Friday, May 21, 2010

Follow Friday: More than name studies

Two of my favorite websites share name study research done by meticulous researchers. Each is far, far more than a name study. Both include hundreds (or thousands) of abstracted deeds and legal records sorted by location that provide information about neighbors and extended family links. Both websites can be easily searched using Google or the find feature on your web browser.

Mary Ann Dobson, aka The Genealogy Bug, has posted her Duncan Research Files, which include a massive collection of abstracted records she has collected over decades of Duncan family research. Included is a 1991 revision of her book Some Duncan Families of Eastern Tennessee before 1800. For those researching in East Tennessee it's one-stop shopping - especially since there were several large Duncan families living there. Their marriages, land records and estates link them to dozens, if not hundreds of other families. Her notes, sources and website organization are superb and her work covers far more than East Tennessee. She has Duncan files for every state except Hawaii. Wonderful, generous work.

Carl Lawson, administrator for the Lawson Surname DNA Project, has organized his Lawson research into beautifully laid out timelines for 45 Virginia counties, emphasizing Colonial and Early Federal records. The Lancaster County Timeline, for example, includes hundreds of abstracts from 1648-1847. A quick search yields 8 references to Merediths and 7 references to Conways. There are also timelines for three North Carolina counties. Lawson, too, gives clear source information. I've found the timeline presentation so useful that I've adopted his timeline organization for my personal research log adding columns for source information and notes. Another generous researcher.

Hats off to Dobson and Lawson for sharing the fruits of their labors.