MORE WAYS TO FIND GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION

More ways to find genealogical information

 I had been researching my Holmes family that lived in Roane County, TN in the 1800's. Although the court house in that county had burned during the Civil War, some records have been recovered and are available through The Roane County Heritage Commission website. There is a link on their main page for the Research Room, which is where my story begins.

Several genealogists have lived in the Roane County area, and through their years of research they have accumulated many collections which are listed on the aforementioned link. While doing a search on the RCHC site I found that there was a folder for the Holmes surname, and asked that they copy what was in it and send it to me (for a fee).

In this folder happened to be some added material that a Holmes cousin had donated when he was in the area some years previous. One item in the folder was a copy of an 1872 letter written by my ancestor John Holmes. The Holmes cousin that had donated copies of his records had also left a postal address.

When I received the folder contents and my fourth great grandfather's letter, it opened up a whole new branch of research. It was all hand written of course, and even that told me about the man who wrote it. He was educated, and in fairly good health at the time. The purpose of the letter was a reply to a letter he had received from his nephew in Alabama, stating that John's older brother Thomas had died a few months previous.

My grandfather's reply also included some answers that his nephew had asked about the family. John replied that he was the last one living, "as far as he knew". That gave me the clue that even though he had named the deceased brother, Thomas, and another brother, *David, that there were probably other siblings not named.  

From another cousin, I had found the names of David's children, the oldest of which was William Holmes.

In John's letter, David's family was listed, with the statement that David's oldest son was living in Oregon. So, I searched the Oregon GenWeb site for the Holmes surname, and narrowed it down to a William Livingston Holmes who lived in Oregon City, Clackamas County, and he was on the 1843 wagon train that was one of the first to get to Oregon Territory. William Livingston Holmes was the first sheriff of Oregon Territory.

Oregon City, the county seat of Clackamas County, was the first incorporated city west of the Rocky Mountains. It was designated in the 1980s by the National Park Service as the official End of the Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile road that brought pioneers from Independence, Mo. to the Northwest.

The county's colorful past also ineludes one of the first Sheriffs in the Oregon Territory-- William Livingston Holmes. He was elected to the position in 1845 and served until 1852. Holmes was an interesting man who also dabbled in politics and education. His historic home, the Rose Farm, has been preserved as a museum in the city. It was the second oldest mansion in Oregon City in 1847. In 1848, Territorial Governor Joseph Lane was inaugurated on the balcony and held the first Territorial legislative session in the ballroom of the home.

I am condensing this story quite a lot, so please forgive me. I have since visited Rose Farm, and the director generously let me take digital pictures of the inside of the house, as well as the family photos. And all of this came about because I looked to see what records were available on the Roane County, TN GenWeb page!

TIP:  If you know the location of where your ancestors lived, try writing to the editor of the local paper, saying that you are looking for any relatives who might still be residing in the area. Include the surnames you are looking for (limit this to just two or three names) and your contact information. Be polite with your request, and make sure you thank the editor later if he does run your letter. I did this very thing and got wonderful letters from cousins and friends of my great grandfather Yates.

Carol W. © 2006