This document summarizes a session on genealogy and prospect research. It discusses how genealogy focuses on family history and relationships, while prospect research focuses on individuals. Genealogists seek wide-ranging information without deadlines, while prospect researchers have specific goals and use public sources. Both can access unique resources like family records and organization databases. The document provides examples of using genealogy to identify prospects through family trees and relationships to an institution. It concludes by thanking attendees and requesting they complete an evaluation.

1. Session 421: Making the Past Prologue
Brian Wilson and Tracey Robertson
Emory University

2. Points of discussion
• Genealogy and Prospect Research: where they intersect
and where they differ
• Genealogy work examples
• Relationships
• Genealogy in the world of Prospect Research
• Conclusion

3. Genealogy

5. The Genealogist
• The main focus is on the family/family history.
• The research on individuals is mainly important for
how they relate to the extended family
The Prospect Researcher
• The main focus is on the Individual.
• The research on individual’s family is only important
as that family relates to the individual.

6. The Prospect Researcher
…is deadline oriented
…has specific, limited goals
…uses sources that are limited mainly to those readily
available and public

7. Unique resources
• The Prospect Researcher usually has access to his/her
organization’s proprietary database(s) and files
• They also have access to those who know or have met
the prospect they are researching.
• They have free access to fee-based resources paid for by
their organization

8. The Genealogist
….are usually not deadline oriented
….seeks wide-ranging information
….has embarked on a seemingly never-ending task…

9. Access to some unique resources
- Sometimes genealogists have access to oral histories with
details about the subject they are researching.
- Family Bibles/diaries/written memoirs
- DNA testing to determine ancestors

13. Ancestry.com
• Over 8 billion genealogical records from across the
globe.
• Millions of family trees (but proceed with caution…)
• Includes census records, birth/marriage/death records,
military records, immigration records, and newspapers.
• Includes the ability to share information/ask questions
to the larger genealogical community.
• Can be accessed free via local library/university library.

14. The Search for Dolly (not the sheep…)

17. Benjamin Parton
1850 Census – Macon County, North Carolina

18. Luna Parton
1930 United States Federal Census
Father: John Parton
Mother: Carrie Parton
Sibling: Alvis Parton
Birth: about 1915 - Alabama

19. Luna Matthews
1940 Federal Census – Talladega, County, Alabama

20. William Burke
Harwell –
Military
Service listing
– Calhoun
County,
Anniston,
Alabama
March 24, 1918

22. William Burk Harwell - World War I draft registration card

24. Manget project
• The Who: Atlanta businessman John
A. Manget funded Emory Theology
Professor Rev. William Arthur
Shelton’s travels to, and collecting in,
Egypt in the early 1920s.
• The What: Find descendants of
Manget for invitation to an event
sponsored by Emory’s Carlos Museum.

25. Manget project

26. Manget project

27. Manget project

28. Manget project

30. Genealogical Connections
• Record linkage ~ A process identifying
sources of related information in order to
synthesize historical description.
• For example: by tabulating the foreign-
born individuals in the 1920 census, and
linking this information to their tax
record, you could determine the land
holdings of foreign-born residents.

31. This is the Cobb family as listed
on the 1900 Soundex.

32. What is Soundex?
Soundex is a method used for indexing names by
sound. The goal is for names with the same
pronunciation to be encoded to the same
representation so that they can be matched
despite minor differences in spelling. It was
developed by Robert Russell and Margaret
Odell and patented in 1918 and was used in the
1930s for an analysis of the US censuses from
1890 through 1920.

33. Marriage records
This is the Banks
county marriage
certificate of
W.H.H. Cobb and
Amanda Chitwood
– parents of
baseball player Ty
Cobb.

34. Georgia Court of Appeals
The Georgia Court of
Appeals began hearing
cases in 1907.
This is an excerpt from the
1907 appeal of the Jones
sisters, who were convicted
in Franklin county for
being “scandalous and evil
disposed persons” who
maintained a lewd house.

35. • This is a partial view of the 1900 census entry for the Cobb family.
In addition to normal census information, the full entry also
includes: number of years married, number of children of wife,
number of children living, place of birth of parents, and occupation.
• Notice (although it is difficult to read), the Jones household next
door to the Cobbs.
• These are the same two women from the Court of Appeals example. Their
occupation is shown as dress maker.

36. Relationships are as important to Philanthropy as the right
location is to Real Estate
~ Norma Murphy

37. Organizations that map connections to
their prospective donors and rely on peer
networks are far more successful in raising
bigger gifts than those that don’t.

38. SCIONS
- Descendant, Child; especially: a descendant of a wealthy,
notable, aristocratic, or influential family

39. • An older descendant who may inherit in the near future
• A younger descendant who may inherit in the long term
• Heads of families who may bequeath wealth in the future
• Descendants who have already inherited and have the
ability to become major donors

41. “You can honor an alumnus with coming to speak on campus or
giving them an honorary degree to re-engage them. But I think they’ll
see right through that," Newton said. "All of that is useless if you
haven’t nurtured the relationship with that person over time.”
~ Josh Newton, president and chief executive officer of the
University of Connecticut Foundation
Quoted in: GW’s billionaire network: How big fortunes could turn into big
campus donations by Colleen Murphy
November 24, 2014

42. To date, thirteen Beckham family
members, spanning five generations,
have received degrees from Emory.
The Beckham family legacy extends back to
the Civil War, when a disabled Confederate
soldier named Robert Young Beckham
attended Emory’s Oxford College for one
year when financial circumstances forced
him to leave. The youngest of his five
children, Walter H. Beckham, was the only
one to eventually attend college at Emory.

43. Established in the late 1970s,
the Beckham Family Fund
served as a loan fund to help
Emory students in need.
Now, distributions from the
Beckham Family Fund will be
directed to the Student
Hardship Fund.
“He was asked to pay it back when he was in position to replenish
the fund and help others going forward,” Walter Beckham III
said. “As soon as he could, he did that at Harvard and he decided
to establish a similar fund at Emory.”
Walter H. Beckham Jr.
received critical scholarship
support while pursuing his law
degree at Harvard University.

44. “We wanted Emory's history to
be seen as not just about the
past, but about the future,”
~ Martha Fagan, chair of the
History Makers Committee.
The 175 History Makers are luminaries
reflective of the University's diversity who
have made history at Emory and beyond,
selected…from 1,000 potential nominees.

45. Places to start
A great list of terms and definitions:
www.rootsweb.com/~nsdigby/lists/glossary.htm
Websites for engaging in a wider community:
• US GenWeb: www.usgenweb.com/
• RootsWeb: www.rootsweb.com/
Census:
• www.census-online.com/ (transcriptions; best to use
the originals on Ancestry or Heritage Quest)
Get real:
• Your local/university library (example: GALILEO)

46. Cyndi’s List
• A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical
resources on the Internet.
• A list of links that point you to genealogical research
sites online.
• A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online
research.

47. …as of April 18, 2013, 12:40 p.m.
Familysearch.org

48. Some unlikely sources
• City Directories. For Georgia, they are available mainly
for Atlanta (1853-1990), but a few are available for other
cities in Georgia. In these directories, there are
alphabetical and geographic listings of residents, with
the race of the individual noted.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
• State Laws

49. City Directories
City Directories are arguably one of the
most over-looked resources by genealogists
and have been around since the 1700s.
Available on Ancestry.com for
the years 1821-1989.

50. What can you find in there?
• Ancestors! And their neighbors (some of whom may be your ancestors too). Some of
them may have lived nearby, others across town. Then follow the family year-by-year to
note changes in occupation, living arrangements, even deaths of a head of household.
• Streets and maps. Street names can change over time – so can house numbers. To get a
real look at your ancestor’s neighborhood, look for street directories inside city
directories. In some cases you may even find maps of the city or town.
• Churches. Religious records are incredibly valuable for discovering dates, places, and
family relationships. And for the years before states were required to keep records of
births, marriages and deaths, churches may be the only place to find that information.
• Cemeteries. Check city directories for cemeteries near the homes of your relatives home
at the time they lived there.
• Advertisements. Look at the ads carefully – you may discover more information about a
family member’s business or place of business, names of photographers, banks,
organizations and other details that could appear elsewhere in your family’s history.
• Historical Information. City directories often included histories of the area, some with
images of the city, too.

51. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Sanborn Maps is an American
publisher of historical and
current maps of U.S. cities
and towns that were
initially created to estimate
fire insurance liabilities.
The company's maps are
frequently used for
preservation and restoration
efforts.

52. The maps include detailed information regarding town and
building information in approximately 12,000 U.S. towns and
cities from 1867 to 2007. They are a highly useful resource for
historical research, planning, preservation, genealogical
research, sociological studies and research of urban geography.
“Stated simply, the Sanborn maps survive as a guide to American
urbanization that is unrivaled by other cartography and, for that
matter, by few documentary resources of any kind.”
~ Author Kim Keister
*Available through Ancestry.com

53. Genealogists can sometimes find it useful to know the laws which were in effect in a particular
location at the time an ancestor lived there. Many states have their State Code or published Laws
available on-line.
Published statutes can also contain private laws which directly name individuals and may provide
other information of historical or genealogical value. They can include name changes and divorces,
authorizations to build something or collect a toll, formation of a specific township or church, land
grant disputes, pension claims, requests for exemption from immigration restrictions, etc.

54. Searchable full text collection of Acts of the General Assembly from 1799 to 1999, a
collection of the Digital Library of Georgia using documents from the Georgia Archives.
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/

55. ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA
PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE AT AN ANNUAL SESSION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER,
1834.
Full Title: AN ACT to emancipate Sam, a negro slave.
Whereas, by a concurred resolution of both branches of the General Assembly of this State, passed at the
last session of the Legislature, the Governor of this State, in consideration of the important services
rendered by Sam, a negro man slave, in extinguishing the fire on the State-house, was authorized and
required to purchase said negro Sam of his owner for the purpose of his emancipation; and his
purchase having been effected
Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met,
and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and immediately after the passage of this
act, said negro man Sam, formerly the property of John Marler, be, and he is hereby emancipated and
set free; and that he enjoy all the privileges and immunities given by the laws of this State to free
persons of color in such manner as if he were born free, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
THOMAS GLASCOCK,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JACOB WOOD,
President of the Senate.
WILSON LUMPKIN, Governor.
Approval Date: Assented to, 20th December, 1834.
Georgia Laws, 1834, Vol. 1 Page 229-230 Sequential # 172

56. A common
roadblock has to do
with names. Try
spelling variations
and remember
naming conventions
Try alternate
searches (search
by first name, by
address, by
nickname)
Always keep it simple.
What is the fundamental
answer you are looking
for?
Ask for help!
Take a break…
Skip a
generation –
some people just
can’t be found
Consider a
different source:
census record,
religious record,
tax list, city
directory,
military record…

57. Roadblocks
• Example: you are searching for a record and discover it was destroyed by
natural disaster or courthouse calamity (fire, tornado, flood, etc.)
• Remember that their could be duplicates of the information, if not the same
record itself, in several places: burial record, a death certificate, a
tombstone inscription, an obituary, funeral home record, will/probate
record, estate inventory, coroner’s report, or a church record.
• Did the county boundaries change? You might be looking in the wrong
place.
• Could the name have been changed? You might be looking for the wrong
person.
• If you are looking for a male ancestor and cannot find anything, check to
see if they served in the military. There could be a military record.

58. Benefits of using
genealogy in prospect
research
It provides an appreciation of your
institution’s legacy and can expand
upon your historic record (if one exists)
Biggest benefit: it opens the door to more prospects or provides
more opportunities for engagement with an existing family
Contributes toward event planning
Can identify new, possibly affluent, family
branches; “you have to go back to branch out”

59. “Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go
into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
~ Mark Twain

60. “If you go back far enough, we are all related.”
~Unknown

61. Contact Info:
Tracey Robertson ~ THROBER@emory.edu
Brian Wilson ~ brian.wilson@emory.edu
Thank you very much for attending!

62. Thank you for attending. Please
remember to complete the online
evaluation of this session in the
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