5 Tips for Research When the Courthouse Burned

If you’ve tried researching in an area with severe record loss, you’ll know this comes with many challenges. Often, the records you need most to prove relationships don’t exist: probate, marriage, deeds, etc. All is not lost, though; with perseverance, you can make progress one step at a time. Using my research in northeastern Arkansas burned counties, I’ll show examples of how I reconstructed a family using alternate jurisdictions, attention to detail, and correlating every piece of evidence. Here are five tips for dealing with the challenge of record loss.

Tip 1: Discover the Record Loss Extent

It may sound counterintuitive to research the record loss, but that is the first step in working with a burned county. Sometimes, the courthouse burned, but some of the records were rescued. Perhaps a courthouse was flooded, but the upper level wasn’t affected. A tornado could have taken out a portion of the building but the records in the basement survived.

The FamilySearch Wiki is a good place to begin. The table for each U.S. county shows the beginning date for government county records.

For example, my research centered on Izard and Fulton Counties, both of which suffered record losses in the aftermath of the Civil War in the Ozarks of northeastern Arkansas. The FamilySearch Wiki page gave the following table with the caveat: “Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.”

 

As you can see in the table, key records that could have shown information about a family living in Izard County before 1850 were lost. With not just one fire but two destroying the county records, there likely aren’t additional records at the courthouse. But the only way to find out is to contact the courthouse or speak to a local researcher. I’ve found that in some counties, the courthouse did burn, but many records are still available.

For example, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri’s courthouse burned in 1870, but looking at the table for the government county records, you can see that marriage and probate began in 1805.

Tip 2: Seek Alternate Jurisdictions

We often find the best records detailing our family’s community dealings in local jurisdictions like the county. When that is not an option, we consider other such as the state or federal government or private bodies like churches, newspapers, or businesses.

A jurisdiction is a political, administrative, religious, or private body that has authority over a region or people and keeps records for a specific purpose. In the face of record loss at one jurisdiction, records from another can fill the gap. The following table suggests record types at various jurisdictions but is not all-inclusive. Notice the overlap. Although a type of record could have been mandated by several jurisdictions, availability will vary widely.

My third great-grandmother, Clemsy (Cline) Weatherford, has been a brick wall ancestor for years because of the Izard County, Arkansas, record loss. I only know that she resided in that location from the indirect evidence of her husband’s tax listings in 1839 and 1845 in the county.¹ By 1850, the Weatherford family had moved north to Morgan County, Missouri, and then on to Texas by 1860.² With no marriage record for Clemsy and Henderson Weatherford, we know her maiden name from the death certificates of two of her children.³ The family does not appear on the 1840 census, which could place them in a community.⁴

A derivative record in the form of a book compiled by Desmond Walls Allen provided the tax listings for Henderson Weatherford. The tax lists had been sent to the state, and so survived the county record loss. Revisiting the book, I found entries for John Cline and John C. Cline, also in Izard County, in 1839 and 1841.⁵ Could these be relatives of Clemsy? Were there two men or just one man?

Tip 3: Explore Each Jurisdiction in the FamilySearch Catalog

To make progress on the research questions of who Clemsy’s family is, I looked at the records that were available in jurisdictions other than the county level: federal censuses, federal land records, and images of the original tax records sent to the state. I could easily access the censuses and land patents online, but wasn’t sure where to find the original tax records. Were they on an Arkansas state website? Perhaps they were only available onsite. I decided to first try the FamilySearch Catalog. Since the records there are often digitized and available to view from home, I was hopeful.

Reviewing the Izard County, Arkansas, page in the FamilySearch Catalog, I didn’t see any microfilms of the original tax records, only the published tax book I had been using. But, when I looked at the catalog listing for the state of Arkansas, I saw the entry “Arkansas Tax Records, 1821-1884.”  The records were digitized and available to view at home!

Each catalog page includes links to other jurisdictional levels. For example, from the Izard County page, I could click on either the Arkansas page or the “places within” page. The state catalog pages are well worth exploring with many records that could mention our ancestors. Likewise, from a county page, you can click on “places within” to see records for smaller communities. Often, these include church, school, or cemetery records. In the image below, notice the state level of Arkansas, the county level of Izard, and the communities.

Tip 4: Discover All the Available Records for Every Clue

When working with record loss, it becomes especially important to extract every clue from each available record. I enter the data into a log as I research, and I return to it frequently to see how things fit together. I also create tables and maps to see the data more easily.

Federal Censuses

Federal censuses give us clues about residence, migration, household members, and more. When the courthouse burns, we can rely on these records – if we have located our family in them. For the Cline project, the census provided a good foundation for other records.

Clemsy first appears in the 1850 census, residing in Morgan County, Missouri, with her husband, Henderson Weatherford, and their presumed children. Two Cline children, who were likely her kin, were also present in the household. Of note was the birth location of all the children who were born in Arkansas, giving us evidence of their previous residence.

• Henderson Wetherford 35        Tennessee, farmer, $300 real estate
• Clemsy Wetherford 30             Alabama
• Eliza Jane Wetherford 10        Arkansas
• Mary Ann Wetherford  6         Arkansas
• John W Wetherford  4            Arkansas
• Clemsy D Wetherford  2         Arkansas
• Telitha Cline 10                     Arkansas
• John Cline   8                        Arkansas

 

The same 1850 census page shows the household of Jacob Cline.⁶ Like the Weatherford household, a Mahala and Robert Cline are named last, indicating they were boarders. Mahala shares an Alabama birthplace with Clemsy, and Robert Cline shares an Arkansas birthplace with the children in the Weatherford household.

• Jacob Cline    39              Virginia, farmer,$300 real estate
• Telitha Cline     43           Kentucky
• Reuben Cline   13             Kentucky
• John M Cline    12            Kentucky
• Elizabeth Cline 11            Missouri
• Jacob Cline         7            Missouri
• Basil Cline          2             Missouri
• Mahala Cline   22          Alabama
• Robert Cline       5          Arkansas

 

Mining the 1850 census for every clue, I hypothesized that Malaha and Jacob could be Clemsy’s siblings and that the three Cline children boarding were related somehow. The Arkansas births pointed to residence for the Weatherford family and the three Cline children in Arkansas during the 1840s. Also, Telitha, John, and Robert seemed to be of appropriate ages to be siblings.

Federal Land Records

Federal land records can be searched by state and county. Searching for Clines in Izard County, Arkansas, found three individuals who patented land between 1841 and 1850: John C. Cline, John Cline, and Mahala Cline. This was the same period the Weatherfords resided in Izard County per the 1839 and 1845 tax listings.⁷ The map below shows the approximate locations of the land patents in the northern portion of Izard County. Could Mahala Cline, who patented land, be the same Mahala who appears in the 1850 household of Jacob Cline in Morgan County, Missouri?

When working with a limited number of records, we want to ensure that we’ve covered any associated records. I first found the Cline land patents online and learned the date, land description, and the patentee’s residence at the time of the final patent. This was an important record to explore, so I ordered the patent applications, available only from the National Archives in Washington, DC. These original applications can have additional information, such as the date of the application, often a few years before the final patent was issued. The image below is for John Cline, who applied for the patent in 1838. This provided the earliest date for him in the county.⁸

I also found the Clines and their land in the land entry tract books available on FamilySearch.  Although these have been indexed (likely by artificial intelligence), I prefer to browse by state > county > volume > township and range. See the FamilySearch Wiki page “United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books – Inventory” to find the volume #.

I tracked all the data for the patents, applications, and tract books in my research log but put it into a table for my report so I could better see the details. Not all the citations appear in the image, but they are there in the original report. Notice the date of filing versus the date of the final patent and residence. There is a difference of four to six years in the earlier patents and only two years in the later ones. Also, the earliest patents of John Cline show a residence of Izard County, then later entries show a residence of Fulton County. Fulton County was created from Izard in 1842 so records for the Clines would be in the county. Unfortunately, Fulton County also suffered a record loss from a fire in 1870.

Tax Lists

The federal land records had provided some details, but I still wasn’t sure if I was dealing with one John Cline or two. Tax lists provided the answer to my question. Carefully tracking the Clines year by year, I discovered that in 1849, John Cline had died, and Absalom Wiseman, administrator for his estate, paid the tax. Comparing the land description in the tax list to the land patent table, I saw that John Cline had applied for three patents in 1847 and 1848. Another John Cline, usually listed as John C. Cline, paid taxes on the land of 1838 and 1839.  It would seem that we have two John Clines – perhaps a father-son situation.

Tip 5: Correlate the Evidence

The tax entries had even more data than the land entries, so I again used a table in my report to make sense of the data. Below is a portion of the table. Notice how I correlated the land with the tax list. This clearly showed which John patented which land. I also noticed that in 1839, John C. Clean [sic] and John Clean [sic] each paid a poll tax, indicating these were separate men. One already had land, the other only a horse and four cattle.

When I saw the notice in 1849 that John Cline had died, I immediately thought it was the older John Cline, but the land description showed it was the younger John Cline. Also, I correlated this discovery with the 1850 census of John C. Cline, who was very much alive in 1850.⁹

• John C Cline   65 M    Pennsylvania, farmer, dumb
• Milky Cline     43 F     Virginia
• Jesse Cline      15  M   Illinois
• Abner Cline    13 M    Illinois
• Ann Cline        11 F     Arkansas
• Amanda Cline 9  F     Arkansas

 

Correlating the evidence from the three record sets available to me—federal censuses, federal land records, and state tax lists—I put together a profile for each Cline in Izard and Fulton counties. (See the research report at the end of this blog post for complete details and citations.)

John C. Cline, Sr.

• First appeared in Izard County, Arkansas, in 1838, applying for a land patent for 40 acres that was finalized in 1844.
• He went on to patent an additional 40-acre parcel in 1839 and 1844, bringing his total land to 80 acres.
• When Fulton County was created from Izard, he became a resident of that county.
• He paid taxes on the Izard County land in 1839 and 1841 but had sold the land by 1850 when the tax lists show George French paying tax on the land originally granted to John C. Cline.
• John was taxed instead on one and then two town lots, having sold his 80 acres.
• John resided in Fulton County, Arkansas, with his presumed wife and four children.

 

John Cline, Jr.

• John Cline, Jr. paid a poll tax in Izard County, Arkansas, in 1839, headed a household in Morgan County, Missouri, in 1840, and then applied for three land patents in Izard County, Arkansas, in 1847 and 1848.
• Those patents state his residence as Fulton County (1847) and Pulaski County (1849).  John Cline Jr left no records in Pulaski County, Arkansas.
• Tax lists of Fulton County reveal his death by 1849 when Absalom Wiseman, administrator for the estate of John Cline, paid the taxes on his patented land.
• In 1852, Sally Cline paid the tax on one of the land parcels, and Sarah Blair paid the tax on the other two.
• By 1853, Irvin Blair paid the tax for the two parcels; no mention was made of Sally Cline or the other parcel.
• Sarah Cline, residing in the household of F. Herron in 1850 in Fulton County, could be the widow of John Cline, Jr.
• With twins born in 1848, she may have been his second wife and, upon his death, sent his three other children north to Missouri with Mahala Cline and Clemsy (Cline) Weatherford.
• The twins lived with Ferguson Herron in 1860, but Sarah possibly died as she was not present. Two other younger girls are listed in the household and could be her daughters or other relatives of Ferguson Herron.

 

Mahala Cline

• Applied for her land patents as a young woman in 1844.
• The 1850 tax list revealed George French paying taxes on land originally patented by her.
• She then likely moved north to Missouri and was the same Mahala Cline, age 22, who resided in the 1850 Morgan County, Missouri, household of Jacob Cline with Robert, age 5.
• Mahala married Thomas Shockley in 1854.

 

My original question, “Who was the family of Clemsy Cline,” now has a very good hypothesis about this grouping of people. The appearance of Mahala and three young Cline children in 1850 Morgan County, Missouri, connects Clemsy to this Izard/Fulton County Cline cluster. Although record loss was severe, working with the available records from different jurisdictions provided enough data that, when analyzed, seemed to make sense. Further DNA analysis can now test the theory.

Best of luck in all your genealogical research!

Clemsy Cline Report

 

1. Desmond Walls Allen, comp., Izard County, Arkansas Tax Records 1829-1866, (Conway, Arkansas: Arkansas Research, 1886), 165-166, 1839 entry for Henderson Weatherford and 1845 entry for H. Weatherford.
2. 1850 U.S. Census, Morgan County, Missouri, population schedule, Buffalo, p. 270 (stamped), dwelling 726, family 726, Henderson Weatherford household; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 408. See also1860 U.S. Census, Dallas County, Texas, population schedule, Scyene post office, page 120 (penned), dwelling 834, family 835, H. Weatherford household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 roll 1292.See also 1880 U.S. Census, Wise County, Texas, population schedule, precinct 3, enumeration district (ED) 127, sheet  164B (stamped), p.30 (penned), dwelling 215, family, 226, Clemsy Weatherford household; digital image, Ancestry (https://familysearch.org : accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1333.
3.  New Mexico Department of Public Health, death certificate 3682 (1942), Isabelle Royston; Vital Records Unit, New Mexico Health and Social Services Department, Santa Fe; image uploaded on FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/2ZS7-V16 : accessed 1 Jan 2019). Also, “Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982,” for S.H. Weatherford, #10895 Haskell County, 1929 Jan-Mar, database with images, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing Texas Dept of State Health Services.
4. 1840 census, Izard County, Arkansas, negative search for Henderson Weatherford, page by page search.
5. Desmond Walls Allen, comp., Izard County, Arkansas Tax Records 1829-1866 (Conway, Arkansas: Arkansas Research, 1886), 47.
6. 1850 U.S. Census, Morgan County, Missouri, population schedule, Buffalo, p. 270 (stamped),  dwelling 729, family 729, Jacob Cline household; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 408.
7. John Cline, John C. Cline, and Mahala Cline (Izard County, Arkansas), cash entry patents, “Land Patent Search,” images, General Land Office Records (www.glorecords.blm.gov : accessed 18 October 2022).
8. John Cline, (Izard County, Arkansas), application, 1838, cash entry patent no. 2229, 1844, National Archives, Record Group 49 (Bureau of Land Management), Land Entry Files, Arkansas, Batesville Land Office, Stack Area 13W3 Row 9, Compartment 2, Shelf 3.
9. 1850 U.S. Census, Fulton County, Arkansas, population schedule, Union Township, p. 158b (stamped), p. 17 (penned), dwelling 36, family 36, John C. Cline, digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 October 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 26.