Thrifty Thursday: Johnston County, NC Records

Facts to know when researching your ancestors in Johnston County:

• Formed in 1746 from Craven County
• In 1752 a part of Johnston County was taken to form Orange County
• In 1758 the eastern part of Johnston became Dobbs County
• In 1770 a part of Johnston County was taken to form Wake County 
• In 1855 a part of Johnston County was taken to form Wilson County
• Has the largest Civil War Battlefield in NC, Bentonville Battlefield

Johnston County Records available online

My goal here is to have resources other than your everyday census, cemetery, and obituary records. If you know of additional resources that can be found online, please let me know to add them.

1700s (some 1800s & 1900s)

• 1784-1787 Census
• 1779-1853 Marriage Bonds
• 1750-1860 Deeds
• 1750- Quit Rent (Tax List)
• 1750- Quit Rent List (Tax List)
• 1751- Quit Rent (Tax List)
• 1760-1922 Wills Index

1800s

• 1849 Freemasons
• 1852 Freemasons
• 1850-1895 Bastardy Bonds

1900s

• 1902 Voter Registration Records
• Assorted Court Records

Other

• Slave Name Index
• Cohabitation & Slave Marriage Index
• Confederate Soldiers
• Marriages

General Links:

• Johnston County Wikipedia article
• The Heritage Center
• Johnston- rootsweb
• Johnston- ncgenweb

Daniel Boone Was A Man

Years ago while attending Appalachian State University, my roommates & I attended the first annual Boone Days. One of the things we took away from this experience- the Daniel Boone theme song and the catchphrase "Daniel Boone was a man, yes a BIG man".

So in my move from Boone, North Carolina to Kentucky it was almost a requirement to go straight to Daniel Boone's gravesite which is located in Frankfort, KY. The Frankfort Cemetery is not the original site of burial for Daniel and his wife Rebecca. Originally they were buried in Missouri. According to wikipedia they may even still be buried there (more info on his death & burial can be found here), but here is the gist: 

"In 1845, the Boones' remains were supposedly disinterred and reburied in a new cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Resentment in Missouri about the disinterment grew over the years, and a legend arose that Boone's remains never left Missouri. According to this story, Boone's tombstone in Missouri had been inadvertently placed over the wrong grave, but no one had ever corrected the error. Boone's relatives in Missouri, displeased with the Kentuckians who came to exhume Boone, kept quiet about the mistake, and they allowed the Kentuckians to dig up the wrong remains. There is no contemporary evidence that this actually happened, but in 1983, a forensic anthropologist examined a crude plaster cast of Boone's skull made before the Kentucky reburial and announced it might be the skull of an African American. Negro slaves had also been buried at Tuque Creek, so it is possible the wrong remains were mistakenly removed from the crowded graveyard. Both the Frankfort Cemetery in Kentucky and the Old Bryan Farm graveyard in Missouri claim to have Boone's remains."

As a anthropologist in training I have to say that I learned race is very hard to find via skeletal characteristics.

Just like with Col. Sanders we had to follow the yellow dotted line to find the famous Daniel Boone. Here are some pictures from the gravesite:

Daniel Boone this way! Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Boone has a really great overlook of the capitol of Kentucky, Frankfort. This is a panorama. 
Photo by K. Stevens 2012.   

 Pictures of each side of the monument. Some are not politically correct to say the least (see bottom right picture). 

Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Daniel Boone Monument.  Photo by K. Stevens 2012.

Finding Col. Sanders (and others)

With my move to Kentucky a whole new world of cemeteries is opening up... and luckily my friends have realized that visiting cemeteries can be fun. One of my friends thought it would be fun to see the graves of Daniel Boone (post soon to come) and Col. Sanders while she was visiting me a week ago.

We found that Col. Sanders (yeah the KFC guy) is buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. If you're ever visiting or riding through Louisville I highly suggest a visit to Cave Hill. It is HUGE! And as a warning it is possible to get lost.

This is by far the largest cemetery I have visited to date. Using directions from online we attempted to find Col. Sanders, but had trouble because we entered through the wrong entrance. Once we found the yellow dotted line though it was easy to find the site of Col. Sanders and his wife.

Photo by K. Stevens. 2012.

Another thing to look for when visiting Cave Hill Cemetery are the graves of both the confederate soldiers and union soldiers. 

Photo by K. Stevens. 2012

Photo by K. Stevens. 2012

Photo by K. Stevens. 2012

Photo by K. Stevens. 2012

Disagreeing Records: James Monroe Skidmore

I'm going to try to write a blurb on all of the children of Katherine Abernathy and William Skidmore. First up is James Monroe Skidmore.

My current research on James Monroe Skidmore, also known as "Mun" or "Uncle Mun", has shown me that a lot of records for Mun disagree on many of the basic events in his life.

The things I am sure of: Mun was born to Katherine Abernathy & William Skidmore. He married Susan Moody and had no children. And most, if not all, of his life was in the Riverbend area of Gaston County, NC.

Photo from findagrave.com taken by Jennifer

Now for the disagreeing records.

Birth Date: I have found two different dates for Mun's birth. According to most of the census records his calculated birthdate is 1856, but that could be because of when his birthday falls in the year.

1. 5 Apr 1855 (Sources: 1,2)

2. 16 Apr 1855 (Sources: 3)

Marriage Date: Again I've found two dates. Biggest problem here is that I haven't found the actual marriage record, which would help me out a lot. According to one census record Mun's marriage to Susan Moody was about 1874. According to these dates James Monroe Skidmore was about 17 years old when he got married to Susan.

1. 4 Apr 1873 (Sources: 1)

2. 8 Apr 1873 (Sources: I found this on one website that doesn't state its original source for this date and after further looking on familysearch.org there is a marriage record for "W.M. Skidmore" to Susan Moody in Riverbend, Gaston, NC. )

Death Date: Once again, sources give two different dates. Either way, he died at the age of 81. He is buried in the Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Gastonia, Gaston County, NC.

1. 2 Jan 1937 (Sources: 3, 4)

2. 30 Jan 1937 (Sources: 1,2)

Other information on James Monroe Skidmore:

Cheap Picture Frames for Historic Photos

I have just recently finished my first semester of teaching (hence my 5+ month hiatus) and am about to move into a new apartment. One of my projects: making a wall of old photographs.

Step 1: Purchased different picture frames from a local thrift store. My total cost for all of these frames was less then $8.

Step 2: Paint all the frames one color.

Step 3: Ok, so now I have picture frames that are all different shapes and size but they have the classic black look. What I'm planning on doing is getting my old photographs together and placing them in the frames. I am currently wondering whether I should use the originals or get copies of them. I started researching copyright laws to see what amount of copying photos like these I could get away with. See my blogpost on historic copyright laws here: "Can I copy that picture?". 

This picture was probably taken in the late 1800s and is no longer protected by copyright (see more about this photograph here.)

Can I copy that picture?

Since gathering up old historic and genealogy photos I've wondered, what photos can I copy & reprint without breaking copyright laws. I am about to do a project with these photos so I'm researching copyrights & will share with you what I have learned:

Date of Work		Term of Copyright
Published before 1923		In public domain. No Copyright (Free to copy! YAY!)
Published between 1923-1963	When published with notice or registered in the U.S.	In public domain, unless the copyright has been renewed in which case they are protected for 95 years from the copyright/publication date.
Published between 1964-1977	When published with notice or registered	Protected for 95 years.

There are additional regulations for things published after 1978, but I don't have to worry about that for the picture I plan on copying and reprinting.

More info can be found here at the Library of Congress.

Roanoke Rapids Post Office

Old Roanoke Rapids Post Office