Although we know there are likely more records of our ancestors somewhere, it is difficult to know precisely where to search when the known locations are exhausted. Full-text search by FamilySearch has been a game changer in this respect. Introduced at RootsTech 2024, I jumped on and started using it to discover more about my ancestor, Thomas Beverly Royston. I didn’t find anything new for him then, but during RootsTech 2025, I again did a search and hit pay dirt. I found Thomas in a new location and made a possible new family connection. Because record collections continue to be added to Full-Text search, we need to remember to check it occasionally.

Finding Full-Text Search

First, go to FamilySearch’s home page. From there, scroll down to “FamilySearch Labs” and click on “View Xxperiments.” Next, find the experiment labeled “Expand your search with Full Text” and click “Go To Experiment.”

The next screen allows you to start your search or search within a specific collection. FamilySearch provides advanced search tips to narrow down the results. Be sure to experiment with different search terms.

Notice in the screenshot below that I put “Thomas B. Royston” in quotes and entered it into the keyword search instead of the name search. This resulted in 46 hits for several men named Thomas B. Royston, one of whom was my ancestor. I find this works better than a name search.

Narrowing the Results

Among the 46 results were records from England and records in the U.S. well before and after Thomas’s life span. I narrowed the field by specifying “United States” and gave a year range from 1806 to 1868. This resulted in 21 results, with eight for my Thomas Beverly Royston. Of those records, only one was a record I already had! In the records in counties where I knew Thomas resided, he appeared as a witness or estate appraiser, so he wasn’t named in the main indexes of the probate or deed books I had previously searched.

One record stood out: a deed in Clarke County, Georgia. I hadn’t researched Clark County because I had no reason to believe Thomas would appear in a record there, but I was wrong! Not only did Thomas appear in the record, but the record also gave me new information on Thomas’s family.¹

Full-text search is AI-powered, meaning the AI reads the handwritten document and looks for your search terms within it. When you click on an item, you see the image with your search terms highlighted on the page and in the AI transcription to the right of the document. You can then evaluate whether the document is for your ancestor or not.

I recognized several names in this document and knew this was the right Thomas.

Transcribing the Document

The full-text search AI transcription was not great, so I used AI to review the document and provide the transcription. First, I took a screenshot of the second half of the image, which was the applicable document involving Thomas B. Royston, and uploaded it to Claude.ai and ChatGPT. Both models struggled with the handwriting and preserving line breaks, so next, I turned to Transkribus because it reads each line and preserves the line breaks.

The image below shows the dotted line on the left that corresponds to line 4 on the right. This helps you check the transcription. Transkribus did a great job with much of the transcription, but it did need editing. You can edit the transcription directly or copy and paste it elsewhere.

I copied and pasted the transcription into ChatGPT and asked it to preserve the same line breaks and correct any errors. The result was very good! I could add any final edits myself because I had ChatGPT show the transcription in Canvas.

The image below shows my chat on the left and Canvas on the right, where I made minor corrections.

Once I had a good transcription, I wanted to understand the document, so I asked ChatGPT for the following summary.

Summary and Explanation of the Indenture by ChatGPT

This indenture, dated February 6, 1830, in Clark County, Georgia, is a marriage settlement agreement between David Irwin, Sarah B. Royston, and Thomas B. Royston. It is a legal contract concerning the ownership and future inheritance of enslaved individuals in anticipation of the marriage between David Irwin and Sarah B. Royston.

Key Provisions of the Document

Parties Involved
- David Irwin (First Party) – The prospective husband.
- Sarah B. Royston (Second Party) – The prospective wife, who owns property.
- Thomas B. Royston (Third Party) – Trustee, responsible for ensuring the agreement is upheld.
Property in Question
- Sarah B. Royston possesses Isaac, a boy about ten years old, and Thomas, a boy about six years old, in fee simple (full ownership).
- These individuals are identified as part of her personal estate.
Purpose of the Agreement
- David Irwin does not have an estate sufficient to provide a financial settlement equivalent to Sarah’s property.
- To ensure Sarah retains control of her property, a trust is established in favor of Sarah, with Thomas B. Royston as trustee.
Terms of the Agreement
- The enslaved individuals will remain under the use and benefit of Sarah B. Royston during her lifetime.
- After her death, they will pass to her children.
- If she has no surviving children, she retains the right to dispose of them as she wishes.
Legal Witnessing and Recording
- The document was witnessed by John Dawson, Robert Cessna, and Betsy Ann Dawson.
- It was sworn before Justice of the Peace S. Brown and recorded on August 5, 1830.

Historical and Legal Context

Marriage and Property Law: At this time, married women often lost legal control of their property to their husbands. A marriage settlement like this was a way to protect a woman’s assets.
Slavery and Inheritance: Enslaved individuals were legally treated as property and were often included in estate and marriage contracts, highlighting the legal structure of slavery in the antebellum South.
Trustee Role: Thomas B. Royston was designated as a trustee, meaning he was responsible for ensuring that Sarah’s property rights were upheld.

Conclusion

This document is a marriage contract and property trust ensuring that Sarah B. Royston retains control over her property (enslaved individuals) and that they pass to her heirs rather than becoming David Irwin’s property upon marriage. This agreement reflects antebellum Southern legal practices regarding women’s property rights, inheritance, and the institution of slavery.

Correlation and Future Research

How did this document add to my knowledge about Thomas B. Royston? Through indirect evidence, I concluded that Sarah was his sister and Robert Cessna was his half-brother. However, Sarah and Thomas were never mentioned in a document together. With Thomas acting as her trustee, I have another piece of evidence of the relationship.

My next research question is, “Who is Betsy Ann Dawson?” Betsey witnessed the indenture and was probably John Dawson’s wife. Interestingly, Elizabeth/Betsy Cessna was another half-sibling to Sarah and Thomas Royston. Did she marry John Dawson? John appears in other documents with the Roystons and Cessnas, and I’ve always wondered about his connection to the family. If he married Betsey, he would be a brother-in-law to Thomas and Sarah, and the connections make sense. I will be continuing the research!

If you’ve never used full-text search I encourage you to try it out and discover another piece of your family history research.

Best of luck in all your genealogical endeavors!

Sources

“Clarke. Mortgages 1820–1829, 1829–1836, 1836–1838,” indenture, David Irwin and Thomas B. Royston, Clark County, Georgia, 1831, digitized image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QG-SQWD : accessed 9 March 2025), IGN 8560680, image 273 of 560; Clarke County, Georgia, Superior Court, Mortgages Book L 1829-1836, p. 72.