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=== Strategy for Finding Ancestors === | === Strategy for Finding Ancestors === | ||
The most effective strategy is to search <u>all</u> the Southern Claims Commission records for <u>everyone living in the same Southern county</u> as an ancestor. Any particular ancestor is unlikely to have actually applied to the Commission (only 0.2 percent of population), but he or she is more likely to have testified (2.3 percent) about an applicant, and an ancestor is even more likely to be discussed (about 10 ? percent) in the hundreds of answers to questions in other people's testimony. This is an advanced, time-consuming strategy with a less than 50 percent chance of locating information about your ancestor. But you will learn about the way of life in the county where your ancestor lived, and much about relationships between his or her neighbors.<ref>St. Louis County Library website, "[http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-geolist.htm Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants]" (accessed 1 April 2009). Use this list to find all the applicants in a given county.</ref> | The most effective strategy is to search <u>all</u> the Southern Claims Commission records for <u>everyone living in the same Southern county</u> as an ancestor. Any particular ancestor is unlikely to have actually applied to the Commission (only 0.2 percent of population), but he or she is more likely to have testified (2.3 percent) about an applicant, and an ancestor is even more likely to be discussed (about 10 ? percent) in the hundreds of answers to questions in other people's testimony. This is an advanced, time-consuming strategy with a less than 50 percent chance of locating information about your ancestor. But you will learn about the way of life in the county where your ancestor lived, and much about relationships between his or her neighbors.<ref>St. Louis County Library website, "[http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-geolist.htm Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants]" (accessed 1 April 2009). Use this list to find all the applicants in a given county.</ref> | ||
These are the steps to use to find <u>all</u> of the Southern Claims Commission records in a county. This strategy will involve reading thousands of manuscript pages with no guarantee you will find a particular ancestor mentioned in them. | |||
<div style="width: 95%; float: right"> | <div style="width: 95%; float: right"> | ||
'''Step 1'''. Determine the Southern county where an ancestor lived. | '''Step 1'''. Determine the Southern county where an ancestor lived. | ||
:Use family records, census, county histories, or other records to identify the residence of an ancestor during the Civil War from 1861-1865. | :Use family records, census, county histories, or other records to identify the residence of an ancestor during the Civil War from 1861-1865. | ||
<br> '''Step 2'''. Printout <u>all</u> the claimants in that county from the "Geographical List of Claimants''.'' | |||
:A. Open the St. Louis County Library [Internet site] article “[http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-geolist.htm Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants].” {{dead link}} Perhaps it is [http://www.worldcat.org/title/records-of-the-southern-claims-commission/oclc/122397396&referer=brief_results here].<br> | |||
:A. Open the St. Louis County Library [Internet site] article “[http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-geolist.htm Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants].” | |||
:B. Scroll down to the links to PDFs for states and counties listed in alphabetical order. | :B. Scroll down to the links to PDFs for states and counties listed in alphabetical order. | ||
:C. Click the link that would include the county where the ancestor lived between 1861-1865. | :C. Click the link that would include the county where the ancestor lived between 1861-1865. | ||
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:E. Close the PDF. | :E. Close the PDF. | ||
<br> '''Step 3'''. Copy data for each claimant in the county in ''Southern Loyalists in the Civil War.'' | |||
'''Step 3'''. Copy data for each claimant in the county in ''Southern Loyalists in the Civil War.'' | |||
:A. Get access to Gary B. Mills, ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30591123&referer=brief_results Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission]'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ., 1994, or reprint 2004). [FHL book 975 M2s]. | :A. Get access to Gary B. Mills, ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30591123&referer=brief_results Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission]'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ., 1994, or reprint 2004). [FHL book 975 M2s]. | ||
:B. In this book find and copy all data provided for <u>each</u> claimant in the county. | :B. In this book find and copy all data provided for <u>each</u> claimant in the county. | ||
<br> '''Step 4'''. To identify which NARA microfiche to purchase, use an appropriate NARA descriptive pamphlet (DP) and follow instructions at the St. Louis County Library’s Internet site. | |||
'''Step 5'''. Order from the National Archives a microfiche copy of the file for each claimant in your ancestor’s county. | |||
'''Step 5'''. Order from the National Archives a microfiche copy of the file for each claimant in your ancestor’s county. | |||
'''Step 6'''. Search each county claimant’s file for information about your ancestor or his neighbors. | '''Step 6'''. Search each county claimant’s file for information about your ancestor or his neighbors. | ||
'''Step 7'''. Search related Commission journals, agent letters, and miscellaneous letters at the FHL. | '''Step 7'''. Search related Commission journals, agent letters, and miscellaneous letters at the FHL. | ||
</div> | </div> | ||