Congressional Serial Set

Using Serial Set to Research
The U.S. Congressional Serial Set, filled with genealogical tips, hints, and treasures, is not getting its fair share of attention by genealogists or other historical researchers. I can’t think of one reason why this free-resource is not being perused on a regular basis. It’s full of what we love – gossip, scandal, court cases and names of both supportive and vile neighbors. It covers topics on women, African Americans, Native Americans, students, soldiers, sailors, pensioners, landowners, and inventors. Is this not the genealogists’ dream?  And,  it’s free (with a library card).

Family researchers with enslaved ancestors or those descendants from their enslavers will want to peruse the Congressional Serial Set Records. This collections hold a great part of the US history; much from the "everyday " citizen.

Accessing the U.S. Congressional Serial Set

If you aren’t familiar with the Serial Set, be sure to read U.S. Congressional Serial Set for Genealogists, Part I. The Serial Set is an online resource available via your local library that subscribes to HeritageQuest Online; and, it’s accessible remotely using your home computer with a library card.

Tied to Juneteenth?

Listen to the full podcast: Finding Ancestors in The Congressional Serial Set

If you use the keyword  “slaves,” there are 659 occurrences. Some of these documents give us social history and legal proceedings void of ancestors’ names and may be deemed less than helpful to the researcher. But the collection also includes claims for slaves killed in the military – especially useful if you are stuck in the War of 1812 era, pension appeals, land disputes, and even emancipation information like that of  Jane Hall (above).

Emancipation Papers: Francis Hall and Others.

Maryland slave Jane Hall, born 1799 ran away from her master in 1820 and subsequently was manumitted (as were her heirs) by Alexander Claxton in 1821. (Francis Hall, 55th Congress, 1st Session, Senate, Rpt No. 123).

Pension: Richard Jackson 22 Jul 1890 

Many pensions were settled at the congressional level and the US Serial Set has detailed accounts of the requests, proposals and appeals.  Richard Jackson, a slave and teamster for the Union Army was shot, captured and imprisoned, attempted an escape, shot again. The account is pretty detailed, and it also gives his slave master’s name as Dr. Charles J. Manning. (Serial Set-ID:2815 House of Representatives, Report No 2784, 51^st Congress, 1^st Session).

Land: On the Application of a Cherokee Indian Woman to Sell a Reservation of Land Which Was Made to Her Husband, Who was Adjudged to be a Runaway Slave. 

 A difficult research project is the intermarrying of Native Americans and African Americans residing in the southeast. A report dated 8 Feb 1831 documents Sally Johnson, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Jackson County, Alabama married a runaway slave Peter Johnson. Peter was “reclaimed by his master.” The legality of selling of Peter’s 650 acres of reservation land was in question. (Serial Set: A3P033 Publ. land No. 892, 21^st Congress, 2^nd Session). 

Runaway Slave Names: Benjamin Oden; 7 April 1834. 

Slave Frederick ran away from his master, Benjamin Oden in Maryland,1814. He enlisted in the military as alias William Williams. Military men were entitled to bounty land and the master wanted to claim the bounty land that would have been given to William Williams, as if he were a free man. This one report gave us the name of slave, freeman alias and master. (Serial Set-ID 262; Benjamin Oden, Rep No 392, 23^rd Congress, 1^st Session, House of Representative). 

 In Honor of Juneteenth 2026, this excerpt is from Jan 2013 blogpost: Using U. S. Congressional Serial Set, Part II. 

Draw A Direct Line: Virginia Revolutionary War Land Records to Ancestors

Virginia Bounty Lands 

Virginia Revolutionary War land records are among the most important genealogical resources for tracing early American families. One reason is simple: Virginia controlled one of the largest military bounty land reserves in the new nation.

After the American Revolutionary War, Virginia rewarded veterans with bounty land for military service. Much of this land was located in what later became Kentucky and the Ohio Valley frontier. Because Virginia’s military land reserve was so vast, thousands of veterans, heirs, speculators, and migrating families became connected through these records.

For genealogists, that created an extraordinary paper trail.

Virginia bounty land records often contain far more than acreage descriptions. Researchers may discover:
• Military service references
• Names of heirs and widows
• Assignments and transfers of land rights
• Survey maps and plats
• Frontier settlement locations
• Evidence of family relationships not found elsewhere

The importance of Virginia’s land system extends well beyond the state itself.

For many researchers, these records become the missing bridge between generations. Frontier families who later appeared in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri can often be traced first through Virginia military land claims. In many cases, the records help explain where a family went after disappearing from eastern county records.

Researchers should remember that Revolutionary War bounty land rights were frequently sold, inherited, reassigned, or claimed decades after the war itself. Because of this, a single land file may preserve multiple generations of family history within one chain of records.

Researchers should not stop with a single warrant or patent. The strongest genealogical evidence often appears across the full chain of records:
• Treasury warrants
• Surveys and plats
• Assignments and transfers
• Land patents
• County deed books
• Tax records

Within these records, researchers may uncover heirs, widows, neighboring families, migration routes, estate settlements, or evidence showing when a family moved westward. Survey plats may identify nearby relatives or longtime associates, while assignments and transfers can reveal inheritance patterns, financial hardship, or multiple generations connected to the same claim.

In some cases, Virginia bounty land records provide the only surviving paper trail linking a Revolutionary War veteran to descendants who later settled across the expanding American frontier.

This is why we are excited about the digitizing Virginia bounty land records, driven by VA250 (250th anniversary of American independence): Virginia Revolutionary War Service Records: Bounty Land

Read more at Journal of the American Revolution

Ethiopians Who Traced Jewish Roots via Israel, Spain & USA

 

Ethiopian Patriots' Victory Day

It is Ethiopian Patriots' Victory Day (also known as Arbegnoch Qen or Liberation Day).
From 1993-1994, a span of about 18 months or so, I traveled back and forth to Tel Aviv, Israel, working at Bezeq, an Israeli communications company. It is there that I met and befriended my Ethiopian friends who lived on the outskirts of Tel Aviv and frequented the large market (my Israeli playground). My living accommodations faced the Mediterranean sea, where I enjoyed the beach, but I played in the dusty city market, learning foods, history, customs, and a few vital words in Hebrew, which I’ve long since forgotten. 

Ethiopian Jews are primarily known as Beta Israel (House of Israel). They are an ancient Jewish community from Ethiopia's Amhara and Tigray regions who practiced a traditional form of Judaism for centuries before immigrating to Israel in large numbers beginning in the late 1970s. Historically, they were sometimes called Falasha, a term now considered derogatory.

Although I loved the Israeli dishes, especially the spicy ones with a touch of Northern African influence, I also fell in love with Ethiopian food in Israel. The Beta Israel community (they all seemed to live together in 1993-1994) didn’t appear to really blend into the Israeli culture; many did not have much more of a working knowledge of Hebrew than I. But with the help of young ones translating into English, I would sit at their communal gathering, following customs, and falling in love with berbere, the use of turmeric, the feel of injera, and homemade Tej (a honey wine, but milder than that found in the American-Ethiopian restaurants). 

A recent homemade (KBrandt) dinner

I often make Ethiopian dishes, but I never learned how to make injera. I buy it at the local Ethiopian market/restaurants. But still, I give tribute to the "Ethiopian Jews" whom I met over thirty years ago.

My experience with the Ethiopian Jews became vital in some genealogical research of a few Mediterranean-tanned friends who discovered their Ethiopian roots. In America, they claimed to be Sephardic Jews. But family folklore and history confirmed them to be a distinct group of Jewish persons. 

There are records of generational names (similar to Genesis, who begat whom), and the elders could recite them without referring to the written word. The last few generations, however, only recognized it as family folklore, for they were born in the USA and had embraced all that is American. It appears their ancestors, who had left Ethiopia many generations before, also left their generational customs behind as they traveled through northern Africa and Europe, finally landing in the USA on working boats or through some form of trade, intermarrying with other cultures, slowly sending for family members to join them. These American-born, mostly claiming to be descendants of Moors from southern Spain, did not quite believe in the folklore until they uncovered genealogical data given to them by a dying elder.

As I was asked to verify the accuracy and probability and to extinguish some of their doubts, I printed off historical information for them to read. a3Genealogy reviewed their DNA results.

Last I heard, they continued to claim Judeo-Españoles (Jewish Spaniards), but they sprinkled Ethiopian artifacts throughout their home to remind them of their ancestry, and are dedicated to passing the family stories to their children. They were also looking for relatives amongst the Israeli-resident Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted between 1980 and 1990, those who were part of "Operation Solomon," including the ones I met in 1993. Photo: (Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ehtiopian Jews, book). However, according to recent data, some Ethiopian Jews were forced to convert to Christianity in Ethiopia but quietly continued their Jewish customs and remained in Ethiopia while awaiting permission to enter Israel.

Maybe if they searched a bit more, they would not only find their Israeli relatives in Ethiopia and/or Israel, but also a link to their family claim on Spanish or Moorish heritage.

In the meantime, I need to get back to the kitchen and make some Doro Wat for today's Ethiopian meal.

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Research Ancestors in the Civilian Conservation Corp

Did you know there was a National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)? 

Your ancestor may have been reported as a “student” at any age. We've seen as late as 28, but the age was "fudged." Look for that also. Be sure to cross-reference your ancestor using multiple documents.
This program included a “Division of Negro Affairs” and was in existence until 1943; in later years, the program fell under the Federal Security Agency.

Where to start? 
>Census records
Most census records, especially those from 1940, include an embedded double-check process code denoting occupation. In our client's case, the ancestor worked in the nursing field as a “first aid” assistant in the forestry industry (not logging). This is one doc that agreed that 1) he was a worker in “Govt”. (1940 census). 2) he was “not employed for pay” but worked in the Public Emergency Work Program (received a stipend). 3) he worked for the C.C.C.
>Later military service papers confirmed this early CCC work history. 

Where are the records?
Personnel records are kept at the National Archives at St. Louis. You can request a search for an enrollee’s file to uncover their personal journey through the program.

Researchers can often find:

• Service records: Enrollment dates, discharge papers, and camp assignments.
• Camp life: Inspection reports and project descriptions.
• Personal details: Medical exams, pay records, and conduct reports.
• Visuals: Historic photographs of camp structures and daily work.
Pay: The pay was creative. Participants in these programs were to send home $22 of their $30 monthly pay.

To dig deeper

1) Look into Record Group 35 at the National Archives in College Park (Archives II) for administrative files, or ...

2) Check state archives for local camp newspapers and maps.

3) Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps by Joseph Speakman, NARA

Ancestor Research through Diaries

Do you have a diary from your female ancestor? Many of these women were avid writers.


They wrote to politicians, to each other and many kept diaries. The details of meetings were excluded, but personal diaries, by happenstance, may reference a name or two that may be quite telling. A reference to Polly’s Halliday's liberal tea house may also let you know that you are on the track of a progressive thinking ancestor. .

Where to Find Diaries?

Listen in to where Angela Rodesky says she obtains them:

5 Places to locate diaries:
1) State Archives and Repositories that hold Personal Papers.
2) Be sure to research the Merrill J. Mattes Reseearch Library at the National Frontier Trails Museum. I must say, spending a day with this concentrated selection of wagon train resources, makes me smile.
3) The ancestry.com California, Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 database holds 10,000 records "with biographical information about pioneers who arrived in California before 1860.
4) Local Histories and Newspapers detail wagon trains and their departure (it was both exciting and devastating to communities and families). Small-town newspapers also reprinted letters sent "home" for the community to read; sometimes enticing others to follow, and just as frequently warnings of the danger.
5) The Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) hosts of Paper Trail, an online database Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents is a great place to begin your diary, manuscript, and written information search.
It is subscription based, but the initial search is free. This database will GUIDE you to the correct repository. You cannot download the diary from this location, but it leads you to where to go using a surname search.

Search for Your Ancestors in Writings

 

What did five (5) month travelers do? They recorded their journeys in diaries and letters back home, detailing the trip. Ok, not all of them. But you will be surprised where you may find your ancestor's name. Sometimes the diaries are filled with gruesome details as the writer recalls on paper a companion's demise. Sometimes the accounts are so detailed that they read like a novel. Sometimes they just follow a train of thought, or confirm a reader's suspicion.

I proved that a religious "group," Bethel Community, occupied settlements in both Missouri and Oregon. I located the letters that leader, William Kiel, wrote to his congregation back home in Missouri from 1855-1870. He even threatened to excommunicate ("bar them from the Bethel Community") a few Missourians for raising the Union flag, and endangering the community. Interestingly enough, he was writing from his new Bethel Community in Oregon. The letters were filled with historical data, names of members and religious practices.[1]

Westward Bound - Not Just California

Image: Bureau of Land Management

Tracing Your Ancestors Going West
We know there were wagon trains. Families packed their belongings, and carried their personal wealth overland to reach the newly opened west lands. Sometimes, families were left behind, as the pioneer travelled with a wagon train.  This westward migration wasn't just for those panning for gold.  There were the Mormon's escaping persecution, the future vintner wanting rich soil, and those who made a living in transport. 

Three Key Resources

Researchers may wish to begin their ancestors’ westward migration by perusing the following: 

1) National Frontier Trails -  Independence, MO. A partner of the Oregon - California Trails Association. This repository holds over forty-eight thousand (48,000) pioneers in their database,

2) Merrill J. Mattes Collection - The Merrill J. Mattes Research Library is believed to be the largest public research library in the nation focused on the overland trails,
3)  State Historical Society of Missouri manuscript collection holds includes personal papers, maps, and photographic records of westward expansion and local trails.
Be sure to scour the E.B. Trail Collection (C2071) for steamboat memorabilia and various diary/map collections documenting historic routes like the Santa Fe Trail and Missouri River journeys, also.

Research Tips / Hints

America Mathews Overland Diary, 1857 (SHSMO)

Not every family researcher will find Great-Grandpa's passage recorded in diaries, or even his name.  But, by narrowing his year, and month of travel, you may find his experience recorded through the eyes of his neighbors and friends:  

• Analyze diaries from his hometown.
• Follow the path and his final settlement to determine his passage.
• Track Military Forts' activities along the route. The military controlled the trails, and would detain small groups travel for safety.  This may have delayed your pioneers trip.

Remember others traveled by water. The trip from Louisiana up the Mississippi River was still arduous, but may have been your ancestor’s best option if they were not travelling with a large wagon train through hostile territories. Newspaper accounts are a great resource of those who arrived west.

9 More Resources and Database

a3Genealogy researchers proved that a religious "group," Bethel Community, occupied settlements in both Missouri and Oregon by locating the letters that leader, William Kiel, wrote to his congregation back home in Missouri from 1855-1870.  He even threatened to excommunicate ("bar them from the Bethel Community") a few Missourians for raising the Union flag, and endangering the community. Interestingly enough, he was writing from his new Bethel Community in Oregon.  The letters were filled with historical data, names of members and religious practices.[1]

1. One of our favorite websites: Oregon - California Trails Association holds over 48 thousand pioneers in their database.
2. The Oregon Genealogical Society and Idaho Genealogical Society have a listing of names in their Pioneer Certificate programs.
3. For FAQs, visit the Bureau of Land Management Website
4. For a list of Oregon Trail Historic Sites visit Legends of America http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-oregontrail.html
5. The Oregon Territory and Its Pioneers
6. Oregon Trail Histories
7. Oregon State Archives. This can be most helpful when looking for land records.
8. The ancestry.com California, Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 database holds 10,000 records with biographical information about pioneers who arrived in California before 1860.
9. Find A Grave, Along The Oregon Trail Cemetery Tombstone project.

African Americans Headed West

The overland journeys were before the Civil War.  Free-coloreds, as many as 3000 by 1850, found their way to California from the onset of the gold rush, but rarely settled in the unwelcoming Oregon. Review the Black Laws of Oregon 1844-1857

Even though many enslavers carried enslaved people on their westward trek. This same westward path was integral to successful escape plans. If you need to refresh your history of the role African Americans played during this westward movement, you may wish to read Blacks in Gold Rush California, by Rudolph M. Lapp.  

Another great resource is the Negro Trail Blazers of California by Delilah L. Beasley; original 1818; reprinted 1969.

 [1] Kiel, Wm., Letters 1855-1870; Bethel Community to Oregon 24 Jun 1855; microfilm, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, UMKC

Kathleen Brandt

How to Research Pre-Revolutionary War Ancestors

Excerpt: How to Research Pre-Revolutionary War Ancestors, 2016

Finding Family Before 1776
When genealogists hit the colonial period, many suddenly feel the trail goes cold. There is no 1easy civil registration. Few family stories survive. Records may be scattered, damaged, or hidden in places researchers never think to look. But your ancestor did not appear in America in 1776.

They lived, worked, married, bought land, went to court, paid taxes, served apprenticeships, worshipped, migrated, and sometimes got into trouble long before the Revolutionary War. The key is learning where early lives were documented.

So where were they documented?
For pre-Revolutionary ancestors, success often comes from looking beyond birth, marriage, and death records. Here are 12 record sets, the basics that should be reviewed if extant:

1. land grants and deeds
2. tax lists
3. church registers
4. probate files
5. petitions
6. militia lists
7. shipping records
8. indenture contracts
9. apprenticeship records
10. court minutes
11. merchant account books
12. newspapers
13. cemetery and churchyard records

Was Your Ancestor a Sailor, Pirate, Merchant, or Convict?

When genealogists hit the colonial period, many suddenly feel the trail goes cold. Have you considered that your ancestor may have gotten into trouble long before the Revolutionary War?

One overlooked source for colonial-era research is maritime court records. If your ancestor worked at sea, traded goods, was accused of piracy, transported cargo, or arrived as a convict laborer, records may appear in British Admiralty or colonial Vice-Admiralty courts.

Check out the Proceedings of Vice-Admiralty courts in North America, the West Indies and Africa.

These courts handled maritime disputes, seizures, wages, smuggling, and other sea-related matters across the colonies. Colonial vice-admiralty courts existed in several regions, and jurisdiction sometimes crossed colony lines.

That means an ancestor living in one colony may appear in records held elsewhere.

Unexpected Women
Don't forget the women. They were not so squeaky clean. Women appear in colonial records more often than many assume.

Check out these 9 record sets:

1. widow petitions
2. dower claims
3. probate distributions
4. church discipline cases
5. guardianship records
6. poor relief requests
7. newspaper notices
8. runaway servant advertisements
9. court complaints and testimony

Reminder: A woman may be the key to proving an entire family line.

Smart Tip: 

Remember that podcast on One Place Studies? This is a perfect chance to research by the community, not just name. If records are sparse, study the community.

Ask:

• Who were the neighbors?
• Who witnessed deeds?
• Who appeared in the same tax district?
• Who married into the family?
• What church served the area?
• What migration route did families use?

Sometimes your ancestor is hiding inside the records of relatives, neighbors, or associates.

7 Smart Places to Search Pre-1776 Ancestors
1. State Archives
Many colonial court, land, and legislative records are preserved at the state level.

2. County Courthouses
Especially for deeds, probate, and local court minutes.

 
3. Historical Societies

Local collections may contain manuscripts, family papers, maps, and cemetery transcriptions.

 
4. University Libraries
Many hold digitized colonial collections and regional papers.

 
5. British Repositories
Especially for emigrants, convicts, merchants, and military matters.

 
6. Church Archives

Baptisms, marriages, burials, pew lists, and vestry records can be gold.

 
7. Digitized Databases
Search modern collections repeatedly. New material appears all the time.

Lost Records
Some colonial records were destroyed by war, fire, weather, and time. However, a burned courthouse does not always mean a dead end. Search for the following in your state archives and repositories: 

• tax rolls
• neighboring county records
• church records
• newspapers
• land transfers
• probate heirs
• militia lists
• court references in later cases

The trail may be faint, but it is often still there.