Carol Taylor presents a very informative program for Thursday night's
Hopkins County Genealogical Society meeting.

 

Genealogical Society Hears Program
on Civil War Records, in Research

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Thursday night's monthly meeting of the Hopkins County Genealogical Society was well attended and those attending heard a very informative program on using Civil War Records as an aid in their research. Carol Taylor, an author, historian, and genealogist, from Greenville, presented the program that was enjoyed by all.
Taylor gave an overview of several seldom used data bases that are available to research your ancestors involved in the Civil War Era. She told members to search the Souther Claims Commission Files, on those that might have submitted a claim for damages from the Union Army, during the Civil War. She sited several examples and showed members some of the information she had gleaned from her research in the records.

Taylor also told the group that Federal Pension Records and Mother's Pension Records were very helpful sources. "Single men in the Union Army, made their mother's eligible for a pension, and when the times were so hard, many of them applied for the pensions," related Taylor. "To get the pension, those seeking the funds had to give a world of information about themselves and their families!"

 

 

Taylor also informed the group that Texas was one of the last states in the Confederacy to award pensions to those who participated in the Civil War. Mississippi was the first state to issue Confederate pensions, but it was 1898 before Texas awarded her veterans, their pensions.

 

 

 

Another valuable source of information that Taylor told genealogist about was the 1867 Voter Registration Records. The recoreds are assembled county by county in the Confederate States and four states offer these records, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina.

If you have ancestors from Georgia, you might want to access the Georgia Salt Records, Taylor told the group. This is a record of relief efforts in the state of Georgia, following the Civil War.

 

 

Other sources of interest that Taylor revealed were: the "remnants of the 1890 Census; the 1910 Census, the Texas Confederate Script Records; Confederate Veterans Magazines; the Freedman's Bureau Records; and Word Cat, a data base of Civil War diaries, letters, and other information.

Local genealogist ask a number of questions, following Taylor's presentation and then she signed books of her The Devil's Triangle, that she co-authored, and reflects much information on the conditions following the Civil War, here in Northeast Texas.

 

t Genealogical Society President, Ronny Glossup, made several
announcements during the business session of Thursday night's
meeting, and announced several programs that are upcoming.

 

Marynell Bryant, introduced Thursday night's speaker and also encouraged members to help with the
fundraiser, this weekend, at the UPRA Rodeo, where the society will run the concession stand.

 

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