Genealogy Class Tonight 5/31/2012 in Young Harris

The Mountain Regional Library in Young Harris, Georgia, is sponsoring a night with expert genealogists tonight (Thursday evening) from 7-10 p.m. Their will be folks from the DAR/SAR, other organizations and your humble genealogy teacher. After the initial talks the rest of the evening will be spent one-on-one with the experts of your choice. Best part it is "free." So if you are in the neighborhood of Young Harris Thursday evening, drop by and say hi. They even have "free" food and refreshments. Hope to see a few of you there.

Returning an old Shore Family Bible

Several years ago, I bought an old Bible at a local auction in North Carolina. Although the copyright page is missing, it dates pre 1901.

Inside is written in script, "Annie Catherine Shore from Aunt Lou, Oct. 9, 1901" and "Commit thy way into the Lord - trust in Him."

On the preceeding page, is written; "Sallie Ward Shore, Blackstone, VA July 25, 1904." The date is underlined twice. Through investigation I have uncovered that Annie was the older sister of Sallie.

Inside the bible, there are no center pages for entering family genealogy information. There is however, scrapes of paper. One is a handwritten reference to "Bessemer, AL. 2216 - 11 Ave." The other is a receipt made out to Sallie W Shore June 22, 1915, from Farmville, VA, To State Summer Normal School of Virginia. For Board 15.00 and Registration 1.00, signed by J.L. Jarwan. There is also a pressed piece of fern between the bible pages, and a red candy wrapper for Apollo chocolates. There is also a small handwritten note of bible scriptures. On the Bible's last back page is written again, "Sallie Ward Shore, July 25, 1904."

My earlier post in 2001 on the Shore Message Board, brought a response from Robert L. Shore. Though he indicates he does not descend from Sallie Ward Shore, she does appear in his family line.

According to his email, it was thought her father's name was "Valley" Shore, though he had some doubts about the accuracy of the first name at that time. It was known though, that he was the son of Dr Henry "Edwin" Shore of Nottoway County, who in turn was the brother of Mr Shore's third great grandfather, Thomas Shore of Petersburg. These two in turn, were descended from Dr John Shore Jr of Petersburg and later of Nottoway County. Dr Robert Shore's first wife was a Ward, so he suspects that Sallie Ward Shore was part of that family.



My further search, brought me to Find a Grave which reveals that Sallie Ward Shore, was born March 1890, and died October 17, 1953. She is buried in the Lakeview Cemetery in Blackstone, Nottoway County, Virginia. If these dates are correct, that would make Sallie eleven years old when Aunt Lou gave the Bible to her older sister Annie.

Sallie's father was Valentine Shore, born Feb 14.1855, died July 28, 1938. He was the son of H.E. Shore and Ann C. Epes. He married Miss Sallie E.E. Ward on Nov. 21, 1877 in Nottoway County, Virginia. Sallie was born 22 Feb. 1857, died April 28, 1939. She was the daughter of Robert Ward and Louise F. Shore. The Ward family were one of the founding families of Nottoway County.


Known children of Valentine Shore and Sallie E.E. Ward, and listed at Find a Grave, are also buried in the Lakeview Cemetery in Blackstone. Those include; Annie Catherine Shore, Robert Fitzgerald Shore, Sallie Ward Shore, Elizabeth Rebecca Shore and Lelia Valentine Shore.


Another interesting discovery, is the reference of the Shore family and the Red Brick House, which today remains a landmark for the town of Crewe and Nottoway County. You can read the story at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/welchds/Crewe/history.html . This lovely southern colonial revival style is unique and a living reminder of the late 19th century Southern history. The Red Brick House may also be found at:
http://redbrickhousecrewe.com/main/page_the_house.html

Are you related to Sallie Ward Shore, her parents or siblings ? Perhaps you know someone who is related to this family. My goal has always been to return this old tattered Bible to family members. This search for Sallie and her family reminds me how important it is to not lose touch of those special people that have preceeded us. You may contact me at gayleh@brmemc.net . I look forward to your reply.
Gayle Hennington Van Horn

89 Places for Finding a Woman's Maiden Name: A Checklist of Sources

This article is courtesy of the May 1, 2012 Genealogy Pointers newsletter from Genealogy.com, an article written by the legendary William Dollarhide.

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(This article first ran on July 26, 2011. When it appeared we asked readers to come up with additional suggestions of sources for a woman's maiden name. Here are two of them.

1. Evidence of a female's maiden name can be found in military and civilian pension records. On the other hand, it is highly unlikely to find that information in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (listed as "Civil War soldiers & sailors online index" and found at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/).

The only information provided in the index are Last Name, First Name, Union or Confederate, State (or Origin), Unit Number, and Function (Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, etc.). Also, you are likely only to find mention of a spouse in a modern military record. Military records of the early 20th century and earlier provide only a physical description of the soldier, muster and pay records, disciplinary actions, hospital records, and final papers (if they died in action). The spouse or other dependants are not mentioned. Submitted by Michael Murphy, APG

2. Look at the son's middle names especially the first born. If unusual, it should be considered as a possible maiden name of the mother. I did this with my own son and have found several instances in my ancestry of this practice. Submitted by Judy K Pfaff

Now for Mr. Dollarhide's article itself:- Discovering the maiden name of a female is often the biggest problem we have in genealogy. Whether you are researching your families in person, through the mail, or by "Googling" the Internet for sources, the basic search is still the same. As in all research tasks, we need to identify the possible places where such a record exists, but
in particular, find the place where an actual document may exist that mentions the birth name of a woman. Here is a basic checklist of some places to look:

Birth Records
● Birth certificates
● Delayed birth records
● Corrected birth records
● Affidavits for correcting birth records
● Newspaper birth announcements
● Oral histories
● Published biographies
● Personal diaries & Journals

Marriage Records
● Marriage applications & licenses
● Marriage certificates
● Newspaper announcements
● Family Bible

Divorce Records
● Newspaper announcements
● Court proceedings
● State or County-wide vital records indexes

Death Records
● Burial permits
● Death certificates
● Newspaper announcements
● Obituaries
● Funeral records
● VA burial database online

Cemeteries
● Sexton's office
● Tombstone inscriptions
● Cemetery maps and indexes

Census Records
● Name of father-in-law included in a family grouping
● Brother-in-law included in a family grouping
● 1890 veteran's census including widows of veterans
● 1925 Iowa state census (only U.S. census with the question, "Maiden Name of Mother?" for every person listed).
● Names of neighbors, as clues to sibling's names
● Clues from parents' birthplace, leading to further census work

Major Databases & Indexes
● Google searching
● FamilySearch.org searching
● Ancestry.com, et al.
● RootsWeb family name searching
● Name indexes on the Internet

Vital Records Indexes and Compilations
● Kentucky birth/death index (as an example of several states available on the Internet)
● The Barbour Collection (for Connecticut, as an example of published compilations)
● New England Vital Records (as an example of published town reports)
● County-wide indexes, such as the many RootsWeb county pages of the Internet

Bible Records
● State-wide collections, such as those at Virginia and Louisiana state archives
● Home and relatives sources
● Church collections (Bibles donated to churches for Sunday School)

Probate Records
● Wills
● Administration records
● Appointments of administrators/executors
● Dispositions and judgments (naming heirs)
● Estate settlements

Church Records
● Confirmations
● Marriages
● Christening
● Baptisms
● Burials
● Death notices
● Church membership lists
● Vestry records

Medical Records (may be accessible to close relatives only)
● Doctor's office
● Nursing home

Miscellaneous
● Civil War Soldiers & Sailors online index
● Correspondence
● Miscellaneous home sources
● Oral interviews
● Patriotic society membership applications
● Funeral home records
● Hospital records
● Soldier home records
● Land ownership & deed records
● Civil court records
● Criminal court records
● Newspaper articles
● Social Security applications
● Social Security job history records
● Draft registration records
● Driver's license
● Frakturs and needlepoints (family names)
● Fraternal club records
● Homestead records
● Immigration records
● Insurance papers
● Military personnel records
● Military medical records
● Personal journals and diaries
● Professional license applications
● Passports applications
● Pensions
● Queries at mags/websites
● Voter registrations
● Who's Who/compiled biographies