RLP 362: A Day at the Alabama Department of Archives & History

Nicole (1s):
This is Research Like a Pro episode 362 A Day at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Welcome to Research Like a Pro a Genealogy Podcast about taking your research to the next level, hosted by Nicole Dyer and Diana Elder accredited genealogy professional. Diana and Nicole are the mother-daughter team at FamilyLocket.com and the authors of Research Like a Pro A Genealogist Guide. With Robin Wirthlin they also co-authored the companion volume, Research Like a Pro with DNA. Join Diana and Nicole as they discuss how to stay organized, make progress in their research and solve difficult cases. Let’s go.

Nicole (42s):
Today’s episode is sponsored by Newspapers.com. Hi everyone. Welcome to Research Like a Pro. And Hi Mom.

Diana (49s):
Hi Nicole. How are you doing today?

Nicole (51s):
Doing well. Just thinking about how much fun we had in Frankfort, Kentucky. How are you doing?

Diana (58s):
I am Doing great, having to do some catch up from having been gone. But yes, it’s always so fun to go to a new place and research in a new archive, new repository. And for the research trip we got to do two different places. We got to research at the Kentucky Archives and their historical center there. So two completely different locations, different types of records, and it’s always just fascinating to see what records are there.

Nicole (1m 30s):
Right. It was really cool to go to the Kentucky Historical Society. They had a big huge building. It was their headquarters and they have like other museums and things too, but this was their main repository. And then the second half of the day going to the Kentucky State Library and Archives where they have all the public records from different parts of the government there, the state level, and then a lot of the county records that have been transferred there for safekeeping. So that was really cool to see both of those. And we got a tour of the third floor, the closed stacks of the Kentucky State Library and Archives And it was neat to see all that they had up there.

Diana (2m 6s):
Oh yeah. I’m always fascinated to see behind the scenes and to see how many boxes of records there are back behind the door. So that was really neat. And we also got to see a really old document that was signed by Thomas Jefferson, an original document, so that was fun.

Nicole (2m 24s):
Yeah, I think that was a land grant.

Diana (2m 28s):
I think you’re right.

Nicole (2m 30s):
That was neat. There were some cool records up there. And then in the Historical Society we looked in some of the surname files. They had a whole bunch of those and then we got to kind of look at the bookshelves, and then we could al also order things from the closed stacks at the Historical Society. And so I thought it would be fun to just try to find something in my county that would be in the closed stack. So I asked one of the archivists to help me with that and he was showing me how in the catalog you can kind of see things that are only in the closed area. And so I searched for my county and then just kind of scrolled through looking for archival things that were closed and then found this really old Minute Book from a Baptist church in Harding County that they were able to bring out.

Nicole (3m 14s):
And it was really cool to look through those old pages and take some pictures of the member list in the back and kinda look through the minutes of the book and see kinda what it was like for record keeping for Baptist churches in the 1800s. It was like 1800 to 1850.

Diana (3m 31s):
Right. I love those kind of books that are one of a kind and they haven’t been scanned and they’re just sitting there waiting for someone to come look at them. So I’m glad you gave it some time and took some pictures there. And it will be fun to see if you could maybe use that down the road. I mean, maybe not, but it’s just neat to look at those types of records. I know looking through the surname files, I was looking for a few surnames and there were a lot of interesting records. They had kept track of all the letters that people had written through the years asking about the families, and they had some pedigree charts in there that people would send in and some, you know, like hand drawn family trees.

Diana (4m 13s):
And I, you know, all of the information that I saw there has is now online. But it was just so fascinating to see how people would communicate back in the day and would write into the center and try to get information or share their information. So the certain files were really interesting to look through.

Nicole (4m 35s):
They were, they were really cool. Well it was a beautiful headquarters and just a, a really awesome building. I remember they had a really pretty Hall of the Presidents or something, Hall of Governors, I think that must’ve been it, where they had pictures of all of the Governors of the state.

Diana (4m 50s):
Maybe. I wish we would’ve had more time to spend in the museum and kind of looking throughout the building, but we had to do two specific repositories in just one day. And so we had limited time at both, plus we had to have lunch in between.

Nicole (5m 5s):
Yeah, it was a really fun research trip. And the National Genealogical Society Conference had organized it and they had chartered a bus from Louisville to Frankfort for the day. So I was really grateful for the opportunity to have kind of a guided research tour and get the chance to do some hands-on work at the ground level. So that was neat.

Diana (5m 29s):
Well, and one of the things that I appreciated was that they brought in a lot of volunteers to help, or maybe, I don’t think they actually were volunteers, like they were staff, they just brought in extra staff members. And so for our group there were plenty of people to help pull records or answer questions. So I appreciated that too because I wondered how they would handle, you know, a group of people descending upon them and they did it very gracefully.

Nicole (5m 56s):
Right. A lot of Genealogists showing up. Well, for our announcements today, our next Research Like a Pro webinar in the webinar series is going to be on July 19th on Saturday. And the title is Untangling Family Networks: Using Documentary Research and DNA evidence combined with documentary research to explore Glen Hugh Hopper’s paternal origins in early 20th-century Tennessee.

Nicole (6m 44s):
Y-DNA established the Daniel surname for Glen’s father, but which of Marcus Daniel’s (1846-1926) sons could be Glen’s father? And so she’ll explore the documentary evidence from census records to Civil War pension files and various contexts needed to evaluate each Daniel brother as a potential father. And then also how Banyan DNA analysis can help. And so working with Banyan to navigate the complex genetic relationships between the Daniel Brothers because their families had intermarried with the maternal side of Glenn Hopper’s family. So the Hoppers and the Daniels, lots of intermarriage Banyan, DNA helped untangle that. So it’ll be helpful for anyone who has a similar kind of challenge to come watch that webinar. So if you have not yet registered, you can go to FamilyLocket and register for the 2025 webinar series for Research Like a Pro and then you’ll have access to come and watch that live or watch the recording after it’s passed.

Nicole (7m 37s):
Also, the next study group begins August 27th and registration is ongoing. If you haven’t registered yet and you’d like to join us, make sure you do so before August 21st. And if you’d like to be a peer group leader for that group, just email us and let us know. If you are not a member of our newsletter yet that comes out every Monday, you can sign up to receive our weekly newsletter and see new videos and blog posts and things that are coming out. We are going to be doing the Texas Institute of Genealogy Research this week, so that starts today, June 16th and ends June 20th. And so that’ll be what we’re working on.

Nicole (8m 17s):
We’re presenting about integrating AI into Genealogical Research and Writing. So we’ll be really focused on doing that this week. That’ll be fun. And I know several of our listeners have signed up to be part of that course.

Diana (8m 27s):
Alright, well let’s get to our topic, which is also going to be about archives. We kind of introduced that idea in our little chat before, but you know, for our listeners you may be wondering what else you can find in an Archive. And we’re going to talk today about my recent visit to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. And I really wanted to find a little bit more about my Alabama ancestor, Thomas B Royston. And I had found him in DeKalb and Chambers County, Alabama records and he was in the census, the land, the court records, and I just wasn’t sure about a couple of things.

Diana (9m 11s):
And one was when he actually made the move between the two counties. So I knew he was in DeKalb County in 1840 and in 1850 he was in Chambers County. But sometimes in between census years, we don’t know, you know where people are. So I had a timeline for him and I had found his federal land grant application in DeKalb County for 1837 and then as I said in the census there in 1840 and then he gets the final land patent in DeKalb County in 1845, but it was assigned to another man by the name of John Graves.

Diana (9m 53s):
And then we find him Thomas residing in Chambers County in 1850, 1860 where he eventually dies there in 1867. He created his will and died a year later and then he’s buried there. And so I was really hoping I could find some tax records there at the archives trying to pinpoint in between years when he could have moved. But there were no tax records available on the FamilySearch catalog page for Chambers County. And the catalog page for Alabama only showed the internal revenue assessment list of 1865 to 1866.

Diana (10m 36s):
And I was hoping perhaps the state archives could have some type of tax record that would clarify when he actually made his move to Chambers County.

Nicole (10m 47s):
Well let’s get a little background on the Alabama Department of Archives and History, ADAH. So Alabama Archives is housed in a beautiful building that was built in 1940 And it was expanded in 1974 and again in 2005, it not only includes research facilities but a museum as well. And on the webpage it says, In 1901, Alabama created the first state-funded, independent department of archives & history in the United States. The Archives was originally housed in the state Capitol, where its museum collections were displayed in the legislative chambers when the House and Senate were not in session. . . .

Nicole (11m 44s):
The Archives has been the home of Alabama history for more than a century. Today, it continues its mission to tell the story of the people of Alabama as the state’s official government-records repository, as a private-collections library, and as the home of the Museum of Alabama. So that’s really neat that it was the first state funded independent department of archives in history in the us I didn’t know that. And that’s pretty early back in 1901.

Diana (11m 57s):
Absolutely. And the building is so beautiful, it has been remodeled and expanded and completely brought up to date, but it is really a lovely, lovely place to go visit.

Nicole (12m 10s):
Right? I was looking at the picture of it And it just has that gorgeous white exterior with kind of those Greek columns and classical architecture. So it’s beautiful. Well, researching at ADAH, you’d wanna go to the EBSCO research room. This is where the genealogy research begins. And before entering, you’ll register on the computer with your name, address and a phone number and then the archivist helps you get a research card and assigns a research number and then you can use that number as you fill out order forms for the materials.

Diana (12m 47s):
So I was really fortunate the day that I went and I was there to do a Research Like a Pro seminar the following day and I was a little worried that there would be a lot of other Genealogists in the archives, but I was the only one. And so it was really nice because the head archivist helped me, and as soon as I explained who I was researching, and the location, and the specific dates, I really wanted to find something that I couldn’t find online. And I wanted to find books, manuscript collections, things that were not on FamilySearch or anywhere else.

Diana (13m 27s):
So I had already looked through their online catalog and I had an extensive list of the county records on microfilm, and I was just curious about how those compared to the records that were on FamilySearch. And so the archivists indicated that the films that they had there, the Archives came from that initial filming by FamilySearch, but the Archives had assigned their own titles and film numbers to the films. So comparing is a bit of a challenge, they don’t correlate. But he showed me that each microfilm box did have a notation if it was from FamilySearch. So I decided not to spend my time in the microfilm because I had done that previously at the FamilySearch library in Salt Lake City.

Diana (14m 13s):
So instead I decided to ask for manuscript collections that would only be there on site. And so he took me over to the computer and the catalog and thankfully he really knew his way around the catalog. So a big tip is to get the archivist to help you with the catalog because he had to drill down several different categories until he finally found some items of interest. And I don’t think I ever would’ve found those because they were not really labeled obviously that they were manuscript collections. But I, I found tax assessments, chattel mortgage records and miscellaneous court records.

Diana (14m 53s):
And so those were the things that I wanted and I filled out the forms for those collections and then the archivists went off in search of them. There were two or three people that were helping and they each took something to go look for.

Nicole (15m 5s):
That’s great. I love just submitting the form and then the archivist can go into the vault and get it. It’s nice. Alright, now a word from our Sponsor. Today’s episode is sponsored by Newspapers.com.

Nicole (15m 50s):
Break down genealogy brick walls with a subscription to the largest online newspaper archive. Did you know Newspapers.com has over 1 billion pages of digitized newspapers dating back to 1690? Their growing collection includes papers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and beyond. Discover birth and marriage announcements, obituaries and everyday stories about your ancestors in seconds. Newspapers.com can help you fill in the gaps between vital records and reveal details about your ancestors’ lives that you can’t find anywhere else. Their easy to use search feature lets you filter your results by date, location, specific paper and more. When you find something interesting, Newspapers.com makes it a snap to share it with family and friends. You can even save it directly to your Ancestry tree. Come explore 1 billion pages and make infinite discoveries today on Newspapers.com. Use promo code FamilyLocket for a 20% discount on your subscription. All right, let’s talk about checking out the books. So while they were pulling the records, Diana headed back to the book section and several of the books she recognized from research at the FamilySearch Library, but two of them were especially helpful for this research trip.

Nicole (16m 34s):
So in “Chambers County, Alabama, 19th Century Records” by Ruth Royal Crump, she found an entry for Thomas B Royston in the 1855 state census that had previously been overlooked. So that was exciting, and since we are interested in tracking the enslaved people that were part of Thomas B Royston estate, and this gave new information about his household in 1855. So it did include the fact that there were 11 enslaved individuals in the household. And so the 1855 state census said Thomas B Royston, head of household, then seven white males under 21, 1 white male and over 21, 4 white females under 21 and one white female over 21. So you can kind of get an idea of the makeup of the family. You have a male and a female over 21, you have like seven boys and four girls under 21, so like 11 children and 13 white people and then 11 enslaved individuals in the household.

Nicole (17m 22s):
So the summation of the numbers indicated that there were 11,931 total whites in the county and 11,407 total enslaved people with only six free persons of color in the county.

Diana (17m 35s):
Right. I thought that was really interesting that they had that number very, very specific, which I guess is the job of the census to, to get those specifics. But I was happy to get this information about those enslaved people. I just wish it was a little more detailed, you know, with ages and such because I had the 1850 slave schedule and the 1860 slave schedule for Thomas B Royston. And so I had those details. So this just gave me a little bit more, would’ve been nice to have names and more details, but a little bit more towards discovering who those people were. Well, when I finished up with the books, I was able to go over and start looking through the manuscript collections that the archivist had pulled for me.

Diana (18m 20s):
And three of the items were negative searches with no mention of Thomas. So one of the tax assessment books was 1920 to 1927, which was very late and would not have him in it, but it was really neat to go through it and look at it and see what they were taxing people for during those years and just get a feel for the county at that time. And then the chattel mortgage records were also too late and the records in this book began in 1911. So I probably would not have had those requested if the catalog entry had told me the actual years, but I, you know, you don’t know until you look at it.

Diana (19m 7s):
And there it was. So it’s a little bit too late. And then there was a really interesting folder full of loose papers and this actually had some possibility of having a record, it was called Miscellaneous Court Records. And the papers dated from 1819 to 1893. But going through paper by paper didn’t find any mention of any Royston, but the tax assessment book of 1842 did include an entry for Thomas B Royston. And as I was going through this book, it was almost at the end, and I was about to give up hope and finally there he was.

Diana (19m 48s):
And it was arranged by Beats. So sections in the county were divided into what we call Beats. And he was in Beat 16. And so he was almost the very last group to be listed in this tax assessment book. And it showed that he was there by 1842, which was really surprising to me because his land patent was finalized in 1845. So he apparently had moved before his land patent was finalized and he assigned that anyway away to another gentleman. And this tax list was not arranged alphabetically, you know, so many times we are looking at a recopying of a tax list or one that just has been created alphabetically.

Diana (20m 33s):
We’re never really quite sure exactly how that went down. And so we would have all the Rs together, all the Bs together, but in this case it was more like a census so it can serve as a record of his neighbors. And he was assessed taxes for three slaves under 10, two slaves over 10, one clock metal, two and a half studs and jacks and one pole. And the total amount was $4 and 32 cents. And I looked through all the other entries and I saw that any person who had enslaved people was taxed basically the same way.

Diana (21m 16s):
So I was really interested to find those five enslaved people listed there. And I checked the 1850 slave schedule and saw that at that time he owned 13 people. So between the time he moved in 1842 or was taxed in 1842 and the 1850 slave schedule, he had added eight more enslaved individuals. And so, you know, I hypothesized that perhaps three were children perhaps born on the plantation and maybe the other five were either inherited from family or purchased. I had previously searched the deeds for Chambers County and could find no mention of any purchase, but I did notice that there are very few early deeds in the deed book covering this period.

Diana (22m 3s):
So probably they just were not recorded whatever transactions took place. But this one record really opened up new ideas about his life in the 1840s and gave me new ideas for additional research. And this textbook is only there at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. And so it was well worth the effort that it took to seek it out and then to go through it and finally find that one record.

Nicole (22m 31s):
Wow, that was really cool. So when you ordered the tax assessment books for the county, did it include just those two books? The one from 1920 and then this one?

Diana (22m 42s):
Yeah. So it was not apparently something that they did year by year or they probably did and those books were lost perhaps, I don’t know.

Nicole (22m 53s):
Interesting. Yeah. And then I wonder if some of the other tax books are held at the county.

Diana (22m 59s):
Well, we’re gonna talk about the county on a different episode, but they did not have any tax books.

Nicole (23m 5s):
Wow. They probably just got lost and then the ones that didn’t get lost were sent to the state archives.

Diana (23m 9s):
Right.

Nicole (23m 11s):
Interesting. Wow. So that’s cool. So what period did the book cover? Was it just 1842 only?

Diana (23m 17s):
Yep, just 1842, all the beats.

Nicole (23m 21s):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well when I was in Love County, it was neat to be able to go through every single year and so much changed from year to year. It was crazy when I was looking for Doc Harris there, it was farming, you know, and every year the weather really made a difference in the result of his economics. But it was interesting to see how much he was taxed for. But then for this, it’s helpful to place him there in 1842. But then if you don’t have every year, it’s harder to see like the changes over time in his economics. But how wonderful that that one does remain because it gives you that valuable information about him and his residence in that time.

Diana (24m 7s):
Right. And it, I really like that it’s set up so that you can see the neighbors and you can put him in place with economics. How did he fare against his next door neighbor? You know, not all of the people on this list had enslaved people on their, you know, on their property they were being taxed for and not all of them had livestock. I mean, it’s just interesting to say, okay, this is where he was on the rung of the ladder of economics here in the area. Just gives you a little bit better idea of what was happening.

Nicole (24m 41s):
Yeah, it’s crazy. And I was looking at the the whole page to see and why in the world did it say 2.5 studs and jacks and he’s the only one on the page who has any studs and jacks.

Diana (24m 56s):
I know it’s kind of interesting and puzzling. So maybe one of our listeners has seen that before and can weigh in on that, but I also was just really curious about that one.

Nicole (25m 6s):
Well, maybe that was just how much he was being taxed for them. Who knows? That would make more sense than like

Diana (25m 11s):
Could be.

Nicole (25m 12s):
Yeah, two and a half. Well, Stud horse is a male and I think Jack is too, so it wouldn’t be a pregnant animal. So anyway, but that is interesting and it’s funny to see what’s taxed in different locations. I’ve never seen clock, metal be taxed. I don’t know if I’m understanding that correctly, but that’s definitely not something I’ve seen before.

Diana (25m 34s):
Right. And tax records are really fascinating on the things that they decide they’re going to tax people on. And there weren’t very many people that had a clock, metal or a metal clock. There were only two people on that page that had that.

Nicole (25m 50s):
Right. It could have been a metal clock or metal used to make clock. I’ll have to find out.

Diana (25m 55s):
We obviously have more questions based on this one little fact here.

Nicole (25m 59s):
Well let’s talk now about just some takeaways and tips for researching at a state archive. So one tip that I can definitely attest to is to do as much research on the ancestor as possible before your visit so that you can narrow down the specific date and place to look. And if you don’t know when and where they lived, then it will be really hard to decide which materials to look at. When we went to Frankfort to the Kentucky State Archives, I did some research like the night before to really narrow down the window and of time when I know they lived there. And that really helped to choose the materials to look at. So it’s really good to just get yourself on date range.

Nicole (26m 43s):
And I had to look at the dates when the children were born and they had moved to Missouri from Kentucky. So sometimes you just have to look at what you have and you don’t always have like a specific place either. I had just had like a, a hypothesis that he lived in Harding County and luckily for this research in Alabama, we knew for sure that they lived in Chambers County. So that really helped the research be successful. Then another tip is to view the online catalog to familiarize yourself with the collections. And this can be super, super important. I don’t think I would want to go unless I’ve looked at the catalog yet, because by the time you get there, it’s like almost too late to be looking in the catalog.

Nicole (27m 27s):
You should know, have a list when you show up of things that you want to look at because your time there is so limited and you don’t wanna waste time searching the catalog when you’re there. You wanna just be able to order the things and be able to spend most of your time reviewing the item and taking notes from it or digitizing it or whatever you’re going to do, taking pictures of it. And sometimes what you see leads to additional things you want to look at. So it’s best to just have more time to look at the item and have already played with the catalog. And sometimes the catalogs are tricky to use, so it’s good to practice beforehand. Also, it’s good to understand and follow the requirements for visiting.

Nicole (28m 8s):
This can help you know what you need to bring. So maybe they don’t allow you to bring in a backpack or maybe they only want you to have like a pencil, not a pen. So it’s good to know that. And then also it’s good to ask the archivist for assistance that can save you so much time and help you to get the things you need quicker. Also, take a notebook or laptop to record all of your searches, whether they’re negative or positive so that you can remember what you looked at and whether or not you found something. And then I like to take photos of all the records and my mom also has taught me that we always take pictures of the title pages of books and the fronts of the folders to help us remember what the item is and be able to decide it correctly.

Nicole (28m 51s):
So hopefully these tips can help you be thinking of what you need to do to prepare to visit a state archive or really any repository that you’re going to visit.

Diana (29m 1s):
Right. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this little recap of my day in the archives. I certainly enjoyed that trip and found such a valuable record. I know of people who aren’t Genealogists might wonder why we get so excited about something like an 1842 tax record. But as we’ve talked about, it really makes a difference to my research now to have a new place and a new time for my ancestor to have appeared in the records. And so this is part of that reasonably exhaustive research where we don’t want to leave any stone unturned because we simply do not know what else might be out there. So it’s exciting to have found that, to have done research there and I’m really glad I had the opportunity.

Diana (29m 49s):
So thanks everyone, and I hope you will have the opportunity sometime to go to a state archive and see what you can find on your ancestor. So thanks for listening and we will talk to you next time.

Nicole (30m 1s):
Bye-bye. Thank you for listening. We hope that something you heard today will help you make progress in your research. If you want to learn more, purchase our books, Research Like a Pro and Research Like a Pro with DNA on Amazon.com and other booksellers. You can also register for our online courses or study groups of the same names. Learn more at FamilyLocket.com/services. To share your progress and ask questions, join our private Facebook group by sending us your book receipt or joining our courses to get updates in your email inbox each Monday, subscribe to our newsletter at FamilyLocket.com/newsletter. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. We read each review and are so thankful for them. We hope you’ll start now to Research Like a Pro.