Today I offered a Facebook Live on my Facebook page at Twisted Roots Genealogical Services.
It was my first time and, well, it could have gone better. I thought it was "live" when I started my video at the designated time, 2 p.m., but it seems I had only recorded a test broadcast. My bad.
So, around 2:15 p.m. I tried it again and was live for about 15 minutes. I could see that a couple of people were viewing the feed, and one person asked a question. So, I at least got it right for the second try.
I plan to do a Facebook Live session every week; the next is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 3 p.m. Eastern Savings Time (New York City).
I had trouble narrowing today's talk down to one topic; there are so many things to talk about that relate to genealogy and family history research. One of those is how it might appear your ancestor moved every time the U.S. census was taken.
For instance, some Viriginia records indicate your great-great-grandfather Asa Smiths was found living in Fincastle County, Virginia, in the 1770s. In the 1780s, records might indicate he is living in Fayette County, Virginia. In the 1790 census, he could be listed as living in Bourbon County, but then living in Clark County, Kentucky, by the a1800 census.
From all of this, one might assume that Great-Grandpa Asa moved a lot.
But he probably was living in the very same place all along, because:
In the 1770s, Kentucky County was known as Fincastle County, Virginia.
In 1780, Kentucky County, Virginia, was split into three counties: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln;
In 1786, Bourbon County was formed from a portion of Fayette County;
In 1792, these counties formed the newly established State of Kentucky.
In 1793, Clark County, Kentucky, was established from parts of Bourbon County and another portion of Fayette; and finally
In 1799, Fayette County's boundaries changed for the last time with the establishment of Jessamine County, Kentucky.
A full list of the formation of Kentucky's counties can be found here.
Interactive maps showing the formation of counties in all of the U.S. states can be found here. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is a digital presentation of The Newberry Library of Chicago's Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture.
What's really great about the Newberry Atlas is it can show the boundaries of states while they were still territories or parts of territories. For example, in 1800, the boundary of the Indiana Territory looked like this:
In the Atlas, keep in mind that to find what Kentucky looked like before statehood, you must look at the interactive map for Virginia before 1792:
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