Two of my attempts to fill in gaps in my previous research on my recent visit to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City yielded such negative results. When I posted here this past March about Ruth Brooks (1775/1780 – 1837), daughter of Thomas Brooks and Margaret Beaumont/Beamon, and husband John Greenwood, I noted that some researchers suggest that John Greenwood’s parents may have moved from Middlesex County, Virginia, to Bedford County, Virginia, by 1759.
I’ve now done a thorough search of Bedford County records for Greenwood references in that time frame, and I find none. I’ve added a note to the posting I just linked to indicate this negative finding.
And in a posting I made in October 2021 about Mary Rice (1776/1778 – abt. 1825), daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks, and her husband Joshua Wilson, I noted that I have references from other researchers to a probate record Mary left in Harrison County, Indiana. But I’ve now searched the Harrison County probate records filmed by the Family History Library and find no probate record for Mary. I’ve placed a note in the posting I’ve just linked to state this.
In the 45 years in which I’ve been doing family history research in a serious way, I have often failed to note searches I’ve made of various records that yielded no useful information. This has meant that I’ve re-examined material I had already studied in detail, wasting valuable time. If you’re wise, take a lesson from my mistakes and challenge yourself to keep careful notes of searches you’ve done and the negative results they’ve yielded.
BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS 