🔎Remote access to Library Edition of Ancestry available through the end of the year!

Remote access to Ancestry Library Edition is now available through the end of the year!

The instructions to access it are below:

Your Account is all 14 digits of your library card number (no spaces)

Your PIN should be the last 4 digits of the library card number

October is Family History Month

Start Your Search at the Library!

By Marcia Fraser, Special Collections Librarian

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  Special Collections

Since 2001, October has been recognized in the United States as Family History Month. In the Fall of the year, when we are looking forward to a season of family holidays, what better time is there to focus your attention on your own family’s history and their unique experience in the world? How did they live? What did they do? How did their lives affect yours? What might you discover about your own family with just a little preparation and research?

If you are a beginner in genealogical research, the Williamson County Public Library’s Special Collections Department, specializing in genealogy and local history, is a great place to start! We have online and print resources and dedicated staff to help guide you through the maze of resources and steps in starting your quest. No matter your skill level, we have the resources to help you discover your family’s past.

One of the most popular online resources to use is Ancestry Library Edition. Ancestry literally puts historical records, maps, photos and documents in your hands. Through Ancestry Library Edition, you can access a vast collection of U.S. and international documents online, such as census records, marriage records, death certificates, passenger lists, school yearbooks, military records, baptism and christening records, county and family histories, maps, special census schedules, and so on. With over 30,000 record collections and 11 billion records, you have instant free access with the click of a mouse. To use Ancestry Library, you must physically be in the library (Main Branch or any Branch), however, you may also access it on your own laptop or device while in the library when you connect to the library’s public wi-fi.

 

FamilySearch.org is a popular genealogical record resource touting the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world. Although it requires user account registration, it offers free access to its online resources and has become one of the most heavily used genealogy sites on the Internet. Williamson County Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate library, which means that we have greater access to more records in the library than at home. If you come to the library to use FamilySearch, please bring your log-on information with you. If you need help setting up an account, we can help you. FamilySearch is free, and while they do not ask for a credit card, they will ask for your name and contact information.

HeritageQuest is another database that you can explore in the library, or at home, with your library card. This is a great source for census records, Revolutionary War records, family history books, and Freedman’s bank records. To access this database from home, you must use the link on our website. You will be prompted for your library card number (yes, all 14 digits!). Refer to the link at the end of this article for easy access.

Fold3 is a military database, now owned by Ancestry.com. No matter the war or conflict your ancestors fought in, you can connect with them in this unique way. The records on Fold3 include original military records, stories, photos and personal documents of the men and women who served in the military. Pension files, for example, are a prized resource and offer great amounts of information about our ancestors, perhaps information not found anywhere else. Again, you can use this resource at home with your library card.

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Newspapers offer some of the best genealogical primary sources and we have plenty to share with you. If you have Middle Tennessee ancestors, have a look at The Tennessean on our digital resources webpage. Middle Tennessee news is covered by the Tennessean from 1812 to present day. It’s all free with your WCPL library card.

The other newspaper resource we offer is the Southern Archive of Newspapers.com, which covers most of the Southern States. As you know, newspapers offer current news of the day, political news, marriages, deaths, births, community news, celebrations, etc. In other words, news about your ancestors while they were living or at the time of their death. These are priceless resources.

Tip: If you have problems accessing any of our databases remotely, consider that your library card may have expired. You can fix that very easily with a quick call to the Circulation Department.

For Williamson County courthouse records, the Williamson County Archives has a handy online index to many of their records. They can also point you to microfilmed records which are held at the Archives and Special Collections. Find the link on our Digital Resources webpage.

In addition to the online databases above, we have much to offer in the way of print indexes for cemeteries and burials, marriages, obituaries, court records, etc. Other materials include family histories, county and state histories, microfilm records, local newspapers, local yearbooks, maps, and so on. We also have a large amount of material related to the Civil War and the Battle of Franklin, The Thelma Battle African-American Photographic Collection, the Edythe Whitley Manuscript Collection, family collections for Childress, Bracken and Yarbrough, family biographies, Pioneer Family files, and local newspapers.

If you need a quality scanner for digitizing old photographs and slides, we can help you with that, too! We also have a lighted copy stand for photographing large or unwieldy items, such as scrapbooks, maps or oversized documents.

Special Collections staff are here to assist you. Stop in or give us a call at 615-595-1246 for more information about any of our services. We do take call-in requests for obituaries and other queries, however, there may be a small fee for copy and send requests. Appointments are encouraged for one-on-one sessions.

In just a few weeks, many of us will have an opportunity to be with extended family as we celebrate holidays together. Some of the best genealogical “research” is done while sitting with our elders. Listen to the family stories told around the Thanksgiving table, pay attention when births, deaths, and marriages are recognized. Celebrate accomplishments of family members and be a part of their story. Write down your memories and date them. When taking notes, or making a recording, as your grandmother tells you stories, write a short introduction about where you were, who was there, and always note the date. Now you have documented an event and created a record for future generations. These moments of awareness in the company of our elders are some of the best methods for documenting our family’s history. Who’s going to tell your story after you’re gone?

We hope you will plan a visit soon to the Special Collections Department and begin your family history journey with us.

Contact Special Collections: 1314 Columbia Avenue Franklin, TN 37064

SpecialCollections.Library@williamsoncounty-tn.gv

615-595-1246 (press 1 to bypass automated attendant)

Call us to schedule one-on-one appointments or to schedule scanner use if needed for a period of time.

WCPL Circulation Department (call to check on library card expirations): 615-595-1277

Web Links:

WCPL Website: www.wcpltn.org

Special Collections webpage: https://www.wcpltn.org/177/Special-Collections

Digital Resources: https://tn-williamsonlibrary.civicplus.com/178/Digital-Resources

Working on Your Family Tree in Quarantine

In these trying times, many people are staying inside and away from people. Even in physical isolation, there is still ample opportunity to work on your family tree. No matter where in the world your relatives live, it is likely that they are spending more time sitting down and able to talk than they were at the start of the year. There are some excellent ways to communicate with relatives about family history while still maintaining a safe social distance. I will tell you three types of people you can contact during this pandemic.

The first group of people is family members you already talk to on a regular basis. If you are just starting out with genealogy, talking to relatives you already know is about the best possible “first step” you can take in researching your family history. Even if you are a seasoned genealogist, there is always more you can learn by talking to your family.

The second group of people will be relatives you have not heard from in years. Many of these relatives will be delighted to hear from you. Some of these relatives might have already started working on a family tree and will be very excited that you have made contact.

The third group of people is people you (or anyone you have ever had contact with) have never had contact with. These people can be found through several different sources.

One source is through connecting with other researchers. On sites such as Ancestry.com and Findagrave.com, you can network with other people who are distantly related to you. You can find distant relatives who upload information about their (and your) families to these sites or have made comments about other uploads. If you have accounts on these sites, you can send messages and exchange information.

Our Special Collections Department provides Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest for free at https://www.wcpltn.org/178/Digital-Resources in addition to several other online resources. If you have descendants from Tennessee and especially in Williamson County, they can help you reach out to local researchers and find resources.

If you do not think there is another researcher you are distantly related to who can exchange information with you…THINK AGAIN! Genealogy is a very popular interest and I promise that you have distant cousins out there researching your family.

While you are working on your family tree, you may realize you have distant relatives who are alive and cannot be contacted through a formal genealogy network. One way you can contact them by is looking them up in the phone book and calling them. It might seem intrusive, but you might land on a gold mine. The worst thing that could possibly happen is that they tell you they are not the slightest bit interested in family history and that they never want you to contact them again. In this case, you should respect their wishes and forever leave them alone.

Remember to use caution when you contact other researchers. Use discretion about giving out your personal information. Remember to respect other people’s privacy.

DO NOT BE SHY!

~Alan Houke

An Extracted Scot Finds Himself in Hungary: How to Get Started with Ancestry.com

By Stephen McClain, Reference Department

Originally posted November 20, 2015

Did you know that Williamson County Public Library patrons can access Ancestry.com for free while in the library? Neither did I – and I am guessing that many other people in Williamson County don’t know either. Like many people in the United States, I have a multicultural background, but have never been absolutely certain what my ethnicity truly is. I have long been interested in tracing my roots and wondered when my ancestors first arrived on this continent, but without access to the proper resources, I never really looked into it. My surname suggests that I am Scottish and I have always celebrated that part of my lineage without really knowing the percentage or who first emigrated from the land of bagpipes and single malt whisky. Also, I have been told that my maternal side is of German or Austrian descent, but no one is really sure.

Census Records, Birth and Death Certificates and Marriage Records

When I first started searching Ancestry.com for information on my grandparents, the most readily available data that I found was census records. The search tab at the top left side of the home page provides users with a number of search options, but the easiest way to get started is to simply click the green “Begin Searching” button in the middle of the page. Though I was too young to remember meeting him, I know my paternal great grandfather’s full name and where he lived. By searching his name and town of residence, I was able to locate his father’s name via a combination of census, birth and death records. I repeated this process several times, and through the historical mist, I was able to find that my fifth great grandfather was born in Scotland in 1681 and arrived in what would become the United States in 1766. My family name has apparently been in this country for a very long time and the reveal of this information somewhat diminished my feelings of a connection with the Scottish homeland. I am not going to stop enjoying single malt Scotch whisky or listening to the pipes, but maybe I shouldn’t have gotten married in a kilt…either way, I had another side of my family to research.

The maternal side of my lineage has always been somewhat of a mystery. No one in the family seems to know where the names come from. The names of my maternal grandparents both suggest German, Austrian, Slovak or Hungarian lineage. I searched my grandfather’s name and with very little effort, found out that his father was Hungarian. The 1920 U.S. Census records show that he was born in Hungary and his native tongue was Slavish. While his mother was born in Pennsylvania, her parents were born in Hungary as well, with the same linguistic details. I am 3^rd generation Hungarian and never knew it! Maybe that’s why I like stuffed cabbage and lekvar pierogis so much? I don’t know. Regardless, I was excited to know that I had found a relatively recent connection to my European past. And because in many cases, Ancestry.com provides users with an actual scanned copy of the documents, I was able to see that this area in Pennsylvania was a true ethnic community. The birthplaces of the majority of the people (or the birthplaces of their parents) listed on the census record were Eastern European; Austria, Hungary, and Russia. How could my mother and her siblings have grown up not knowing that their grandparents were from Hungary? The reason is probably because so many European migrants of that time wished to disassociate themselves from their past and start a new life in America. They were struggling to make a new start while making a living in a brand new country, most often doing very difficult factory work. Maintaining and passing on a cultural identity was probably not on their list of important things to do.

When I was younger, I remember being told to be careful what you look for, you might find something you didn’t want to know. I grew up knowing most of my great aunts and uncles on my mother’s side of the family. There was only one uncle that I never met, who was killed in WW II…or so I thought he was the only one. Upon examining some census data that listed the household members at my great grandparents’ residence, I read a name listed that I had never heard before. A female child that was unknown to me. This mystery aunt was 2 years older than my oldest great aunt, of whom I grew up visiting on a regular basis. Who was this person? Was she the black sheep of the family that was shunned and disowned? Was she a convicted criminal that the family was keeping hidden? Maybe she was busted for making bathtub gin during Prohibition. I hoped so. That would be so cool. I was both eager and afraid to find out. I had to know who this person was and I could only hope that there was some guarded, veiled story to go along with this ghost on the census form. With anxious trepidation, I called my aunt and asked if she knew the identity of this missing relative. Without hesitation, she said, “That was grandma’s sister who died.” Mystery solved, though, too abruptly for my apprehensive curiosity. But what happened to her and why was she never mentioned? I was told that she died from a common complication after childbirth simply because she didn’t have access to the necessary medication and treatment. Wow. It had happened so long ago that she was never mentioned in my time. No romantic tales of rebellion, crime or calamity, but a somber reminder of harder times, to say the least.

Phone and Street Directories

My searches also produced a large number of scanned city phone directories dating back to the 1920s. When searching for a name on Ancestry.com, users are given categories on the left of the page. One of those choices is “Schools, Directories and Church Histories.” Though it was never mentioned in any family stories, I now know that the likely reason my maternal grandparents met is because their families lived on the same street. These old phone directories most often show not only telephone numbers and addresses, but also the name of individuals who were living at that address, i.e. another relative or a boarder. This is a great tool in locating exactly where a relative may have lived. And if nothing else, it is intriguing to see telephone numbers such as “WAlbridge 1154 and BLackstone 2311.”

Military Records

My paternal grandfather and many of my maternal great uncles were in World War Two. I was able to locate the muster rolls that listed my grandfather’s name and the ship he was on. (Yeah, I never heard the term “muster roll” either. It is the register of the officers and men in a military unit or on a ship. Thanks, Wikipedia.) I also found out that my maternal great uncle was killed at Pearl Harbor and I located a detailed photograph of the monument that lists his name. Additionally in the military records, I was able to find the scanned copies of WW I and WWII draft registration cards for both of my great grandfathers. The documents are hand written and include the signatures of the men. To locate documents such as these, simply type in the name of the person that you are searching and after clicking “Search”, you will see all of the results for that name. To the left of the page, there is a listing of categories, such as “Census and Voter Lists” and “Birth, Marriage and Death.” The third category is “Military.” This option will produce information on draft registration, enlistment, casualties, and gravesites, just to name a few. There is also a great deal of information on Civil War soldiers and the American Revolution.

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This is just a sample of the information available at Ancestry.com and a bit of my personal experience in looking for my roots. It was great fun for me searching through my relative’s collective pasts and getting just a glimpse of their lives well before I was a twinkle in someone’s eye. Whenever you are ready to do your own searching, come to the second floor of the Williamson County Public Library and log on to a computer or visit one of the staff in the Special Collections department and they will help you with your queries. Access to Ancestry.com is only available to patrons while they are physically in the library. On the library’s website, move the mouse over Special Collections on the left of the page and click on Digital Genealogy. From there, click on Access Ancestry Library while visiting the library. The Williamson County Public Library also offers free classes on Introduction to Ancestry.com once a month.

 

But be advised, you may find something you didn’t expect…

Finding Your Family on Census Records Through Ancestry.com

by Dorris Douglass, Special Collections Librarian

Use of Ancestry.com is free In the Special Collections Department and to help you use it, here are some very important tips to remember.

• Pay absolutely no attention to spelling! Census takers couldn’t spell. This researcher has seen the name Jacob spelled “Jacup” on the census.
• Pay close attention to extra people with a different last name in a household. Frequently those listed as “boarder” were aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and especially mothers-in-law.
• Pay close attention to who is living next door. The guys either married the gal next door or their first cousin. This researcher looked for an ancestor for 10 years only to find him living next door to a grandson by a different last name.
• Be aware that ages recorded in the census can be 2 to 3 years off. However, usually the younger the closer to the truth. By the time one got to their 80’s either he or his family members had forgotten how old he really was.
• Know the abbreviations for Men’s first names: Alexr= Alexander, Benj = Benjamin, Geo =George, Hy=Henry, Jas = James, Jno =John ( Why I have no idea), Patk=Patrick, Robt= Robert Thos=Thomas, Wm=William. The last letter of the longer abbreviation are usually written as a superscripts, so that you might see only the Tho for Thomas unless you look carefully for the little tiny s. Periods were usually omitted after the abbreviation.
• Know common nicknames and know that nicknames often rhyme. Some are very tricky.
  • Belle=Isabel, Mable, Sybil;
  • Beth, Betty, Betsy, Bessie =Elizabeth;
  • Biddy, Bridey= Bridget;
  • Bill = William, rhymes with Will;
  • Cal=Caleb, Calvin;
  • Cate (old spelling) =Catherine;
  • Carrie= Carololine;
  • Carey= Charles (modern nickname Chuck);
  • Cephus=Josephus;
  • Daisey = Margaret ( for a Queen Margaret whose favorite flower was a daisy);
  • Dick = Richard, rhymes with Rick;
  • Dollie, Dolly, Doll = Dorothy;
  • Duke=Marmaduke;
  • Ed, Ned, Ted =Edward, Edmond;
  • Elsie= Elizabeth:
  • Ella, Ellie, Nelly = Elle , but also Helen;
  • Etta, Nettie = Henrietta;
  • Fee = Felix;
  • Hi = Hiram,
  • Jack = John;
  • Kit = Christopher,
  • Lois= Louise,
  • Lottie = Charlotte;
  • Ky = Hezekiah;
  • Mae, May, Molly, Polly =Mary;
  • Mag, Maggie, Meg, Peg, Peggy = Margaret;
  • Mattie, Patty, Patsy = Martha;
  • Maud =Magdalene,
  • Maude (male) = Mordichi;
  • Nancy=Hannah,
  • Neil, Connie,=Cornelius;
  • Sallie, Sally = Sarah,
  • Stella = Estel, Esther;
  • Sukey ,Susan, = Susannah (Suckey, African American 1870/ 80 = a former slave midwife who took care of the sucklings);
  • Ted = Theodore (but can be = Edward).

Come join us to hunt for your ancestors!

Heritage Display March 2017

By Rebecca Tischler, Reference Department

Last Month, we had an interactive display upstairs. Patrons could add their ancestry to a world map and see where some of their neighbors came from as well.  Some had many ancestries, and some only had one, but it was interesting to see how diverse our patrons were.

And those who didn’t know their background, we pointed them to the Special Collections department, where patrons can get some help doing genealogical research with databases such as Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest.  If you want to know more about where your family comes from, ask one of our wonderful Special Collections Librarians for help.

But for now, take a look at all the responses that were left at the display.

1. English, Welsh, Polish, German, French, Scandinavian, Scottish
2. Welsh
3. Greek, English
4. Snowbeast (AKA Canadian)
5. Venezuela
6. Indian
7. Hispanic
8. British
9. Tamil, Hindi
10. Prussia, Austria, Germany
11. Italy, Germany
12. Norwegian, German
13. African American, German
14. German, Prussian, Polish
15. Scottish
16. Thai
17. English, Welsh, Italian
18. Tamil, Hindi
19. Alien
20. Chinese
21. China
22. English, Scottish, Norman French
23. Mongolia
24. French, Great Britain
25. German
26. Brazilian
27. Mexican, Spanish
28. Mexican
29. French, Mexican
30. Italy, Germany, Europe
31. English, Irish
32. German, French, Irish
33. Cuba
34. Armenian
35. Scottish, English, French
36. Swedish, German
37. Deutschland
38. Swiss-German, English
39. French, Irish
40. Polish, English, Irish
41. China
42. Chinese, Hunan
43. Thai, Chinese
44. German, Swiss
45. Antarctican
46. Kiwi
47. Canadian
48. Pennsylvania Dutch
49. Ireland, Germany
50. Guatemala
51. At this library we found out the Hill family from Texas is the Hill family from ESSEX U.K.!
52. Irish, Italian
53. Norwegian, Icelandic
54. Czech, Dutch, German, English
55. Norwegian, French, Polish
56. Brazilian, Italian, Irish, English
57. Irish, German
58. Mexican
59. Tartar Kazakhstan
60. Italy
61. Swedish, English, Scottish, Irish
62. Scottish, Scandinavian, Polynesian, German
63. Mexicana Latin of African and Spanish ancestry
64. Venezuela, Peru
65. Black, Irish, Blackfoot
66. Balkar
67. Cherokee, English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Swiss, Nordic
68. Germany
69. Mexico
70. Mexican
71. Spanish, Mexican
72. Columbian
73. Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian
74. Mexican
75. Indian, German, Dutch, English
76. Italy
77. Syrian
78. European
79. Vietnamese
80. Anglo-Irish, German-Polish
81. Scottish, Welsh, English
82. Spanish, Scottish, French, Polish, Welsh, Irish
83. Haitian
84. Irish, Cherokee
85. Spanish, Italian, Greek, English, Scottish, Irish, Moroccan
86. Indian, Irish, German, English
87. German, English, Irish, Dutch
88. Spanish, Scottish, Irish, English, Danish, German, French, Ecuadorian, Incan
89. Ghanaian, Haitian
90. German, Irish, Scottish
91. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, Swiss German, Cherokee
92. Haiti
93. Celts, France, Ireland, England/Wales
94. French, Scottish, Cherokee
95. Canadian
96. Italian

How DNA Tests Helped Me with Genealogy!

By Jason Gavin, Special Collections Librarian

I’ve discussed some of the various kinds of DNA tests available before. Recently I was discussing with family my experience with the Ancestry.com DNA test compared with the National Genographic test -both of which I’ve taken- and thought I’d share my experience. Of course, ultimately which test you find most useful or interesting will depend on what you, personally, are hoping to get out of the test.

For myself, I find Y-DNA/ Mt-DNA tests to be far more interesting than Autosomal tests.   I found the autosomal tests (like the one Ancestry offers) kind of vague. Basically, it will show you matches between your DNA and other Ancestry users with a % confidence rate (90% likelihood this is a 3^rd cousin, for example). You could then go to that person’s family tree (if it’s not private) and figure out how you match up. That’s assuming of course that their family tree has correct information, which unless you’ve verified their research is a big assumption. It’s kind of neat, but I’ve yet to see it lead to a breakthrough in anyone’s “brick wall” ancestor.

The other thing the autosomal DNA tests offer is an “ethnicity estimate”. That takes your DNA and compares it to samples from all around the world, and tells you what population you most closely match. So for example, it might say “Your DNA looks like your 54% British Isles, 20% German, 10% Native American…” and so on. But remember, the autosomal tests are only good for up to 6 generations, so it doesn’t really tell you anything about the ancient origins or ancestral “homeland” of your direct paternal or maternal lines. For that, you’d want a Y-DNA and/or Mt-DNA test.

I myself was most interested in the ancient DNA information. Especially because on both my father’s and mother’s side, I haven’t been able to trace the families “across the pond” for the direct maternal line or direct paternal line. The Y-DNA and Mt-DNA helped shed some light on this. So, even though these tests didn’t connect me with any specific people, I learned that on Dad’s side, we have a DNA marker that is found in Northwestern Irish families traditionally connected with the Ui Neal dynasty of Irish kings – and on Mom’s side, my haplogroup is a quite rare one that is a remnant from the first humans to venture into Europe as hunters/ gatherers– long before the invention of agriculture and prior even to the last ice age! Cool stuff, huh?

So for me, my money is on the National Genographic test. It gives you Y-DNA and Mt-DNA, as well as autosomal, and you can transfer your results to FamilyTree DNA for free!

The Retirement of Dorris Douglass

By Dorris Douglass, Special Collections Librarian

I will be retiring Oct. 31st and it has been a wonderful 16 & 3/4 years.  Upon my announcement of my retirement, the blog master asked if I would be willing to share some of my most rewarding experiences here at the library.

The first was in 2002. I had a family call me on a Saturday morning. They had an uncle who had died in California and could be buried for free in the Military Cemetery at Pegram, Tennessee, if it could be proven he was born in Tennessee.  But he had no birth certificate, though he was born in 1929.   My immediate reply was “Oh you need this in a hurry!” I took their phone number and said I would do my best. The 1930 census had just come out and the library had had the microfilm about two weeks. This was before any census records were on the Internet, or indexed. Before closing time, I did find him on the census which showed he was a year old and “born in Tennessee.” I printed it off, stamped it with the Williamson County Public Library hand stamp to make it look very official, signed my name and dated it. They came and picked it up and got their uncle buried back home in Tennessee.

My second most rewarding experience was via a phone call from Indiana. This was before the day of constant e-mail. A young man wanted to find for his uncle, the uncle’s sister whom the family had lost contact with fifty years ago. The woman had divorced and remarried but they did not know her married name. All they could give me was the name of her first husband. The last information they had was that she was then living in Franklin, Tennessee. I found a fairly recent obituary for her first husband, and whoever compiled the obituary was very thorough, not only giving the name of the former wife of fifty years ago, but the first name of her second husband. I picked up the phone book and there he was. I called the young man and said “Here is her phone.” They later called me and told me about the big family reunion they were having.

The next two experiences were not near so dramatic but rewarding just the same. Some library patron found a glossy black and white photograph of a young girl dated 1950, stuck in a library book that had not been checked out in 6 years. There was a name on the back of the picture but that was all. I found where the girl had married in Marshal County, Tennessee in 1954. Now knowing her married name, I checked our library card holders and sure enough she had a Williamson County Library card. We were able to get the picture back to where it belonged.

My last rewarding experience was just a couple of weeks ago. We had a patron come in with one question and leave with the answer to another that she had not dreamed was even possible of knowing. She was a big talker and happened to mention she wanted to get her father’s World War II medals. She had been to Veterans Affairs in Nashville and they had told her they could do nothing without his social security number, as his name was W.C. Brown and there would be a million veterans by that name. When she said that, I said “Oh I can get his social security number.” She had no idea the retired Social Security numbers are on Ancestry.com. As she knew his birth date and that he died in Franklin, (that is the last benefit was sent to Franklin) we could pick out which W. C. Brown was his social security number. And she left thrilled that she could go get her father’s World War II medals.

Click for information about her retirement party!

 

Naturalization Records of Your Immigrant Ancestors

by Dorris Douglass, Special Collections Librarian

Did your immigrant ancestor arrive in the United States after March of 1790? If so, and if he wanted to become a citizen in this promising land with the right to vote, then he had to be “naturalized.” This was the legal procedure of granting him the same rights and privileges of a citizen born in this country. The first federal naturalization law was passed on March 26, 1790 and required the applicant to have lived in the United States for two years and at least one year in the state where he resided. Congress soon decided that the applicants needed to have to have lived in the United States longer. On January 29, 1795 an Act was passed whereby the applicant was required to have been living in the United States for at least five years. Furthermore, he was to file a declaration of intent to become a citizen, three years before his naturalization was to be granted. Other requirements were that he was to have lived for at least one year in the state where he was naturalized; he was to be of good moral character; he was to renounce any title of nobility; he was to renounce his loyalty to the sovereign of his former country, and to take an Oath of Allegiance to the United States. Minor children of the applicants have automatically become citizens with their parent since 1790 to the present, and the wives of applicants automatically became citizen with their husbands from 1790 to 1922, without separate papers being filed.

To find naturalization records on Ancestry.com go to “Search,” then “Immigration & Travel,” then “Narrow by Category,” then “Citizenship & Naturalization Records.” Some of Williamson County’s naturalizations records are found in Louise Lynch’s series of Williamson County, Tennessee Miscellaneous Records. Of special interest is that for Albert Lotz, who on May 24, 1855 renounced his loyalty to the King of Saxony. Albert Lotz’s former residence now houses the Lotz House Civil War Museum. The Special Collections Department of the Williamson County Public Library also has a book Davidson County, Tennessee Naturalization Records 1803-1906.