When Family Stories are Nice — but . . .

 

Family stories are nice but they usually have little to do with fact. 

~ George Harrison Sanford King 

In searching for the actual documents supporting the assertions published about my fifth great-grandfather John Carter of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, I ran across a concerning mention about resources in one oft-trusted genealogy resource, Joseph Lyon Miller's 1912 book, The Descendants of Capt. Thomas Carter of "Barford," Lancaster County, Virginia. Within the book's sketch about John Carter, sources credited included two manuscripts drawn up by one of John Carter's grandsons, one in 1845, the other in 1858. The grandson, in turn, owed the authority of his statements to his "mother, a daughter of Capt. Carter, and of an old uncle of his...who said that he had served in the Revolution with Capt. Carter."

Obviously, those of us who are serious about pursuing our family's history know to rely on the documents that support assertions. Family stories can lead us to the records, but they can never become the sole substitute for such support.

In researching the Carter roots which connect me with dozens of DNA matches, I've noticed that some of those stories in the Miller publication don't line up with documents I've subsequently found—the question of John Carter's wives being a prime example. However, it is apparent that I am not the first to have found the book's assertions questionable. As I mentioned yesterday, one respected genealogist of a previous generation had written extensively about the Carter family: George Harrison Sanford King.

Thanks to use of the Full Text Search capabilities at FamilySearch.org, I stumbled upon the digitized King manuscripts—a voluminous collection specializing in the histories of early Virginia residents. Not knowing who Mr. King was and upon what basis he had gained such widespread recognition, I decided to take time to learn about this researcher.

While it was one article mentioning the quote above which instantly endeared him to me, there were other notable accomplishments attributed to this genealogist, who died in 1985. As a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, Mr. King was posthumously inducted into the National Genealogy Hall of Fame in 2019. A card index of his more than one hundred thousand papers is kept at the Virginia Historical Society, and both the card index and the actual papers themselves have been digitized and are available at FamilySearch.org. 

Just taking a look at one index of the subjects and surnames covered in Mr. King's scholarship, drawn up as a finding aid at University of Mary Washington in his lifelong home in Fredericksburg, gives an inkling of the prolific magnitude of his life's work.

For one thing, I felt vindicated when I discovered the Carter article among the King papers at FamilySearch.org. It was clear that at least this researcher was quite aware that one of John Carter's wives was named Sarah Kenyon.

The beauty of discovering this researcher's work, though, comes in the fact that his writing becomes the road map to lead Carter researchers to the many legal records involving this extended family over decades—some records which apparently have been hard to find. But that, as it turns out, was one of George Harrison Sanford King's strong suits: he was known to specialize in complex family relationships among historic Virginia families, especially reconstructing histories in "burned counties" through other sources of documentation.

In looking at the King report about the Carter family—a typewritten document I've just begun scouring—it's apparent that he has noted several legal proceedings among family members which may help spell out the construction of that extended family for us. Keeping in mind my goal to find the names and dates for John Carter's wives—and each wife's specific children—this exploration may help speed the process.