Mrs. Lynda Updike
President:
Southampton County Historical Society
Dear Mrs. Updike,
As you may know,
the Brantley Association of America, which I head, has undertaken
the project to digitize and to facilitate the indexing of the early
court records of Southampton County for the purpose of genealogy
research as well as the advancement of historical research in the
county. While the digitizing of these records is nearing
completion, the indexing of these will take a monumental effort.
There are some 58,000 pages of which will be abstracted, hundreds
of thousands of name entries and the many landmarks identified in
the various deed records. The names will include every man, woman
and child identified therein from 1749 through the mid 1880s. The
records include, Will Books, Court Order Books, Court Minute Books,
Deed Books and Marriage Books as well as other, miscellaneous,
documents. While it is a sizeable elephant, we are very encouraged
with the progress seen in the first few weeks. Although we have not
formally announced the project until this writing, we have digitized
over 46,000 images and have acquired volunteers to index 11 of the
some 120 court books. This represents nearly 10% of the indexing
required and we reiterate that these volunteers have responded only
from “word of mouth” and since we first arrived in Courtland on
February 11th.
We are hopeful
that members of the Southampton County Historical Society will want
to join in this remarkable project. Southampton County will, as far
as I know, be the first County in America to have all its records
indexed from the mid 1700s through 1880. We are appreciative of the
insight and support of Probate Officer and Clerk, Mr. Richard
Francis who is a native of this early Virginia County and recognizes
the potential discovery of historical sites and the identity of many
persons otherwise lost in the presently un-indexed records, found
particularly in the Court Order and Minute books.
Realizing the
valiant effort of the participants, Mr. Francis has stated that
within the covers of the respective court books, will be forever
shown the names of the participants who take part is the great
undertaking. Along with the ancient clerks and Court Officers whose
entries go back to 1749, will be noted those who will have labored
to bring from obscurity, many names, families and landmarks of early
Southampton County. It is fascinating enough to be able to read and
extract the names from the early books and to get a glimpse of the
lives and events of our forefathers here, but to be able to become
part of history ourselves by this effort and the recognition of the
custodians of these remarkable records, is truly astonishing.
We are truly
appreciative of Society member Bruce Saunders who has been “on seen”
with us since our arrival and has guided us in locating the older
books. Her diligence in maintaining a log of the books and pages
digitized has been an important element during the project and her
efforts have expedited the work. Bruce and Mr. Francis are among
those who have volunteered to be “Book Project Managers” and will
index, themselves, at least one book each. These are among the same
books which have lain in the Courthouse, without and index, for well
over 250 years.
We formally
solicit the assistance also of your members, the members of the
Southampton County Yahoo Group and other interested parties
associated with the Historical Society. Please provide our e-mail
and mailing address to these and make this letter available on your
WEB site. We do hope many will take part in this historic venture.
Sincerely,
J.
Kenneth Brantley
President:
Brantley Association of America
4650 Oakleigh
Manor Dr
Powder Springs,
GA 30127
brantleyassoc@bellsouth.net
