A Genealogy Road Trip - Goin' to Jackson
- geneal1
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
It was a beautiful March morning in South Mississippi, sunny cool and not yet humid – a perfect day to get on the road and learn some things about genealogy. Let me back up, I signed up for a Beginning Genealogy workshop at the MS department of Archives and History. While I’ve been to the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, I had never been to the MDAH or the Museum of Mississippi History. It was time to check off those boxes! After an uneventful drive-up Hwy 49 past the sweet potato and boiled peanut stands, I arrived in Jackson.
Parking was a breeze and I made my way to the classroom.
Andrew McNulty, the Cultural Resources Specialist at MDAH, led the workshop.
Like I said, this was a workshop for beginners which is always a great refresher and a way to meet others who are doing the same work to get ideas and share information.
Mr. McNulty was so kind to share his slides with me so I could share a recap:
Beginning Genealogy Basics
Getting Started:
Write down what you know
Map it Out
Talk to Family
Pick a hole or tow in your tree to start with
Think about the type of sources that might hold the info you are looking for
Start looking for records
Talking to Family:
Ask for names AND nicknames
Relationships – siblings, marriages, etc.
Places family lived and the time periods they lived there
What kind of work did they do?
Land ownership
How did couples meet and where?
Religious Affiliation
Death dates and places of burial
Digging Deeper
Ask relatives about the oldest living relative they remember in their lifetimes and what they remember about them
Ask about any special memories they had growing up. Favorite places around town they grew up, travel, school memories, etc.
Are there any family heirlooms and records that could help in your search? Example: family bibles, recipes, photographs, news clippings
Online Resources
Chronicling America
Take advantage of free trials to subscriptions sites like ancestry.com, newspapers.com, etc.
Check with your local library to see if they already have subscriptions to these
Resources at MDAH
MDAH Digital Archives
Educable Children Records, 1850-1894, 1906-1965
Confederate Pension Applications
Sovereignty Commission files
County Tax Rolls, 1818-1902
Genealogy Research at MDAH – physical records
Research at MDAH requires a researcher’s card, but it’s free and only takes a few moments to sign up for one.
Records include:
Federal Census – latest 1950
Mississippi Census
County Records
Marriage Records
Death Certificates
Newspapers
MDAH also takes research requests*
Contact: MDAH, Archives & Records Services
ATTN: Reference Services
PO Box 571
Jackson, MS 39205
601-576-6876
*Note: MDAH limits their research to one hour of a researcher’s time after which they will send you a report of what they were able to find.
NEXT STOP – Museum of Mississippi History
I didn’t have far to travel to get to the museum, it’s right next door to MDAH and just a short walk. If you want to make a day of it, you can visit the MS Civil Rights Museum which is in also next door. Once you arrive at the main galleries - you are immediately invited to explore 15,000 years of Mississippi history
The exhibits are immersive - not just glass cases, but recreated spaces with audio and visual exhibits and artifacts like a 500 year old dug out canoe, a recreated Delta juke joint, and Eudora Welty’s typewriter. The interactive exhibits give you time to sit, touch, and explore history!
The Main Gallery follows a timeline from ancient to modern Mississippi.
First Peoples (13,000 BCE to 1518) Native American life and early cultures.
Cultural Crossroads (1519 – 1798) Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans
Statehood and Expansion (1799-1832)
Cotton Kingdom & Civil War (1830s-1865)
Reconstruction & Early 1900s
World War I and Progressivism
Great Depression & World War II
Civil Rights to Today (1946 – Present)
The overall theme is One Mississippi, Many Stories to capture all the diverse voices and experience of Mississippians.
Another highlight of my visit was the special exhibit, Mississippi Made. This exhibit covers the early 1800s to today and in honor of America 250, this special exhibit features 250 artifacts. This exhibit focuses on Mississippi’s influence on:
Music (especially the Blues)
Agriculture & Industry
Literature & the Arts
Science & Innovation
I really enjoyed the Mississippi Made exhibit – Movie Stars, Lindsey Wagons, a NASA scale rocket launch, cut out view of an actual Toyota Truck and so much more!
Conclusion:
Jackson is a short drive – less than two hours. The valuable resources available at MDAH for genealogy research and the curation of two Mississippi museums is interesting, sobering, vast and fascinating. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it!
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