How well do you know Texas? Starting Monday, March 9th, the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) will celebrate Texas History Month with its first-of-its-kind online social game that will foster your love of Texas history as you virtually travel across Texas, testing your knowledge of the Lone Star state along the way.
This online social game tests players’ knowledge of Texas history as they go on a virtual tour of the state visiting historically significant sites. The Texas State Historical Association will even have some great prizes to giveaway including weekend getaway packages, Texas-sized 60″ Vizio TVs, and Traeger smoker grills.
Using the online eVetRecs at the National Archives website http://www.archives.gov/veterans/ I ordered a World War I service record for my grandfather, Allen Lee Millard Gooch. I knew my chances of getting a file were slim because in 1973 a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, destroyed 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), including 80% of personnel discharged 1 Nov 1912-1 Jan 1960.
Indeed, I received a reply to my request that said my requested records were part of the 1973 fire. I was sad. Then, amazingly, I received a thick packet with much, or possibly all, of my grandfather’s file with copies of the “burned” records! Here is a page:
This record–an “Application for Certificate in Lieu of Lost or Destroyed Discharge Certificate”–proves that you never know just where you will find some of the best information. This record provides us with:
Full name
Place/date of enlistment and discharge
Military unit
Physical description
City and State of birth
Approximate birth year
Probable residence after discharge
Occupation
Signature
This is only one of many pages in this record, and the others are equally interesting. I may post some more soon.
This record also proves you should never give up just because you are told a repository burned. Yes, the records burned, but hey—not entirely!! Let’s hear it for the 42 fire districts that responded to the alarm and battled the blaze for 2 days.
BONUS
I received an unexpected bonus one day when a box containing replacement medals for my grandfather’s WWI service arrived in the mail: A Purple Heart, a WWI Victory Medal, and a medal for his participation in the battles of Meuse-Argonne and St. Mihiel. What a treasure! I will post photos soon.
The Digital Public Library of America is one of the most useful online libraries available today. It is new, having been formed less than two years ago. It is not a genealogy library. Rather, it is a general-purpose library that just happens to have a lot of genealogy material in addition to other topics. The Digital Public Library of America’s mission is to make cultural and scientific works more accessible to the public.
At the time these words are being written, the Digital Public Library of America lists 8,416,553 items from libraries, archives, and museums. A search on the word “genealogy” returns a list of 65,707 items available via the library’s online portal.
John Gooch received a 4th Class Headright Certificate #166 from the Republic of Texas and was granted 640 acres of land – that’s one square mile – by virtue of the early Texas Land Grant provisions. “Headrights”, or land entitlements, were granted according to the date of arrival in Texas and other requirements such as marital status and minimum years of residency.
Here are a few documents from John Gooch’s file, obtained from the Texas General Land Office. Note the first one is from the Republic of Texas, 7 Mar 1842, in Red River County:
Red River Co., Texas Board of Land Commissioners, Gooch, John- 4th Class Headright Certificate #166 (Certified copy, original issued 7 Mar 1842), John Gooch.
Here is his land grant certificate #128, and notice “Republic” of Texas has been crossed out, with “State” written in above. The date is 19 Sep 1846, and The United States had annexed the Republic of Texas on 16 Jun of 1845, causing a little problem with Mexico. Texas had declared itself a Republic in 1836 – Remember the Texas Revolution? – but Mexico did not recognize Texas independence, and the U.S. annexation of “their” territory was not appreciated. The U.S. declared war with Mexico in May of 1846. After 1845 the Texas Land Office saved on printing costs, crossing out “Republic” to write in “State”. Besides, depending on the outcome of the war they could be back to “Territory” before long.
Red River County Board of Land Commissioners, Gooch, John- Unconditional Certificate #128 for 4th Class Headright #166, John Gooch.
Notice on the back of this certificate John has transferred his rights to his son, Benjamin, with “Robertson” [County] also noted. I don’t know why it says 3rd class on it.
Red River County Board of Land Commissioners, Gooch, John- Unconditional Certificate #128 for 4th Class Headright #166, John Gooch. Transfer of rights to his son, Benjamin Gooch
The Texas General Land office has an online index and images of early land grants issued by one of the governments of Texas: Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the State of Texas. That’s four flags, if you were counting. The other two flags over what is now Texas were France and the Confederate States of America, but they did not grant land.
To receive a 4th Class Headright Certificate a man had to have arrived in Texas between 1 Jan 1840 and 1 Jan 1842. A married man was entitled to 640 acres, and a single man to 320 acres. Ten acres had to be cultivated.
John Gooch’s headright certificate gives us valuable genealogical clues:
He arrived in Nov 1841
He was married
He had a son named Benjamin
Other records may exist in Red River and Robertson Counties
This is another excellent example of the value of land records in your family history research, and the importance of putting your research in the context of historical events.
RootsTech is here! Well, not HERE, actually, because I live in Samoa. But they are live-streaming some classes, so it’s kind of here! Here is a link to the RootsTech classes being streamed live from Salt Lake City, February 12-14. (For me in Samoa that would be 13-15, but don’t let that confuse you. One of us is enough!)
How well do you know Texas? Starting Monday, March 9th, the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) will celebrate Texas History Month with its first-of-its-kind online social game that will foster your love of Texas history as you virtually travel across Texas, testing your knowledge of the Lone Star state along the way.
On Granny's Trail 