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Essential Research Series · No. 1 · 22 pages
The term burnt county describes any county where courthouse fires, wartime destruction, or neglect have erased the records genealogists depend on. In Tennessee alone, sixty of ninety-five counties have documented record loss. Across Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky, the damage is equally severe. This guide provides a systematic, proven approach to working around those gaps, without giving up on the line.
- The Census Substitute List — tax digests and poll registers as annual census replacements
- The Neighbor Strategy — researching the FAN club to find ancestors through surviving neighbor records
- The State-Level Workaround — legislative petitions and governor's papers the fire never reached
- Repository guide for Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia & South Carolina
- Fillable research worksheet and full citations