Facts

You might find your ancestors named in church history books such as anniversary celebrations.  You might be lucky enough to even see photos with your ancestors.

Many legal instruments other than deeds appear in deed book.  They include Bills of Sale, Prenuptial Agreements, Powers of Attorney, Contracts, Affidavits, Wills and Inventories and Voter and Jury lists.

Federal Land States were created from public domain, land the United States bought or acquired.  The land was created into territories as the population spread out.  The survey is done according to the rectangular survey system.

State Land States are states that owned and distributed their lands.  These include the original 13 colonies, Kentucky, Maine, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia, Hawaii and Texas.  They used metes and bounds to survey the land.

Can't find any male relative who inherited your maternal grandfather's Y-DNA?  Cast your net wider by climbing further up your family tree.  See if that grandfather had brothers who had sons, or if his father (your great-grandfather) had brothers who had sons.

Use Poll tax records and jury lists as evidence of legal age.

To help avoid slow responses to courthouse inquires, don't send requests around election times.

Many court records lack indexes, so compiled abstracts are the best way to find mentions of an ancestor.

Social Security Records Missing?  In 1951 the Social Security system started to cover self-employed, temporary government workers, farm laborers, domestic workers in the US territories or overseas employees of American companies.

Don't wear research blinders; keep an open mind when researching.