Methodology Monday backtracking Jacob Wynkoop (NGSQ)

Jacob Wynkoop died in Morgan County, Ohio, in 1842, placing his entire life in what I call the "Dark Ages" of US genealogy, before the first every-name census was taken in 1850. In the June 2014 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Stephen B. Hatton traces the Wynkoop family back by studying their associates (and in one case the associates' associates), the Sears, Power, McNabb, Brabham, and Combs families.

These five families lived near one another, intermarried, went to court, sometimes bought land -- and, most importantly, produced more records than the Wynkoops did! Clues from both Ohio and Virginia show that they all went back to Loudoun County, Virginia.

The importance of this sizeable pile of evidence becomes even clearer near the end of the article, when the author reveals a much smaller pile of direct evidence about Jacob's family, and shows how the pieces fit together. See the article itself for details (the quarterly is a benefit of membership in the National Genealogical Society and is available in good genealogy library collections).

Many of us would have put the direct evidence up front, but I think Hatton is on to something in this case by playing his strongest cards -- indirect evidence from friends, associates, and neighbors -- first. Check it out and see what you think!



Stephen B. Hatton, "Using Networks to Backtrack the Migration and Identify the Parents of Jacob Wynkoop of Morgan County, Ohio," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 102 (June 2014): 111-27.


Harold Henderson, "Methodology Monday backtracking Jacob Wynkoop (NGSQ)," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 8 September 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Methodology Monday (NGSQ): Paul Graham reopens a chapter of African-American history in Georgia

There's a strange idea out there that "genealogy" is boring and technical, while "family history" is the fun story-telling stuff. If any article can refute this notion, it's Paul Graham's lead article in the December National Genealogical Society Quarterly, "A Love Story Proved: The Life and Family of Laura Lavinia (Kelly) Combs of Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia."

Graham, whose work is showing up everywhere these days, is one of the few who hold both the AG and CG credentials. This article, which won NGS's 2012 Family History Writing Contest, carefully marshals a variety of indirect evidence to clarify and confirm a long-standing story that Mary Combs, a free woman of color, sold her property in Atlanta in order to purchase the freedom of her enslaved husband -- a tale that had stumped previous writers and historians who tried to verify it.

This is a great article for those who are new to the specific challenges of African-American research, or who are beginning to suspect that there's a whole world of genealogy out there beyond just chasing names on Ancestry or looking them up in indexes.

Just to start, Graham had to get the name straight. No African-American Mary Combs appeared in local records, but Laura Combs did. No deed stating that she bought or sold the city lot exists. But a neighbor's 1854 deed identified her as its owner, and a tax list the following year showed that Laura Kelly, under the name of her legally required guardian -- that same neighbor -- paid taxes on property worth $1000. And the white Combs women who lived on the property in 1859 owned a slave named John.

Already a trail snaking through property records (but not "Mary's"), tax records (under another name altogether), and a city directory.

If you want to know how Graham figured out the rest, join the National Genealogical Society and read the article on line, or make your way to the nearest good genealogy library. We can't even begin to tell the story without having done the technical work.




Paul K. Graham, "A Love Story Proved: The Life and Family of Laura Lavinia (Kelly) Combs of Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (December 2013): 245-66.

Harold Henderson, "Methdology Monday (NGSQ): Paul Graham reopens a chapter of African-American history in Georgia," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 February 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]