Ellender Haseltine was a young lady who lived in Anson County, North Carolina. Born in 1781, it is unclear whether Ellender was born in Germany shortly before her family left, or in North Carolina shortly after they arrived. In either case, she and Joshua met, fell in love, and were married in 1797.1
I would love to be able to provide you with their marriage license, proof of Ellender’s birth, facts about her parents and her childhood, but I cannot. Anson County is a burned county.
Burned County. The term is like a storm cloud hanging over the head of a Family Historian. If you don’t know, a Burned County is one who’s courthouse caught fire sometime in the past, destroying many if not all of their records.
Actually, it is a wonder it did not happen more often. The settlement of our county started on the east coast and moved west. Much of the eastern part of America was native forest. When they cut down the trees they used them to build their buildings. Makes sense, right? The problem was, after a few years that wood got really dry, and when you stored a bunch of paper inside a dry wood building, it does not take much before someone is yelling…FIRE!!
Although fire is probably the most common type of record destruction, it can also come as a result of flooding, severe storms, and just plain neglect.
Don’t despair! All is not lost. You can still find your relatives even though the county level records have been destroyed. Here are a few ideas…
- Put on your serious research hat. FamilySearch suggest you maintain a positive, “can do” attitude and keep meticulous records. You will be doing research in many different locations with many different types of records so it is important to keep organized. They recommend keeping a meticulous research log (record of every record you look for, whether you find it or not) and recording your findings as you do the research.2
- Many documents were copied or rerecorded after a fire or other disaster. When records were destroyed, county officials would put the word out in the community asking people to bring their copies of deeds and other records back to the courthouse so that the clerks could copy them and officially file them in the courthouse. I have found deed records in the county courthouse where the transaction took place 20 years before the courthouse burned because my ancestors brought their deeds back to the courthouse to be recopied and entered into the public record.
- Many records or copies of records are kept by the state. Many states took censuses in between the every ten year federal census. A copy of the tax rolls was sent to the state for their records. Often times our ancestors sent petitions to the state government asking for roads and bridges to be built.
- Court records could have been kept in a separate location. Even today, civil, criminal, city, and probate records are often kept in different locations. Just because the deed and probate records were destroyed, the records of jury duty, public service, lawsuits, criminal activity, and other records could still exist.
- Did your ancestor serve in the military? There may be pension and other military records. Often times pension records will give details about the pensioner’s current living conditions, and give you members of their FAN club.
- Their FAN club. Coined by genealogy matriarch Elizabeth Shown Mills, FAN stands for their Family and friends, Associates, and Neighbors. Looking to these people can give you clues where further records might be found. Did your ancestor own property with a relative in another county? Then the deed may be recorded there as well. Did one of your ancestor’s beneficiaries live in another location? All or part of your ancestor’s probate documents may be filed in the beneficiaries’ home county.These are just a few of the ideas you can use to get around destroyed records. Just remember, DON’T GIVE UP! Chances are, there are records out there just waiting for you to discover them!
