cousin match with Ms. M Barton doesn't match any surname, but we both have a large number of ancestors from Edgefield County.

That's 3 out of 5 matches that might be traced back to Edgefield County, SC! Now, the way the matches are made is by comparing segments of DNA to see if individuals share identical segments on the same chromosome. With all of these Edgefield matches, I have to wonder if we're all related.

On the FTDNA website, I can compare up to three of my matches at a time. You can see three different colors on this chart and can see that each color has a long segment and a lot of little ones. The green segment is my 3rd cousin match and the blue and orange are my 4th cousin matches. You can see that in two places the green and orange match and in one place the blue and green match. But these are very small matches, so we don't all descend from the same recent ancestor. It might be that we share a very distant ancestor though...

Out of all the people in the world who might have taken this test it strikes me that so many of my matches look to have descended from the same location. I do have a lot of ancestors from the Edgefield County Area (which broke up into Greenwood, Saluda and McCormick Counties), but I have equally large amounts of ancestors from Emanuel County, GA, Elbert & Hart Counties, GA and Lexington County, SC. I guess it's just up to who takes the test... but it still strikes me as odd.

Driving Through the Family Tree

     Last weekend, my mom and I went on vacation to Charleston, SC. We drove north up I-85 from Atlanta to South Carolina and it was like driving through my family tree.

     We passed into SC through Hart County, home of my Craft, Evans, Powell and Taylor ancestors.
     We drove just outside of Greenville where my maternal grandfather's family moved to when he was a teen.  He met and married my grandmother there before moving the family to Atlanta.
     We took I-26 east and past the highways that would have taken us to Greenwood and Ninety Six where my Witt, Dorn and Quattlebaum ancestors lived.
     A little further down the road, we passed connectors to Saluda, where the older generations of Witt and Dorn ancestors came from, as well as newly connected Britt and Parrish ancestors.
     Soon, we were approaching through Columbia, where my Great-Granddaddy Albea died.
     We took a highway shortcut past the city and entered Lexington County, where generations of Hyler ancestors lived, as well as my Meetze, Ouzts and Leaphart ancestors.

     Unfortunately, we didn't have time on this vacation to stop anywhere for genealogy side-trips. It was a very inspiring drive though, prompting me to discover that the Richland County Library has an obit index and does lookups for free!  I've already received new obituaries for my Hyler ancestors. Hopefully I'll be able to go back again sometime on a research trip.

     And I didn't even have my camera ready when we discovered Leaphart Road.... I did find it on Google maps however:

View Larger Map

Tracking Mack

My maternal grandmother's father, Vary "Mack" Hyler / Huyler disappeared during the Great Depression to look for work. He left when his daughter was an infant and didn't show up again until she was 14. I'm trying to track down his location during the approximate time period of 1931-1945.

Based on stories that he told his grandchildren, he was a true hobo. Mack said that he traveled "all over" in train cars and smoked "wacky weed." These statements aren't exactly detailed. So, what do I know as fact?

• He was named Vary Americus Hyler, but was known in his later years as Mack Huyler (family stories and documents)
• He stated that he was born on 2 April 1903 in Columbia, Richland, SC (ssa)

• He appears in Lexington County Census records in 1910 and 1920 and cannot be found in the 1930 census.
• He married Ruby L Waters on 2 Jan 1931 in Atlanta GA (marriage cert)
• He and Ruby divorced during his time away (she remarried)
• On 25 Feb 1937 he filed a social security application in Augusta, Richmond, GA
• He returned to Ruby (now divorced from her second husband) when his daughter, Betty, was 14 (statement from Betty)
• He was living with Ruby again in 1948 in Atlanta, GA (directory)
• He married Ruth Sexton after Ruby died (family info and obit)

What about rumors? Aside from the few mentions of riding trains, not much is known. It has been speculated by the family that Mack knew Ruth Sexton from his traveling days and may have been in a relationship with her at that time.

• Ruth was born in Alleghany County, SC in 1913 (obit)
• She spent part of her childhood in Virginia (1920 census).

So, I'm looking for Mack GA & SC and possibly NC & VA. Considering the extensive rail system, my search could expand much further. So, I'll start by examining his Social Security Application further.


Mack's 1937 ssa tells me a few things:

• He was officially calling himself Mack, not Vary, and spelling his surname with a 'u'
• His address was 446 Watkins Street, Augusta, GA
• He was employed with Huckeye Cotton Oil Co

There are a few things I did immediately: mapped the address and checked city directories. Unfortunately, it's hard to say for sure what building on Watkins Street is 446.

The city directories are available online for 1937 and listed 446 as "vacant." So, it seems that Mack was new to this address in '37. The 1938 directory lists Benj F Steerman and Stoney Taylor as living at this address. Did Mack only live here a short time, or was he the roommate or friend of these men? Or was this just an address he listed to have something to put on the form? Regardless, Augusta, Richmond, GA is a city that might offer more clues about Mack. And maybe these other two men might provide information on Mack.

So, where else can I look? I can widen my search of city directories. I can continue to look in the 1930 census, though I don't hold out luck finding him there. I can look for military service. He should have registered for the draft in the early 1940s. I can try and track him through his siblings (three brothers, seven sisters). Any other ideas?

Name Your Kids Already!

This is the 1880s Census enumeration of my Sprouse Ancestors. The family of William Washington and Nancy K (Armstrong) Sprouse were living in Abbeville, Abbeville, South Carolina in 1880. This page shows only their children, with the couple listed on the previous page. And the names of two of their children? Babe. As in, unnamed babies. I know that it's not that unusual to have not named a child immediately, but I personally find it unusual to have two unnamed daughters of different ages, neither of which are infants.

The eldest of the unnamed girls was my Great-Great Grandmother, Nina Frances Spouse. I'm curious as to how she made it to the age of two without a name. Could the couple not pick a name? Was she was named after someone? The name Nina (Nine-uh) doesn't appear previously in the family that I can find, though there were tons of Franceses. What was the general length of time that children went without names during this time period?

I'll probably never know specifically why Nina wasn't "Nina" for over two years, but it's an interesting mystery to ponder.

Surname Saturday - Huyler

My maternal Grandmother's maiden name was Betty Huyler. Her father was born Vary Americus Hyler, but changed his name to Mack Huyler. My grandmother did not know her father as a child and never knew about, nor met, any of his family. It was one of those great moments in my genealogy research to be able to provide her with the names of her grandparents: John Willis Hyler and Ida Leaphart.

My Huyler / Hyler ancestors are mainly from Lexington County, South Carolina. Other spellings of this name include Hiler, Heyler and Hoyler. I can trace this line back to Gabriel Hoyler / Hyler, born abt 1794 in South Carolina. He lived in Lexington County with his wife, Abigail Gartman. According to census records, their children were Almenia, Reuhama, Nathan Washington, William, and Frances E. I descend through Nathan Washington Hyler, who served as a confederate soldier during the Civil War.

Other researchers have Gabriel's father as Barnet Bernard Hoyler / Hyler, whose parents are said to be Johann Michael Heyler and Hannah Catherine Morlokin. They are said to have been born in Baden, Germany. I have not seen documentation to prove these two generations.

If anyone else is researching this family line, I'd love to hear from you.

On the Up Side

Yesterday I wrote about my disappointment with Ancestry.com's census substitutes. They provide limited information about an even more limited segment of the population. But my criticism does not mean that I don't appreciate the database for what it does provide.

Although most of my relatives are not covered in these census substitutes, others are. For example, Greenville, South Carolina is well represented in the city directories. Many of my SC ancestors moved here to work in the mills.

In the 1948 Greenville City directory I found my grandparents, Roy & Betty Huyler Albea. They had been married in Greenville in February of 1947. This directory shows my grandparents during their first year of marriage. Roy was working as a spooler at Brandon Mills. The couple was listed as "r10 Woodward," which indicates that they roomed at this location.

According to my mom, her parents first lived with Roy's sister and her husband, Tootsie and Doyle Clary. A quick look at the back of the book's address listing confirms that Doyle Clary was registered as the head of the household at 10 Woodward.

This information is for 1948 - a year when no national census took place. Without this directory, I would not know the couple's address for this time period. Based on library visits to view Atlanta city directories, I know that by 1950 Roy & Betty had settled in Atlanta at a Hotel owned by Roy's mother and step-father. Using Ancestry's collection, I see that the Clary's remained at 10 Woodward.

I hope that Ancestry.com continues to expand their city directory information so that other researchers will be able use these census substitutes. They really are a valuable resource.

Tombstone Tuesday - Sprouse

I found these photos on a tree at ancestry.com, thanks to their new member connect feature.

William W. and Nancy (Armstrong) Sprouse are my Great-Great-Great Grandparents. They were born in South Carolina and raised their children Abbeville County. Late in life the crossed the nearby border into Georgia, and were buried in Goshen Baptist Church Cemetery in Lincolnton, GA.

New Links, Obits, and Clues

Thanks to Saturday Night Genealogy fun over at Genea-Musings, Greta's Genealogy Blog posted a list of her top genealogy sites, which included the Greenville SC Library Obituary Index. I haven't been to this website in years and was unaware of this index. I have a good amount of family in this area and was excited to hear about this.

I searched for surname, Albea, and up came my results. There were 7 results, 6 of which I knew were part of my family tree. The index provided me with their name, obituary publication date, and page number. But I don't live in Greenville and don't have access to the Greenville News microfilm. However, a quick search on RAoGK showed that there are quite a few researchers doing obit lookups in the county. I picked one and sent them the information I'd found. Within 24 hours (so fast!) I had the three obituaries that I had requested.

I was very excited about one in particular, for William A. Albea. William is one of my brick walls. I have some suspicions on who his parents are, but no proof. Thanks to his obituary, I now know the names of three of his siblings that I hadn't known before! Hopefully this will prove helpful in my research.

William Albea - A Brick Wall Ancestor

William Albea is my Great-Great Grandfather and one of my younger brick walls. The information I have for him is:

• Born: 15 Apr 1872 in Georgia (death certificate)
• Died: 3 Aug 1936 in Greenwood, Greenwood, SC; Cardio Vascular Disease (death certificate)
• Buried: Edgwood Cemetery, Greenwood, ", SC (cemetery walk)
• Parents: Thomas Albea and Sarah Corley (death certificate)
• Married: 26 Dec 1895 to Nina Frances Sprouse in Lincoln County, GA (Marriage records of Lincoln County, 1806-1955)
• Children: Everlena Sara, Johnny M., Melvin Anderson, Charles Vernon, Martha Louise "Mattie," Henry Paul, Coleman (Interview, Roy V. Sr. & Betty Albea; Photo Album)
• 1900 Census, District 76, Bradley, Greenwood, SC
• 1910 Census, District 39, Sybert, Lincoln, Georgia
• 1920 Census, Sheet No. 5A, District 80, Greenwood, Greenwood
• 1930 Census, Sheet No. 16A, District 13, Greenwood, Greenwood, South Carolina

My main problem is that I cannot find William as a boy. I have a likely record of a Willie of the right age in the right place, but he's listed as a grandson, not a son. I need to look for his parents, but they're playing hard to get. I'd like to send off for his marriage certificate as well. I should also interview my Great-Aunt to see what she knows.

Tombstone Tuesday - Witt

Thanks to a volunteer at FindaGrave.com this week, I have a new tombstone to share. It's the grave of my GG-Aunt, Velma Witt Cromer.

Velma was the daughter of William David Witt and Frances Iola Quattlebaum. She was born on 29 Jan 1905, most likely in Greenwood County, SC. She married Edward Cromer and died on 9 Sep 1981 in Clayton County, GA.

Names, Places & Most Wanted Faces

The surname genealogy meme, started at GeneaBlogie

Surnames & Locals:

Albea - Georgia (Lincoln), South Carolina (Greenwood, Greenville)

Barfield - Georgia (Emanuel, Burke)

Boatright - Georgia (Emanuel, Burke)

Craft - Georgia (Elbert, Hart), South Carolina (Anderson)

Dorn - South Carolina (Edgefield, Greenwood)

Farr - Pennsylvania (Tioga), England

Hyler / Huyler / Hoyler - South Carolina (Lexington)

Leaphart - South Carolina (Lexington)

Powell - Georgia (Elbert, Hart)

Quattlebaum - South Carolina (Edgefield, Greenwood)

Waters - Georgia (Cobb, Milton, Fulton, Rockdale)

Smith - Georgia (Milton, Fulton, Rockdale)

Most Wanted Ancestor:

Parents of Leveret Wat(t)ers (b. 1881, Cobb County, GA)

Before and After the War

There are a lot of interesting information that can be gleaned from census records.  I thing that I like to do is compare the 1860 and 1870 census records for the same family. It can really show have the family has been impacted by the "War of Northern Aggression." You can easily compare property values between the years to see what sort of monetary impact the War had on the family.

Now, with the release of the South Carolina Non-Population Census records on Ancestry.com, I can get an even more in-depth look at the war's impact. I found John Peter Quattlebaum on the 1860 and 1870 Non-Population census records. I don't know if John fought in the war, but I do know that his sons did.

1860:

1870:

The first thing I notice is that the family is not in the same location - Edgefield Distrist in 1860 and Hibler in 1870.  In 1860, Edgefield County was organized into only three townships.  By 1870, Edgefield County was organized into twenty different townships.  On the populations census records, he neighbors are the same, so I assume that he did not move, but that county organization became more sophisticated.

I see that in 1860 and 1870 he had 308 acres of land, which helps to confirm that he is on the same property. In 1860, the cash value of his land is $2,250, but in 1870 his land is worth only $930. The value of his farming equipment has also plummeted. It would seem that physical equipment might be worth more and harder to find after the war, so perhaps he lost some of his equipment during the war.

The non-population census also records livestock holdings.  From 1860 to 1870 John lost: two horses, a mule, four milk cows, two cattle, three sheep, and 37 swine. He gained two oxen.  The total value of his livestock plummeted by $363. 

His farming production has changed a lot (on second page not shown).  In 1860, John made most of his money potato farming, producing over 100 bushels. By 1870 he's produced less than 20 bushels.  He's made up for the difference with a slight increase in dairy production.  The family has also lost all production of honey and homemade merchandise and their value of slaughtered animals has decreased dramatically.

Overall, it seems that John and his family suffered during the war.  The value of their land decreased and they lost the means to earn money. Without the non-population census records, we wouldn't be able to see the detail of the changes in this family's life.

SC Death Records on Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com updated their South Carolina Death records to include scans of death certificates. It previously was made up of scans of the index only (which I now can't find). I'm really happy about this, because it was costing me $10 for each death certificate that I had to send off for. I've been able to view some of the collateral family members' death certificates that I would not have spent money on, as well as some certificates that I had not sent off for yet.

Here's one find: my great-grandfather, Charles Vernon Albea.

SC Department of Archives and History

I found the South Carolina Department of Archives and History's website today. I found a few gems already!

It's a relatively easy site to use, especially since there aren't a whole lot of resources, but what

they do have is pretty valuable.

I found the wills of John Dorn Jr. and Peter Ouzts.

A few weeks ago, we went to South Carolina. We hit up a few cemeteries on the Albea, Witt, Dorn, Quattlebaum lines. We visited Edgewood Cemetery, Bold Springs Baptist Church and Bethel United Methodist Church. I uploaded the photos to findagrave.com. Click the links to leave this site and go to findagrave.com. Edgewood Cemetery • Bold Springs Baptist Church • Bethel United Methodist Church