Rockdale County GaArchives History .....Rockdale County Genealogical Society -Newsletter August 2003 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Larry C. Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 March 20, 2009, 4:56 pm JEANS & GENES Rockdale County Genealogical Society Publication-August 2003 ________________________________________________________ Meeting Scheduled for August 10 Hello to all of you, I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the meeting on Sunday, August 10. Remember we will be meeting in the “Special Collections” Room this month due to the use of the downstairs room. We plan to have an open forum, discussing the “American Indians of our past.” --Judy Bond ________________________________________________________________ State Archives Opens at New Location By now you should be aware that the Georgia Archives is no longer located on Capital Avenue in downtown Atlanta a block from the Capital Building. A new facility has been constructed on the campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. After being closed for several months, the archives has reopened in the new building. The new address is: 5800 Jonesboro Rd., Morrow, Ga. 30260 For more information, check out the web site: http://www.georgiaarchives.org Eventually both the State Archives and the National Archives will be located adjacent to each other on the Clayton State Campus. This should make for a convenient all-inclusive location for genealogical research. Isn’t progress wonderful. ____________________________________________________________________ Library Visitors Share Research Information Pat Lackey, 647 Harris Cir., Locus Grove, Ga. No surnames given. Brenda Stephens, 109 Millers Mill Rd., Stockbridge, Ga. 30281, Researching Lackey, Pool, Huff and Johnson. Marie E. Lewandouski, Ph.D., 1054 Griggs St. SW, Conyers, Ga. 30012, No surnames given. Comment: Bob Phillips was great; thank you for his services. Charlotte Ray, Conyers, Ga. Researching Presley. Christine Smith, 89 Fair Oaks Dr., Conyers, Ga. 30094. No names given. Marvin Hugh Worthy, Lilburn, Ga. No names given. Comment: Excellent facility. Shows dedication by library staff and genealogical society. Becky Siple, No address. Researching Jones, Cloer, Woolsey, Rose, Woods in Almo. __________________________________________________________________ New Cemetery Information Added to Files The web page cemetery listing has been updated to include the burials at Honey Creek Baptist Church and at Smyrna Presbyterian Church. This is the first information which we have had for Honey Creek. We have had a listing for Smyrna Presbyterian which was done in the thirties. The new listing is complete and up-to-date. Our thanks to Judy Bond for the Honey Creek information. This has been an omission of long standing. We thank Beverley Beale for the update of the Smyrna Presbyterian Church cemetery. This is one of the largest cemeteries in Rockdale County. It is now comfortable to say that we have all the information available concerning the Presbyterian Church in that area and the long-standing campground which drew from a wide area of participants. We have posted the complete information on these cemeteries including the birth and death dates. The index lists all of the individuals buried in these two cemeteries so that they can be found. The web page now lists the birth and death dates for four cemeteries. Besides Honey Creek and Smyrna, we have complete listings for Bethel Christian Church and for Philadelphia Methodist Church. We list these because they are not included in the cemetery volumes in the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library. You can access the cemetery listing at: http://mtf.home.mindspring.com Click on the cemetery link to visit the cemetery page. ___________________________________________________________________ Genealogical Periodicals At Nancy Guinn The Nancy Guinn Memorial Library has a collection of periodicals located in the special collection room which contain genealogical information which may be useful in your research. You will find these on the wall in the corner of the room to the left inside the door of the room. Some of the collections are extensive while some are but a few copies. Here is a list of the titles: New England Ancestors New England Computer Genealogist National Genealogical Society Newsletter New England Historic Genealogical Society Federation of Genealogical Societies Forum Florida Genealogist West Florida Footprints Missouri Historical Review Indiana Historical Society Tracer Hudson Family Association Family Tree Magazine New England Historical Genealogical Register Ancestry Magazine National Genealogical Society Quarterly National Genealogical Society Newsletter Genealogy Bulletin Northeast Alabama Settlers Kentucky Ancestors Family Puzzlers (Now ceased publication) Gwinnett Historical Society Quarterly Hoosier Genealogist (Indiana) Indiana Magazine of History Heritage Quest Georgia Genealogical Magazine Ancestor Update (Henry & Clayton Counties of Ga.) Genealogy Computing Computer Surname Magazine Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly Georgia Historical Quarterly Carolina Heritage and Newsletter Bulletin of the Genealogical Society of Tryon Co., North Carolina Palatine Immigrants Palatine Heritage Palatine Patter Colonial Williamsburg Blue Ridge Country Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine United Daughters of the Confederacy Atlanta History Magazine Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine Confederate Veteran Genealogical Helper ______________________________________________________________ Ancestry.com is Available at Nancy Guinn Ancestry.com, the for-pay service, is available at the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library. Two terminals are available in front of the information desk in the lobby. These have automatic access to the service. Researchers are not required to sign-in in order to use the terminals. They are available for thirty minutes or more if no one is waiting to use them. There is extensive information available on the service including census, birth, marriage, and death information, and family collections information for the entire country. The service has the most extensive listings of any on-line genealogical source. It is made available through Galileo, the University of Georgia system. The best part is that it is free. The service prompts you to list the first and last names of the person for whom you are searching information. It then provides a menu of information areas including the number of hits or occurrences of the name in the records of the service according to each menu area. This allows you to check each of the menu listings as you wish. The usual menu contains the following: Census Records Birth, Marriage, and Death records Biography and History Community and Message Boards Military Records Court, Land and Probate Records Directories and Membership Lists Ancestry World Tree Entries Social Security Death Index 1930 and 1920 Federal Census Civil War Service Records This is a good way to avail yourself of the quick and thorough research capability that this service offers without straining your budget. If there is a drawback, it may be that often the amount of information can be quite large and require excess time to wade through. If so, it is good to know that it is always there to be used at any time. My experience has been that the terminals are usually available. Most internet users who visit the library are not interested in genealogical research. ______________________________________________________________________ Confederate Pension Information For Your Use Georgia began paying pensions to disabled soldiers in 1879. An 1891 law allowed pensions on the basis of poverty and allowed widows of soldiers to receive them also. The Pension Office was abolished in 1960, and its records were deposited in the Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Georgia. The most important of these records for genealogical purposes are the pension applications and their supporting documents. Georgia paid pensions to any soldiers or their widows who, if otherwise eligible, were residents of Georgia at the time of the applications, even though their military service or wartime residence may have been in another state. Soldiers and widows who left Georgia after the war were not eligible for their Georgia pensions, but they may have applied in their subsequent state of residence. If so, that state should have a record of the application. Typical soldiers’ applications included their name and unit, date of service and sometimes a brief summary of their military career. The applicant usually stated how long he had been a resident of Georgia and this information is often useful in determining his age. Some applications give the date and place of birth, but these are rare. A typical widow’s application includes the date of marriage, date of her husband’s death, and much of the same type information shown on a soldiers application. Genealogical information about members of the applicant’s family is rarely included. Through 1907, pensioners had to re-apply each year in order to remain on the rolls. After 1907, another method was used. Some applicant’s folders contain supporting affidavits, correspondence concerning the pensions, or other papers. As a result, some folders contain more items than others. Note: The above information was copied from the Civil War Records booklet compiled and distributed by the Georgia Department of Archives and History, 330 Capitol Avenue, S. E., Atlanta, Georgia, 30334. (See new address elsewhere in this issue.) There is an index on the shelves at Nancy Guinn. ______________________________________________________________________ Social Security Location Codes Provided The first three numbers of the social security number as a general rule identify the state or territory where the person was born. Immigrants were identified as to where they lived when they obtained their working papers. Many states had to add numbers because their populations increased faster than estimated; therefore, there are some variances. 001-003 New Hampshire 004-007 Maine 008-009 Vermont 010-034 Massachusetts 035-039 Rhode Island 040-049 Connecticut 050-134 New York 135-158 New Jersey 159-211 Pennsylvania 212-220 Maryland 221-222 Delaware 223-231 Virginia 232-236 West Virginia 237-246 North Carolina 247-251 South Carolina 252-260 Georgia 261-267 Florida 268-302 Ohio 303-317 Indiana 318-361 Illinois 362-386 Michigan 387-399 Wisconsin 400-407 Kentucky 408-415 Tennessee 416-424 Alabama 425-428 Mississippi 429-432 Arkansas 433-439 Louisiana 440-448 Oklahoma 449-467 Texas 468-477 Minnesota 478-485 Iowa 486-500 Missouri 501-502 North Dakota 503-504 South Dakota 505-508 Nebraska 509-515 Kansas 516-517 Montana 518-519 Idaho 520 Wyoming 521-524 Colorado 525 New Mexico(+585) 526-527 Arizona 528-529 Utah 530 Nevada 531-539 Washington 540-544 Oregon 545-573 California 574 Alaska +Asian Immigrants 575-576 Hawaii 577-579 Dist. of Col. 580-586 Puerto Rico (+596-599) +Asian Immigrants 585 New Mexico(+525) 586 Guam 586 American Samoa 586 Northern Mariana Islands 596-599 Puerto Rico (+580-586) 700-728 Railroad Retirement _________________________________________________________________________ Murphy's Law Regarding Genealogy We don’t know who to give credit for the following; but, many are certainly true. The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging. When at last after much hard work you have solved the mystery you have been working on for two years, your aunt says, “I could have told you that”. Your grandmother’s maiden name that you have searched for four years was on a letter in a box in the attic all the time. You never asked you father (grandmother, aunt etc.) about the family when he was alive because you weren’t interested in genealogy then. The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames. John, son of Thomas, the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family progenitor, died on board ship at age 10. Your great grandfather’s newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue of record. The keeper of the vital records you need has just been insulted by another genealogist. The relative who had all the family photographs gave them all to her daughter who has no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share. The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was sold at a sheriff’s sale for insolvency. The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead-end line has been lost due to fire, flood or war. The town clerk to whom you wrote for information sends you a long handwritten letter which is totally illegible. Or worst still, all the names are clearly written; but, all of them have no bearing on your research. The spelling of your European ancestor’s name bears no relationship to its current spelling or pronunciation. None of the pictures in your recently deceased grandmother’s photo album have names written on then. No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was sued or was named in wills. You learn that your great aunt’s executor just sold her life’s collection of family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer “somewhere in New York City”. Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate proportional to the value of the data recorded. The thirty-seven volume, sixteen thousand page history of your county of origin isn’t indexed. You finally find your great grandparent’s wedding records and discover that the bride’s father was named John Smith. I am sure that each of you can add a few more to this list. Contributions to this newsletter are appreciated. Send submissions via email to the editor in text mode. The next issue will be November, 2003. The deadline for submissions will be Oct. 15, 2003. ___________________________________________________________________________ JEANS & GENES is a publication of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society. % Nancy Guinn Library, 864 Green St. SW, Conyers, Ga. 30012 President: Judy Bond Vice President: Rev. Carl Smith Secretary: Beverley Beale Treasurer: Charles Read Program Chairman: Office vacant Editor: MarionT. Farmer 770-483-7180 1500 A. Pine Log Rd. NE mtf@mindspring.com Conyers, GA 30012 http://mtf.home.mindspring.com/ _______________________________________________ Additional comments: This back issue of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society newsletter has been copied with permission from the personal website of editor, Marion Farmer, as his website is nearing capacity. For simplicity the few photos or graphics have not been included here. Websites previously linked from Marion’s site will not be operative here. Sites that are still active may be found by entering their listed URLs. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/rockdale/history/other/rockdale103nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/gafiles/ File size: 15.9 Kb