Kinsearching April 14, 2013

RELEASE DATE: APRIL 14, 2013



KINSEARCHING

by

Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
 

    Are you trying to locate West Texas newspapers to view online? If so, you will want to check the list of titles digitized by the Southwest Collection (SWC) archive at Texas Tech University. All are text searchable and more issues are constantly being added. Currently available are newspapers from such Texas towns as Clarendon, Cross Plains, Haskell, Post, and Vernon, as well as papers from Lubbock and Texas Tech University. To access the Post Dispatch, for example, go to the URL at http://collections.swco.ttu.edu/handle/10605/2123.


     Like newspapers, back issues of periodicals pertaining to history may offer valuable information that may not easily be found elsewhere. Appearing on pages 437-447 of the January 1989 (Vol. XCII, No. 3) issue of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, for example, is the article, “1834 Census—Anahuac Precinct, Atascosito District” by Jean L. Epperson. When the article was published twenty-four years ago, the original 1834 Anahuac Precinct census had only recently been discovered in a private collection. One of the few extant censuses concerning the Anglo colonists during the years 1821-1836, it was reproduced and published for the first time in Epperson’s article. According to a footnote, Anahuac Precinct in 1834 included the present-day areas of Double Bayou, Smith Point, and High Island, as well as Anahuac. Besides reproducing the census, Epperson provides data on the early history of the town of Anahuac, furnishes additional details about several families and individuals in the area, and lists other published censuses for Texas’s Mexican period (1821-1836).


     Did some of your forebears participate in the Civil War, 1861-1865? Have you ever wondered what the terrain and conditions were like where your ancestors fought? Since many of the events are being commemorated, you may want to include a visit to a specific battleground as part of your vacation plans. The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Vicksburg, for instance, takes place in 2013. If you will be traveling in Mississippi, it may be a good time to check out the well-maintained battlefield.


     Genealogists, like most people, are interested in special offers and new products. In addition, they want to know tactics for breaking through those “brick walls” which most family researchers will encounter, sooner or later, in the course of tracing their progenitors. Information about new books and CDs, publication sales or close-outs, and research tips can be found in the free online newsletter, Genealogy Pointers, published by Genealogical Publishing Company (GPC). To sign up to receive the newsletter, go to the website at www.genealgoical.com and click on the link “Free! Genealogy Pointers” in the middle of the GPC home page.


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