Going to the Courthouse - Other Records

There are many more minor groups of records in courthouses that can still be of great interest to genealogists.  You may not be able to find all of these in all counties, but they are all worth pursuing.

Cemetery Records.  Most courthouses have a list of cemeteries in the county, including small and private cemeteries and single burials, most commonly in the county clerk's office.  Don't miss the chance to find your ancestor's grave.

School Records.  As recently as half a century ago, counties were blanketed with rural school districts.  The county clerk may have records from these school districts, including censuses of school-age children, board meeting minutes, and even children's grades, although many have been lost or destroyed.  Was your ancestor on the school board?  You'll need to find a map of school districts for the county to figure out which school your ancestor attended.  Here is an example I found when my grandmother Elisabeth (Suderman) Fast was listed among the school-age children of Paris School District #23 in Harvey County, Kansas, in 1898.

Census of School Population, 30 July 1898, Paris School District #23, Harvey County, Kansas, Register of Deeds, Courthouse, Newton.

This school census showed that the Suderman family was still living in Kansas in the middle of 1898, even though their father had bought land in south Texas in December 1897.

Criminal and Civil Court Records.  I suspect that far more of our ancestors were involved in criminal and civil cases than we realize today.  Occasionally these records are indexed, but far more often they are unindexed and located in dusty volumes in a vault.  If there is an index, I always check it for my ancestors.  On the rare occasion that I know that they were involved in a case, I will search for it, but this is usually a hard set of documents to search.

Vital Records.  Sometimes counties kept vital records of births, marriages, and deaths before the official state-mandated recording began; so these may be the only official source for these events.  For example, I found the marriage license for my great-grandparents Heinrich F. Reimer #317342 (1856-1923) and Katharina Barkman #317343 (1856-1943), who were married on 5 February 1880.  Nebraska did not keep state marriage records until 1909, but Jefferson County started in 1864.

Marriage license of Heinrich Reimer and Catharina Barkmann, 5 February 1880, Jefferson County, Nebraska, No. 473437, County Clerk's Office, Courthouse, Fairbury.

This document gave me the date and place of their marriage, their parents, the witnesses, and the minister who performed the wedding.  And it was issued by the county a full twenty-nine years before the state required them to do so.  Writing to Lincoln would not have produced this gem.

While you are in town, make sure to visit the genealogy room at the city or county library and the local historical museum.  They may have city directories, farm directories, newspaper clippings, town and county histories, family histories, collections of local letters and diaries, photographs, and much, much more.  Go to the church where your ancestor worshiped to look at their records.  If you still have relatives, even distant cousins, in the county, connect with them as they may have valuable records and stories that need to be written down as well.

By now you should have at least a week's worth of research to do in any county where your ancestor lived.  Good luck and happy hunting!

Going to the Courthouse - Naturalization Records

Amazingly to those of us living in the early 21st century when immigration and citizenship is highly contentious and tighly controlled by the federal government, until the 1920s, a state of laissez-faire existed.  Congress had given the authority to almost any municipal, state, or federal court to make immigrants citizens of the United States once they had lived in the US for five years.  Until 1906, courts even used whatever forms they wished.  Since state district courts were the most accessible to residents, these were the most common destination for the immigrant who wished to become an American citizen.  Thus, if you are going to a county where an immigrant ancestor lived, you should definitely check for naturalization documents.  But note that if you don't find it there, they may have been naturalized in a municipal or federal court or even in some other place.  And a fair number of immigrants never naturalized.

The naturalization process.  The process changed over time, but for most of the time we are concerned about (post-1874), the prospective citizen could file a declaration of intention (or "first papers") once he had been in the United States for two years.  He received a document that he had to submit to the court when he filed his petition for naturalization ("final papers"), which he could file with a court once he had been in the US for five years.  Once approved, the court would give him a certificate of naturalization.  Until 1906, the only documents were held at the court that naturalized the citizen.  After 1906, a copy was forwarded to the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, but the original file stayed at the court.

Until 1940, wives and children under age 21 were automatically naturalized when the husband/father was naturalized.  Only after 1906 are they even listed on the documents.  Single women and widows might undergo a separate naturalization, but this is quite rare.  And minor children who came to the US would only have a naturalization file if their father (or perhaps widowed mother) was not naturalized.  For example, my great -grandfather David Fast #86812 (1858-1932) arrived as a 16-year-old boy with his parents.  His father never naturalized, so he did file for naturalization as an adult when he wanted to homestead land.

Getting Ready.  Doing some research ahead of time will speed up your work at the courthouse.  The 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses asked the year of immigration and citizenship status for each foreign-born person, so it can tell whether or not you should look for naturalization documents for a certain person (assuming that the census information is correct).  The citizenship status is indicated with three abbreviations, Al (alien), Pa (submitted first papers), and Na (naturalized).  The 1920 census added a question about the year of naturalization.  By 1940, the only question asked was the citizenship status of the foreign-born.  Some state censuses also asked about naturalization.

For example, in the 1900 census, my great-grandfather Heinrich F. Reimer #317342 (1856-1923) was reported to have immigrated in 1875 and was still an alien "Al".  Absent any other information from other censuses, it's probably not worth searching for his naturalization papers.  But another great-grandfather Jacob Suderman #319370 (1856-1906) reported that he had immigrated in 1882 (it was actually 1878) and had been naturalized (I haven't been to the courthouse to search for his file yet).  Since he had lived in two counties (Harvey County, Kansas, and Fort Bend County, Texas) between his immigration and the 1900 census, I should check the district courts in those two counties first.

You should also search in Ancestry.com for naturalization information.  There is an extensive card file from the INS that has brief information about many naturalizations, so it can give you a place to start.  Here is the index card for David Fast, my great-grandfather:

Naturalization index card for David Fast, 26 October 1909, Western District Court of Missouri, ARC: 572253; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at Kansas City, Missouri, accessed at Ancestry.com on 10 January 2014.

 Although brief, every piece of information is pure gold, including the date of naturalization, the court, date of immigration, port of arrival, residence, birth date, and names of two witnesses.  Most give a certificate number.  You can take this card to the courthouse and go right to the file, using the certificate number or date of naturalization.

At the Courthouse.  The naturalization records are generally stored with the clerk of the district court.  Most clerks know little or nothing about these records because they have not done naturalizations for several decades, although some clerks do know about them.  These records are usually not indexed but are in bound volumes by date - if you don't know the date, you may have to go through them page by page, which is why the census records and the INS card index are so helpful.

In the Texas County, Okla., courthouse, the clerk knew nothing about them until she recalled that her predecessor had mentioned boxes of old records stored on the top floor in the old jail.  I rode the elevator up with the clerk to the abandoned jail where we went to a cell being used to store records.  I climbed on a desk to get a box of papers from the top of a shelf, and there were bound volumes of naturalization records!  Later once I told the ladies at the genealogy room at the city library, they rescued the records.

Examples of Documents.  Here is the petition that I found in that old jail cell for my great-grandfather David Fast.  Actually, he had filed the petition in Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1906, where the court had given him this document as proof.  Then he submitted it to the court in Texas County, Oklahoma, with his petition for naturalization.

Declaration of intention of David Fast, 12 October 1906, District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, no. 1, Clerk of District Court, Texas County Court House, Guymon, Oklahoma.

My favorite part is the personal description:  auburn beard, height of 5'4", weight of 151 pounds, etc.

Next is the petition that he filed three years later in 1909:

Petition for naturalization of David Fast, 4 March 1909, District Court of Texas County, Oklahoma, no. 67, Clerk of District Court, Court House, Guymon, Oklahoma.

Finally there was the plain-looking certificate that the court issued seven months later:

Certificate of naturalization of David Fast, 26 October 1909, District Court of Texas County, Oklahoma, vol. 4126, no. 66275, Clerk of District Court, Court House, Guymon, Oklahoma.

The new citizen got a more formal certificate to keep as proof, and my family is fortunate to have that in its possession.  My aunt gave me a copy:

Certificate of naturalization of David Fast, 26 October 1909, District Court of Texas County, Oklahoma,no. 66275, original held by Viola (Fast) Funk of Corn, Oklahoma.

Since this was a post-1906 naturalization, there is more information in the file, but even the pre-1906 files have good information.  Plus it's just fun to have the proof of your ancestor's naturalization in your hand.  So make it a priority to look for your immigrant ancestor's naturalization records any time you go to a county where he lived.

Going to the Courthouse - Tax Records

Given the inevitability of death and taxes, it is also inevitable that taxes had to be recorded at the courthouse.  Most counties levied property tax on those who owned real estate and livestock and on other assets as well.  Property tax records are valuable for two reasons - first, they are annual, so they fill in the gaps between the decennial censuses and purchases and sales of land.  Second, they show the major property that a person owned.  So definitely don't skip the property tax records.

Usually the older property tax records are no longer in the county assessor's office but archived somewhere.  These records are less used, so they are a bit harder to find.  But ask at the county assessor's office first.  I've really dug into them one time, and that was for Fort Bend County, Texas, and there they turned out to be in the Fort Bend County library's genealogy room on microfilm.  I've also found them at the county seat's historical library.  And they are probably not indexed, so it will take a bit of time to search them.

Here is an example of a property tax record for my great-grandfather David Fast #86812 (1858-1932) when he lived in Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1903.

G. J. Fast, Peter J. Fast, and David Fast, lines #8-10, Form B, Tax Rolls, 1903, Fort Bend County, Texas, no page, Fort Bend County Tax Rolls 1838-1910, George Memorial Library, Richmond, Texas, reel #1079-03.

There are three brothers, Gerhard, Peter, and David, who are living next to each other in the Mennonite settlement.  It gives the legal description for their land, the number of acres and the value of the land, and how many head of each kind of livestock and their value.  The second page, which I have not included here, shows the number and value of wagons and carriages, the value of stocks and bonds, the value of business inventory and other taxable property, and the amount of each type of tax due.  So even one property tax assessment shows a lot about a family. 

But even more interesting is to compare the three brothers over time since I found tax assessments for them for 1898 to 1906.  David was the oldest brother, and he had significantly more than the other two.  But all of them improved over time.  David started with 2 cows in 1898 but had 23 by 1905.  Brother Gerhard started with 1 cow and built up to 11 by 1906.  Brother Peter started with 2 cows and eventually had 8.  But my other great-grandfather who lived there, Jacob Suderman #319370 (1856-1906), started with 13 cows in 1899 and had 61 at his peak in 1903.  He had three times as much land as David Fast did and many more cattle, so he was clearly a wealthier man.  In fact, he had the largest piece of land in the Mennonite settlement.

Here's a little piece of a spreadsheet I made to analyze the tax information from all my ancestors and relatives in the county.  Putting it all together like this really showed the contrasts between them.

I was living in Houston, Texas, at the time, so it was easier to go to Richmond and spend 3-4 afternoons there digging the property tax records out of the microfilm.  The records will help to show residence and socioeconomic status for each year that the family lived in the county and owned taxable property.  No doubt, they will take some time, but they are well worth finding.