Perfect
Ancestral Records
Many
family historians and genealogists have accessed HeritageQuest Online remotely
using their local library card. Most go directly to the census files and fail
to explore the U.S. Congressional Serial Set collection. If you haven’t tried HeritageQuest Online
yet, check with your local library to see if they have a subscription to this popular
Genealogy research tool.
In
addition to various Census Records, Heritage Quest Online offers digitized
books that are searchable by people, place or publication, PERSI, the
Periodical Source Index, digitized Freedman’s Bank records, Revolutionary War
collection and the US Serial Set.
Although
each hold great interest to the family researcher, let’s review the U.S. Congressional
Serial Set, digitized by LexisNexis and provided to the family researcher
online.
What is the US
Serial Set?
The
15th Congress, 1817 – 1819 under James Monroe, began the publication of the
United States Congressional Serial Set which contains House and Senate Document
and Senate Reports. The bound books of
the Serial Set were assigned a unique serial number,
thus the name. The collection includes Private Relief Actions, Memorials and
Petitions which have genealogical interests. These topics have been abstracted
and digitized on HeritageQuest Online (Proquest) and Readex of Newsbank databases for online
search queries. (Note: You will want to do a name and place search on both of
these abstracted collections, as they might offer different finds).
Prior
to 1817 the 1st – 14th US Congress (1789-1815)
activities, records and documents may be found amongst the 39 published volumes
of the American State Papers.
Genealogy Research
HeritageQuest
Online (ProQuest) collection includes documents from 1789 to 1969. The Readex Collection includes the Congressional Serial Set of
1817-1994 (103rd Congress). As these reports may be private in
nature and mention your ancestor by name, or have a ruling or account of your
ancestor’s activities, the family researcher will surely want to scour the
collection using name, place and keyword searches.
What Will You
Find?
Bounty
land and other land claims may assist the genealogists in understanding why an
ancestor was granted or denied land. The private land claim records and
documents between 1789 to WWII are extensive; over 500,000 were brought before
congress during these years. Researchers may also find law suits that name
their ancestors. I often see soldier, widows, pensioners, named, especially for
the Civil War era, but there is a large collection of Revolutionary War reports
also, some detailed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Private relief
petitions and claims offer historical information on our ancestor as well.
An
interesting find may be of a divorced woman in search for financial assistance.
Details of the divorce are often given. Another
great find may be locating your ancestor as a federal employee between
1883-1863. These records may provide residence, work assignment and pay. Army and Navy registers from 1848 to the
early 1860’s are also available and often include death information. Other findings may include land surveys,
western explorations and expansions and railroad papers and a plethora of
maps.
For More
Information
Untapped Resources: Private Claims and Private Legislation in the Records of the U.S.Congress, Schamel, Charles E.
Using the Congressional Serial Set for Genealogical Research, Hartley, Jeffery
Kathleen Brandt
a3genealogy@gmail.com
Accurate, Accessible Answers
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