Legal records pertaining to people that lived along the Of any navigable waterway the United States, including lakes, rivers, and anals, are likely to be found in admiralty courts. In addition to dockets and case files, a researcher may find evidence such as ship registers, licenses, crew lists, manifests, passenger lists, seamen’s contracts, logbooks, and other correspondence carried by ships.

Records from American admiralty as courts, as well as some English records obtained during the American Revolution, can be found in most branches of the National Archives. Pre-colonial records can sometimes be found in England as well.

To learn more try these books:

• Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American History. Vol. 4: England’s Commercial and Colonial Policy
  . New Haven: Yak University Press, 1938.
• Eakle, Arlene H “Research in Court Records.” The Source: A Guidebook Of American Genealogy (Third Edition)
  . Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997.
• Szucs, Loretto Dennis, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches
  . Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988.
• Towle, Dorothy S. Records of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Rhode Island 1716-1752
  . Washington, D.C.:  American Historical Association Committee Legal History, 1939.
• Ubbelhide, Carl. The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution
  . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960.

When markers fall, they often lay right where they fell, have several inches of grass growing over them and can be probed for, found and subsequently reset in their original bases (also buried over time). More often than not, down stones wind up elsewhere when cemetery maintenance personnel move them to prevent hitting them with mowing equipment. I estimate that a typical early 19th century cemetery has at least 30% more burials than what is apparent on the surface today, and unfortunately some are far worse than others.

If you can determine for certain that he is buried on the premises, and in what approximate area, then the investigation becomes one of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Often a location can be determined by the process of elimination if you’re lucky enough to have adequate documentation that was accomplished at an earlier time. We have helped relocate many gravestones in the proper area by the means discussed above and without ever having to resort to subsurface imaging.

If need be, it is possible to identify the location of an unmarked grave using subsurface imaging equipment such as ground penetrating radar, magnetometry and or other means of electromagnetic measurement.

Again, your best bet is to try to prove that your ancestor was actually buried at that particular cemetery. Local genealogists should be able to offer some insight one way or the other.

Hi Brian
I am doing research for my family, we are African American, we use Ivery after Emancipation. I see a lot of white Ivey’s around my ancestors. I wanted to know some tips or shortcuts, I have been doing a lot online with Ancestry and just looking up names. I have a lot of info on this family, but don’t want to do too much if they aren’t the ones. I just wanted to break our brick wall. I did get the will and appraisment record of Barna Ivey, now I’m working on getting back the sons, William and Malachi. Barna listed his slaves in great detail, I’m sure his sons kept great records like him, none of the names listed was I familiar with, but I will keep just in case later something comes up or other families I might run across might need them later. I work with Susette Cook on my d/c’s. I haved been to Bullock County Courthouse as most of my ancestors and living relatives still live down there. Making a trip in the spring again. I went to our family cemetery and did the history and phototaking on that. I have a website which I run with my cousin Lisa, it’s called Ike-Iveryfamily.org
So hopefully you can go on there and see some of the work I  have done, we are constantly working on it. Hope to hear from you soon, ask any question of me. U seem very knowledgeable abt subject and I could use a veteran to help me, I have been doing this since 2001. Still learning. Hope to hear from you soon, I hope I gave you enough info to respond to.
TrueAnn
Kentucky
“Happy Hunting!”

This was my initial response so someone correct me or add to it please. I will have True Ann come to this page to read the responses .

I am not extremely knowledgeable in AA research but do know enough to get by. I will post your situation on my blog and maybe someone that really knows this area. Off hand I know from my experience that many former slaves took on their former masters last names so I would start with the local Ivery’s for sure. Also check the 1850 and 1860 slave census schedules.

Waiting on the Genealogy community now ;>)……

They have digitized many papers — from their site, “These materials
include papers dating from 1752-1890s from cities like Edenton
(1787-1801), Fayetteville (1798-1795), Hillsboro (1786), New Bern
(1751-1804), Salisbury (1799-1898), and Wilmington (1765-1816) – a total
of 23,483 digital images that are keyword searchable.”

Newspapers are fundamental research tools for all researchers, from elementary school students and casual readers to university faculty and professional genealogists.  No other published source covers such a wide range of material and reaches so deeply into the communities in our state. They provide a wealth of data about the civic, political, cultural, and social events of the periods they document. Historic newspapers offer an intimate close-up view of the American past that few other sources can provide.

In 2009, the North Carolina State Archives completed a project to digitize newspapers from it’s collection that were, up until that time, only available on microfilm. These materials include papers dating from 1752-1890s from cities like Edenton (1787-1801), Fayetteville (1798-1795), Hillsboro (1786), New Bern (1751-1804), Salisbury (1799-1898), and Wilmington (1765-1816) – a total of 23,483 digital images that are keyword searchable. The project was made possible by a LSTA grant provided by the State Library of North Carolina.

For example, I am looking for a birth date for John Doe. The earliest record I show for him is in 1780 as a witness on a court document. Well I use my little chart here and see that males needed to be 14 to legally witness a document. So I can at least determine that John Doe was born before 1766 (1780 – 14 = 1766).

This chart has helped me many times in the past and I hope you can use it as well.

Well old Newspapers are a good option but unless you are in a major city, actual copies can be spotty at best. Well here is a great option that is often overlooked…. DIVORCE RECORDS!

Divorce Records are a great substitute for a missing marriage record. Divorce records were not always filed in the local courthouse. Courthouse filings didn’t start until later years in most states. Divorces that occurred early in a states history were recorded in published journals of the statehouse or senate. The marriage date and place were often part of the divorce record.were not

Sometimes the divorce was never finalized for whatever reason. In those cases a petition may have survived. Petitions far outnumber divorces granted. Some divorces were appealed to a higher court such as  a Superior or Supreme Court. So look there as well.

Case in point is my ancestor Christopher Brooks. Christopher Brooks married a Susanna Williams shortly before 1780 in North Carolina or Virginia. Thier marraige records did not show up in Caswell County, NC so at the time I did not know Susanna maiden name. I looked and found administration papers for Christopher Brooks and is stated Susann’s father, Henry Williams, was administrator of the estate.