During the years I worked in the Genealogy Section at the Webster Parish Library I often warned patrons who came to do research about the hazards of "climbing" your family tree. While you might find wonderful things about your heritage, there are hazards. Two immediately come to mind -- and I've actually seen both of them, along with some more bizarre findings, be uncovered by researchers.
The first is a problem that I jokingly say I am very much liable to find, since I have family roots in Southern Arkansas and that is the chance your "family tree doesn't branch" -- aka folks go to family reunions to get a date. It's common. I had to tell one patron that the reason his grandfather had been ostracized from the community and left the state was because the ancestor married his 11-year old niece.
A second possiblity is that you will find an ancestor "hanging" in that tree, literally. Most people aren't pleased to find that great-grandfather was a horse thief. My most interesting case of that sort was when a dear lady trying to establish membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy contacted me to research her ancestor. She had read in one of my columns that her ancestor had been Mayor of Minden during the years just after the war and hoped, since he had such prominence locally, I'd know something about his war service. Sadly for her, I did recognize the name. The man in question was the Carpetbagger mayor who "lost" the election to Chaffe's Bull in 1872 and was appointed Mayor by Gov. Kellogg. He did have Civil War service, but in the Union Army. Not the record she wanted to find. He had also been "run out of town on a rail", as my mother would have said, after his term. So, when you start climbing that family tree, just be aware.
I mentioned in an earlier post Carlton Prothro's presentation at Mt. Lebanon last Sunday. During that talk he mentioned that a few years ago he and I tried to determine if his physician ancestor served in the Confederate Army. I went to one common source, Booth's Confederate Soldiers, and found no record of Dr. Prothro. Apparently, at that point, I "dropped the ball" and went no further. Carlton and I concluded that Dr. Prothro's service had been a family legend and that's where we let the subject lie.
However, during Carlton's talk a "light bulb" went off in my head and I realized that I had bypassed one of the most useful, not to mention interesting of all Louisiana Confederate Sources. The Confederate Pension Applications Database maintained by the Louisiana State Archives. As soon as I returned home from Mt. Lebanon, I got to my computer and searched for Dr. Prothro in the records. Bingo!!! There was an application filed by his widow in 1916, chock full of wonderful interesting information and detailing Dr. Prothro's service in two different Confederate units. In this case, there as also a mini "soap opera" as Olivia Boydstun Prothro's first application for pension was rejected for lack of evidence and she was forced to file a second with more supporting material. I was able to get the request in the mail and give the papers to Carlton yesterday.
So, if you ever wondered about your Confederate ancestor who fought for a Louisiana unit, it is probably worth clicking on that link and checking the Database. Many of the applications have detailed descriptions not only of service, but in the case of proving financial need, details of the post war life of the soldier, especially those who suffered disabiling wounds in service. Good luck in climbing your tree and I hope yours forks and is free of dangling relatives.
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My mom was always bringing up the fact that John Smith was in our family tree. She was a Smith and John Smith was in our family tree. But it was not the John Smith of the Pocohontas time. You know I just remembered I worked with a James Agan and I think his son years ago as an electrician in El Dorado, Ar. Now I said I worked with him. He worked for a sister company and we worked on a couple of projects together.
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