A family without a paper trail is difficult to research, to prove, and to make sure we have the correct ancestor in our family tree. The Lee family from South Carolina has proven to be a family who left a minuscule of a paper trail as they journeyed from South Carolina to Alabama. One might say,” be thankful for the censuses and land record that the family left;” however, proving them to be my ancestors have been a monumental task.
Some of my ancestors, such as the paternal Meadows line, left a paper trail and are easily researched. But as most family historians know not every ancestor leaves a large trail of records leading to them. Some ancestors may only have census entries and land records. An ancestor may be one who was listed on a census one year, missing on the next census, or may have disappeared altogether. There may be a land record for a given year then after that the ancestor is nowhere to found. Such is the case with my second great grandfather Benjamin Lee.
On rare occasions our ancestors may have lived in counties where the courthouse burned, and the records burned with the courthouse. Perhaps your ancestors were mysterious people and lived to themselves and didn’t interact in a community; or just wanted to be left alone. Whatever the reasons, for our ancestors being difficult to locate, researching them is a possibility. There are a few hints that may help in finding our ancestors. I have found that DNA testing, connecting with cousins, looking at naming patterns, and researching collateral kin help in identifying our ancestors and proving they are the correct ancestor.
DNA testing is a tool that is used to prove family lines, and a way to connect with living cousins. Using DNA testing with genealogical paper trail I have proven surname lines. I have also found there are some family secrets that are uncovered using the DNA test results. So, be aware of that when DNA testing. For whatever reason, families did not discuss openly or publicly family events or problems as they are in the twenty-first century. Keep in mind there may be a NPE or misattributed birth in your family. I found out from the YDNA test results that the person who I thought was his father wasn’t his father. This is also true when I found a marriage record for my father’s sister. To my surprise, the prospective groom had been married before marrying my aunt. That was a well-kept secret that was uncovered by getting a copy of their marriage record, so their marriage date could be verified. The great thing when you connect with living cousins they may have pictures, family stories, or documents to share with you. DNA testing may put those family stories to rest that have been shared from generation to generation.
Primogeniture applied only to real property, not to personal property. Throughout the colonial period, all of the land of an intestate person in the southern colonies passed directly to an heir in a specific line of succession completely outside any probate process. That is, the title passed “automatically”, requiring no action on the part of any person or court. Likewise, if a will failed to devise a piece of land, the line of succession determined who inherited. And any real property acquired after a will was written was subject, not to the will’s provisions, but to the law of succession. The southern colonies followed English common law in this regard until after the Revolution, when each state introduced its own succession statutes.
In the early colonies, the law of primogeniture (the state of being the firstborn child), was in effect. Primogeniture refers to land inheritance, all the land of an intestate person in the southern colonies passed directly to an heir in a specific line of succession. The law was the system of inheritance or succession by the firstborn, specifically the eldest son. It was an exclusive right of the eldest son to inherit the father's estate. To us living in this era, that hardly seems a fair way of distributing the inheritance. Thankfully, the laws have changed since colonial days. One of the ways for the family to ensure that the eldest son inherited, in the event the father died without a will (not making a will before a death is intestate), the eldest son was often given the same name as his father. The second son was often given the first name of one of his uncles, generally the father's oldest brother. Later, families devised their own system to ensure that their offspring inherited. This was done by giving all children the same middle name, denoting the fact that all with that name could inherit, and not just the oldest son.
In some cultures, children were named for grandparents and parents. Being familiar with these patterns will allow you to make genealogical inferences, identify potential new avenues of research and reveal all sorts of clues about the lives of your ancestors. Just be careful when researching more recent ancestors when using this method. An example of this traditional pattern used was the first son would be named after the father’s father. The second son would be named after the mother’s father. The third son would be named after the father. If the couple had a daughter the first daughter was named after the mother’s mother, the second daughter was named after the father’s mother, and the third daughter named after the mother. These are a few of the patterns the Scots used in naming their children. Also, remember our ancestors might have given their child the mother or grandmother’s maiden name. This pattern of naming a child has been found in my Lee paternal line. These patterns should only be used as a guide when the paper trail is scarce or no paper trail. In some families there will not be a pattern to the names chosen for your ancestors. There were plenty of families who named their child for a friend or a public figure such as Robert E. Lee. The mother might have named the child for her father as the case of Lidia (Hodge) Lee. A more recent great uncle was named for Robert E. Lee. He doesn’t have a middle name, just the initial E.
One pattern that I have found in my paternal lines is that many families were very large. Collateral kin may be an important part in finding your elusive ancestor. Identify the collateral kin, look at the names of your ancestors’ siblings. You can often make connections by studying the collateral kin, and family connections help in proving an ancestor.
There are some key principles to remember when researching collateral lines. One is that names may change, particularly with women, but the relationships will remain, no matter how often the name changes. The strongest ties appear between mother and daughter. This bond between mother and daughter last even after the daughter marries. What this means for the family historian is that you may find the daughter is married with a different surname. Researching that surname may yield more information than the direct line you are researching. The wife's ties to her family are generally stronger than those to her husband's, unless there are ties to the husband's occupation. The Lee paternal line ancestors were farmers and their sons were farmers, as were their in-laws. Lidia Hodge Lee’s bond to her Hodge family was strong. She was named in her father’s will as was her deceased husband Jordan. Her mother received a Revolutionary War pension after Benjamin Hodge died, and Lidia is mentioned in that pension application as an heir. And her first son Benjamin was named after Lidia’s father. This pattern for names is one that I am using to link Jordan Lee to his parents.
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