Two weeks ago, I started on a much-procrastinated project - my brick wall, Reddick Bryan. He lived in Martin County, North Carolina, moved to Georgia and later to Bienville Parish, Louisiana. I am hoping to find more information that points to his parents. There are many public trees giving him a variety of parents, but none show adequate documentation.
Exhaustive searches in Martin County, North Carolina records and Bienville Parish records were completed years ago, but I had never spent enough time looking at deeds and other records in the surrounding counties or in Pulaski, Houston, and Twiggs Counties in Georgia, where Reddick was said to have lived.
In addition, Reddick was closely connected to a Miles Bryan in both Georgia and Louisiana. I don't know the family connection, but YDNA says it's close.
I began by reading unindexed succession records in Bienville Parish, looking for any pages or clues I may have previously missed. I spent much time in the library reviewing Bienville Parish deeds on Family Search and much more time at home looking at Bryan family deeds in Houston County also on FamilySearch. I even wrote a blog post about searching the Bienville succession records on Ancestry.com - Look Beyond the Indexed Records When Searching Louisiana Wills and Probate Records at Ancestry.com
Last Week, Everything Changed . . .
Then, last week, at RootsTech, it was announced that FamilySearch Labs released Full-Text Search, allowing us to search scanned images of records not previously indexed. According to the website, there are currently only two collections available to search: the United States Land and Probate Records dating from 1630-1975, and the Mexico Notary Records collection, with most records created before the 1900s. However, new collections will be added regularly.
This means that all of those wonderful land records that were digitized from microfilm will be searchable by name, place, or whatever phrase I use. Not only are they searchable, but when you locate a record, a transcription can be seen along with the record.
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This record of Reddick Bryan was found when I entered the search terms "Bryan" and "Twiggs." These terms are highlighted in the document. The transcription of the two pages was below the record, which was saved as a PDF. I clipped the bottom portion of the transcription to give you an idea of what you will see.  |
In only a few days, I completed county searches in North Carolina and Georgia that would have taken me years to complete prior to Full-Text Search. I found records I did not find in previous searches. I was able to search by decade, state, and county. I searched for Bryan using a variety of spellings and full names in quotation marks, such as "Reddick Bryan," as well as only surnames or less common first names.
A search for "Twiggs" in the 1810s and 1820s showed numerous deeds in other Georgia counties and states naming those who lived in Twiggs County, Georgia, during the time Reddick Bryan was living there. This is especially valuable as Twiggs County's early records were burned in a fire in 1901.
In less than a week, I accomplished the following:
- Complete searches of deed records at FamilySearch for Bryans in Houston, Twiggs, Pulaski, AND all surrounding counties in Georgia. Began searches for Bryans in counties surrounding Martin County, North Carolina.
- Determined that Reddick Bryan probably never lived in Pulaski County, as seen in many family trees. There will be more on this in a later post.
- Determined that Reddick probably left Martin County in North Carolina to settle in Twiggs County, Georgia, where he lived before moving to Houston County, Georgia. Again, more about this will be in a later post.
- Found new clusters of friends, associates, and neighbors of both Reddick and Miles Bryan that need to be investigated.
With AI, I was hoping for good transcriptions of handwritten records, but I never expected to get something this good in my lifetime! Now waiting for court records, Freedmen's Bureau records, and Irish birth records. Thank you, FamilySearch!
For Descendants of Reddick Bryan and Miles Bryan
As many of you reading this post will be descendants of Reddick Bryan, I want to offer my help and ask for yours. I have been researching Reddick and his family since the late 1990s. I have collected much information and am willing to share what I have.
I would also like your input. If you have family documents, a Bible, or family photos, please share. You never know what kind of clue will be in the documents, on the back of a photo, or in a family Bible. Click below to send me an email.
More About Full-Text Search
Learn how others are using this fabulous tool at the links below.
Testing the Full Text Search in FamilySearch Labs - An Immediate Success!! from Randy Sever (read his lessons learned and advice)
12 Strategies for Using FamilySearch Full-Text Search from Kimberly Powell
Try It! FamilySearch's New Full-Text Search from Marian B. Wood
Full-Text and AI comes to FamilySearch from James Tanner
John Coor of Copiah County Made an Agreement with Joel Hoggatt from Lisa S. Gorrell
If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.
Diana
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