Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: Family Search's Experimental Search Tool

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Family Search's Experimental Search Tool - Benajah and Hannah Brown

In the later part of July, researchers on Facebook started sharing a link to Family Search's United States Wills and Deeds Experiment Search tool. Family Search's experimental prototypetext tool came with the warning that they made no guarantees regarding the availability of the tool. I think we all took that as a warning that it would be short-lived.

While it lasted, it was phenomenal, and I am looking forward to it being re-released in its "final" form. The beauty of the search tool was that it ran an every-name search so that it went well beyond the principal parties in a record. It found records that were in unindexed county record books. Most importantly, it shortened the length of time required to wade through records county by county.

My ancestor, Nathaniel Holcomb's wife, serves as a prime example. Up until now, I could only theorize that her name was probably Hannah. I knew that whatever her name was, she had married Benajah Brown of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri as her second husband after Nathaniel Holcomb died - which was by 1814.

My previous research indicated that the woman, who was Benajah Brown's wife and Nathaniel Holcomb's widow, was old enough to be the mother of all of Nathaniel Holcomb's children, but I don't know that for a fact.

The experimental search tool pulled up a deed in Ste. Genevieve County from Benajah and Hannah Brown to James Skaggs, the husband of Nathaniel Holcomb's daughter Hannah Holcomb. Hannah Brown is named in the deed and released her dower rights before Robert Jameson, the husband of Nathaniel Holcomb's eldest daughter Esther. This indicates that Hannah was still alive as of 1834 and that she could not write her own name. Of most interest is that it provides the location of their land: the NE 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of sec 29 Twp 39 N Range 7E.

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The next deed record that the experiment search tool located was from Benejah Brown of Newton County, Missouri to John C. Brickey of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri in 1843. Hannah Brown was not included, which is an indication that she was deceased by 1843. This deed confirmed my theory that Benajah Brown was the elderly man living with his son James Brown in Newton County, Missouri in 1840. This land was located at SE 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Sec 29, Twp 39N, Range 7E in Ste Genevieve County.

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This 1930 Plat Map Book of Ste. Genevieve provides the location Sec 29 Twp 39N Range 7E:

Benajah Brown's land was roughly here:

2 comments:

Deb HSeptember 25, 2023 at 4:22 PM
Hi Kathy, Thank you for this deed. James Skaggs if my 3rd great grandfather. Looks like James was purchasing and probably selling land on his way west. In 1852 he purchased 80 acres in Springfield, MO which is 275 miles to the west of St. Genevieve county. Looks like the first deed you posted has a typo of reversed numbers, believe that should be 1834.
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About Me:

My favorite memories from childhood include visits to my grandparents in East Texas. At dusk we'd run around my grandparent's yard, catching fireflies and putting them in jelly jars. When darkness descended, we'd return to the porch. It was a special treat to sit in the porch swing. Inevitably, the adults would launch into family stories of Pink Kelley's brush with Sherman's troops, of Great Uncle Hood Brown's tragic death, and of the Kelley family's wagon trip to Texas, among many others. The stars on those nights were magical.

I began my genealogy research in the summer of 1975, less than a month after my high school graduation. When I married in 1983, I started researching my husband's family as well. I was fortunate to start this hobby as a youngster because it gave me an opportunity to correspond with researchers who are long gone; to ask questions of family members -although not enough, never enough; and travel a bit. The result is a lot of information. I've come to the realization that I will probably never be able to afford to publish, so this is my publication.

This blog contains a mixture of information on my husband's family and mine. I've expanded into a second blog called Flimsies and Frippery with the intention of focusing on quilts and dolls, but I have several historical research entries there with more planned, which is why I don't get more quilting done.

Ultimately, genealogy is my passion. This is where I plan to record family stories, research adventures and misadventures, and those serendipitous moments that happen out of the blue. You should be warned that I have a bad habit of going back and adding information and links to individual entries, so it is beneficial to check back often if there is a family of particular interest to you. If you wander in and discover that you are a cousin, please contact me.

Since many younger family members who are new to genealogy are starting to contact me about their ancestors, I've started adding family trees to help them see how everyone is connected. The trees are divided between my family and my husband's. You will find them below under the label's Family Trees - My Husband's Side and Family Trees - My Family's Side.

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