Every family has a great story to tell! The quest is to find it!
I once thought searching county records, newspapers, cemeteries, etc., was boring—until I discovered how inventive and inspirational my people were. History would have one believe that we descend from an ignorant bunch of cavemen—until I found that during the 17th and 18th centuries, educational subjects were reading, writing, mathematics, Greek, Latin, history, and geography. Memoirs of Georgia, published by the Georgia Historical Society in 1895*, records interviews of families and their origins throughout every county wherein the sons were sent abroad to Scotland and England for collegiate degrees. In those days, respectable occupations were in the legal field and farming. Its earliest residents built Savannah, a port city with brick buildings and sidewalks. General Oglethorpe may have transported boatloads of poor people, but he also transported magistrates, carpenters, silversmiths, glassmakers, etc., into the colony. The old wills recorded in Chatham County average a length of some fifty pages! Why is that? Because the lifestyle was farming. Farmers maintained records of debts, promissory notes, imports, exports, etc. In the early years, imported goods were costly. For example, nails were so expensive when the farmer disassembled a structure, he saved the boards and nails.
Later, I discovered a one-room school on High Shoals Road near Dallas, used by my ancestors in the Georgia backwoods during the 19th century. Those studies concentrated on the basic skills of reading, spelling, geography, arithmetic, history, and penmanship. A successful farmer understood bookkeeping, surveying, and other skills. Interestingly, the structure was also used as the local church. The minister baptized new converts under a waterfall deep in the woods!
Thus, even the most boring entry in public records tells its tale of a struggling yet resourceful past. Historical events surrounded the life span of your ancestors. Thus, once the researcher has discovered what may be boring, reading about that particular historical era using local county histories, military and Indian battles, etc., will open the door to more interesting facts.
Note — Memoirs of Georgia, Vols I, II is available at the Georgia State Archives and Regional Libraries around Georgia.
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