Do not overlook the wealth of information found in the tax records. As Daniel Defoe is credited for saying in a book in 1726, "Things are certain as death and taxes...," we simply cannot avoid them. Up until the early 1900s, people were taxed on their land and other possessions, and these can help in the research of your ancestors. We will examine several sets of records from around the U.S. and see what we can learn from them.
Larry Thomas began researching his family’s genealogy over 30 years ago. He and his younger brother were in the same Army Reserve unit and when they met their First Sergeant, 1SG Thomas, they instantly knew he had to be related. He looked so much like their grandfather and great grandfather. He never did research the family to find the connection but it got him researching the family line. He has been doing this professionally since 2008.
Larry is always looking to help others in their journey to find their missing ancestors regardless of where in the U.S. they are searching. There is never a guarantee of success, but more often than not, he can rule out some folks which is still moving people along their path of success. Knowing those who are not the missing ancestor narrows down the prospects yet to research. Sometimes, after eliminating all other possibilities, the last man or woman standing must then be the correct one unless there is something that shows they cannot be the missing person.
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