Estate Records are Here!

A little while ago I discovered that Lexington County, South Carolina had placed some indices online for marriage and estate records. Listed in the estate record index were documents filed for my Great-Great Grandmother, Ida Leaphart Hyler, her brothers and their father, Frank E Leaphart. Since Frank is one of my brick wall ancestors, I hoped that these records might shed light on his life and ancestry.

I sent a request to the address on the website, requesting information on the records. It turned out that those records were not housed in the county, but were actually at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. I was able to use their online form to request the documents listed in the index. After a few weeks, I received an invoice for the records that I'd requested. For $76 the SC Archive would send me about 130 pages of records. Although the price was steep, I decided to go ahead and pay.

Today when I arrived home there was a package waiting for me: stacks of 11x17 paper almost two inches thick. My record request had arrived! Given the size of the materials I received, I really feel like I've gotten my money's worth. I've started skimming through the pages and have already discovered a few interesting facts about my ancestors. My Great-grandmother Ida is at times referred to as an infant, as 12 year old girl and "the former Ida Leaphart, now Mrs. Hyler." I can see numerous pages of ledgers, showing where items for the estate were sold (want a quilt for $2.50?) and where money was taken out for the care of Ida and her orphaned siblings. I also now have another document proving who Ida's maternal grandfather was, as she also inherited part of his estate.

I'm looking forward to reviewing these pages over the coming days, as well as sharing the information with others. I have two scanners at home, neither of which is capable of scanning documents of this size. I need to find somewhere to do this - maybe fedex kinko's? Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Image reproduced from microfilm in South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, S. C. Lexington County Estate, Box 17, Pg 3, FR 273-368. Estate File of F. E. Leaphart, E1965.]

Writing to Hawhammock

In an effort to expand my genealogy research strategies, I'm challenging myself to try a new, non-internet, avenue of research each month. This month, I'm going to contact the church of my Boatright ancestors. Hawhammock Missionary Baptist Church is located in Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia.

I started my inquiry by trying to research the best ways to contact churches. I didn't find much. From Family Tree Magazine, I found a list of Church Record Resources, including the American Baptist Historical Society (though FTM has the wrong link, I was able to find their site via google). From their website, I found that they, "have found that Baptist church records are generally not helpful for genealogical research." This is mainly due to adult baptism that is not recorded, the fact that marriage is not regarded as a sacrament and records are not often kept, and because there is no regulated administrative policy. They do, however, keep records of those who served the church as pastors or missionaries.

Well, regardless of this, I'm still going to attempt to contact the church to see if they have information. I read in someone else's research that my ancestor, Reubin Boatright, was a deacon of the church. Also, many of his family members are buried there, so the church might have some burial or death information.

Here's the letter I'm sending via the contact form on their website:

"Hello,

I'm contacting you to inquire about your church's history. I'm an avid genealogist and my ancestors were members of your church, many of whom are buried there.

I was wondering if your church kept records of your members? My ancestors include Reubin Boatright (1794-1878) and his wife, Demaris Boatright (1829-1900) and their son, Stephen Boatright (1863-1950) and his wife Dora Logue (1863-1935).

I apologize for making this such a broad request, but I'm not sure what information you might have, if any. I would be grateful for information that your records may contain and would be more than willing to compensate your for your time.

Thank you for any assistance."

I'm not sure how good this letter is, but I guess I'll find out when (if?) I receive a response.

Roy's WWII Draft Card

Ancestry.com has been adding WWII "Old Man's" Draft Cards to their collection for a little while now. With most of my ancestors having lived in the south, I was disappointed to learn that I would not have access to their cards, as, according to ancestry.com "the original draft registration cards for the following states were destroyed several years ago and were never microfilmed before they were destroyed. Therefore, there will never be records for these states in this database." How sad!

But, the draft card that I was really interested in was my Grandfather's - and he didn't belong in the "Old Man" category, so, I had to go outside of ancestry.com anyway. I found this page, at the Selective Service System's website. It detailed how to apply for a copy of WWII draft cards, so I filled out the form and sent it off. For $15, the request was forwarded to the Southeast branch of the National Archives, where they searched for my Grandfather's draft card and classification. They didn't find the classification (which I really wanted! - why was he rejected?), but did find his draft card. Here it is: