I don't know about all the southern bound ships, but the ones that landed in Savannah apparently had detailed records. The problem with the Savannah records is that you must go to Savannah to see them. They haven't been copied for the Georgia archives and they are not online. The Savannah authorities want tourist. They apparently have no interest in preserving history. Think of the potential loss if a Hurricane Hugo hits them dead on? Or a fire, like the ones that have destroyed so many of our court houses. It really is absurd in this day and age that they would even consider this policy. And although I have relatives there I need to research, I have delayed going. I really hate to encourage their behavior. If you have tried documenting poor people or Indians, then you know how nearly impossible it is. A professor in Canada gave me an idea. There was virtually nothing about her ancestor who was a Tory private in the American Revolution. So she researched his commanding officer, who was a famous Tory spy. She assumed her ancestor was tagging along. So if I can track them to a group of people, I do a history of that group. Sometimes that is the best you can do. I was asked to write a family history for a county history book. Honestly, I fudged it a bit. For example, I did not include any of my paternal half siblings that have been mean to sweet little ole me. And as for where my ancestor came from... I wrote, "He was dropped off by the mother ship shortly after 1850..." [See, there is no real need for documentation!] Cousin Dennie //

Well, as I said-it's hit or miss. I'm surprised some local historical chapter hasn't begun transcribing those lists. If they publish them, they can make some money for their local societies. That's surprising. That's a good idea about the Tory private. Thanks to the British burning the War Office-so many of the southern Rev. War records were lost so much invaluable info. Sigh. That was a good one about the mother ship. Loved it. Vickie ----- Original Message ----- From: D Rennow<mailto:[email protected]> To: Kilgore<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 7:53 AM Subject: [KILGORE] ship documentation I don't know about all the southern bound ships, but the ones that landed in Savannah apparently had detailed records. The problem with the Savannah records is that you must go to Savannah to see them. They haven't been copied for the Georgia archives and they are not online. The Savannah authorities want tourist. They apparently have no interest in preserving history. Think of the potential loss if a Hurricane Hugo hits them dead on? Or a fire, like the ones that have destroyed so many of our court houses. It really is absurd in this day and age that they would even consider this policy. And although I have relatives there I need to research, I have delayed going. I really hate to encourage their behavior. If you have tried documenting poor people or Indians, then you know how nearly impossible it is. A professor in Canada gave me an idea. There was virtually nothing about her ancestor who was a Tory private in the American Revolution. So she researched his commanding officer, who was a famous Tory spy. She assumed her ancestor was tagging along. So if I can track them to a group of people, I do a history of that group. Sometimes that is the best you can do. I was asked to write a family history for a county history book. Honestly, I fudged it a bit. For example, I did not include any of my paternal half siblings that have been mean to sweet little ole me. And as for where my ancestor came from... I wrote, "He was dropped off by the mother ship shortly after 1850..." [See, there is no real need for documentation!] Cousin Dennie // ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message