As you look at your pedigree chart, do you have ‘favorite’ lines to research? Are there lines that haven’t received as much of your attention? Readers of this blog are well aware that I have favorites – particularly my Crawford line.
While updating my research of Zebulon and Caroline (Ostrander) Foster, it became obvious that I had not equally researched my various lines. The research I had on this family was basically census, marriage and cemetery records. Even though I was aware that Zebulon owned land in Indiana, I had not done any land record research for him.
When looking back over my years of research, accessing these land records is much easier today than when I began my genealogy journey. Prior to the family History Library digitizing their collection of microfilm, I had to travel to access these records. Thus, lines that were in published genealogies were relegated to my ‘ignore for now’ pile. Since a group of researchers, led by Wayne E Dawson, put together The History and Ancestry of Rev. John Foster, 1735-1800, my Foster research got put in the ‘ignore for now’ file.
Thankfully, those deed records have been digitized. While I can’t access the Warren County, Indiana land records from home, I can view them at Seneca Free Library which is an affiliate library. Thus, I only have to travel 0.5 miles to view these records.
A search of the general index to deeds for Warren County, Indiana from 1826 to 1864 revealed quite a few FOSTER records. However, entries for Zebulon Foster did not appear until volume 3 where his first appearance in the index indicates Zebulon Foster purchased land from George Pence in 1854.
Besides Zebulon Foster, there are land transactions for the following Fosters:
- Joseph Foster
- Fredrick Foster
- John Foster – possibly Zebulon’s older brother
- Jeremiah B Foster – likely Zebulon’s older brother
- David Foster
- Lackey Foster
- Joshua Foster
- Samuel B Foster
- John G Foster
- Houston Foster
- William Foster
- Hamilton Foster
- Paulina Foster
- William B Foster
- Arthur Foster
- Russell Foster
- Daniel Foster
- Mary Foster
- Mary A Foster
- Henry Foster
- Polly Foster
- Horace Foster
- Richard Foster
While it will take some time to work with all of these deeds, they will help me separate the various FOSTER families in Warren County, Indiana while improving the documentation I have on my Zebulon Foster family and removing that ‘ignored’ status from this line.