Tips for Researching in Walker County...

There have been many things written about how to begin researching....here are a few ideas that seem to work for me...

Talk to everyone in your family about what they know about the ancestors, keeping in mind that memories can fade and that some of their information is inaccurate. Experiences with referring to a previous generation and skipping to the next can be confusing so.... Write down what you've found out. Buy or download a free genealogy program to organize your information. 

Use ALL types of spellings when you look for records. Many times the spelling changed (Buzbee to Busby) or the person writing down the information had trouble deciphering the script. Often the double "s" looks just like an "f". Remember they often spelled it, as they thought it should be. (Hix-Hicks) (Drummans-Drummond)

Use the search engine on this web and others to locate surnames. 

Post a query on the query board. There are a number of different query boards.

Join the email list and ask questions about your ancestors there. (I also make announcements to the list when I put in new information.)

Check census records in the county and in surrounding counties. The 1850 census records begin listing all of the family members and where each was born. The 1900 Census can be especially helpful with the month and year of birth.

Check the cemetery records. There are quite a few on my Walker pages and there are links to other's pages that have records. 

Check the funeral home listings. Many times people did not have money to buy a tombstone, but their remains were handled by an undertaker.

Check the Jasper  library to see if they have any biographical information on the family you are searching for.

I have had great luck with information from the Walker County Genealogical Society-WCGS.  They can help you with having a query printed in the newspaper and they print a quarterly report that includes a surname index .

I have listed several books written on Walker County that you might be able to review. Check the resource section. And check to see who might do look-ups for you.

Check the birth, death and marriage records. Those may list parents names, etc. Get copies of these records by ordering them from the appropriate source.

Check the old newspapers in the library. You may also write one of the libraries to see if your family member's name is listed in any index they may have of old newspapers. (Sometimes people have done abstracts of old newspapers and have made an index of the names they've found.)

If the ancestor was in the Civil War, order the records! They have a great deal of information in them!