President’s Message for April 2022

I have been working on a post for the AIGS website featuring the family of Levin Tomlinson. The foundation for the post is an article published in The Nassau County Genealogist Vol. XX #3, pp.41-44, called “Tomlinson Family.” My plan is to expand that synopsis about the family, to extend it, and to source it properly, something that the limited size of our periodical does not allow. I have no relationship to the Tomlinson family and would appreciate any information on the family not currently published in the older article. Thanks!

Gravestone of Levin and Sarah (Daugherty) Tomlinson
Levin Tomlinson born April 11, 1818. Married. Sarah Daugherty July 23, 1843. Died March 20, 1894.

In my Beginning Genealogy Class on the PROCESS method of genealogy research the E stands for “Extract Important Information” and it challengers researchers to slow down and extract or transcribe important events and facts from the records found when they conduct their reasonably exhaustive research. It’s a step overlooked by new and seasoned genealogists alike because it consumes valuable research time. The Levin Tomlinson Family is such a case. The answer to unproven facts in genealogies found online, and even in our own article, could easily have been resolved with a careful analysis of the broken pieces of Levin’s gravestone. An image most all online trees have or link to. Putting those pieces of stone back together as Jim Miller and Bob Frey did in 2013, and photographing it, enables a few minor mysteries about the family to be solved and sourced.

Another new post published recently concerns the early history of Fernandina, An Island Frontier from its discovery by Jean Ribault in 1562 to the Island becoming a no-man’s-land in 1748 due to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle between England and Spain, when Amelia Island became safe for Englishmen while still a Spanish possession. This is the first article in a series written and compiled by “Workers of the Writers’ Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Florida, Sponsored by the Florida State Planning Board, and copyrighted by the City Commission of Fernandina in 1940.”

1950 Census

The long awaited 1950 census is out! Have you found yourself, or for the young ones like me, your parents yet? If you want to start digging into it, you can search the National Archives website for free. You need to understand this census and how it was conducted as it significantly changed from the 1940 census. Frequently Asked Questions.

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