Save Texas History Symposium: Discovering Spanish and Mexican Texas

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is hosting the first Save Texas History Symposium on 6 November at the GLO office in Austin. Three speakers will discuss the history of Spanish and Mexican Texas. The announcement states:

Drs. Frank de la Teja, Light Cummins and Felix Almaraz Jr., will lead attendees through the cultural crossroads of early Texas and how the convergence of three unique cultures came together in Texas. Attendees will also be able to go on VIP tours of the GLO or Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, research the family tree, or survey the Texas Capitol through a hands-on, 19th Century frontier surveying exercise. Attendees also have the option of printing their own map and creating paper from everyday material.

See http://www.glo.state.tx.us/OC/savetxhist/symposium2010.html for more information. Registration is limited. I know many genealogists will be disappointed this event conflicts with the Texas State Genealogical Society (TSGS) Fiftieth Anniversary Conference in Waco. See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txsgs/TXSGS-New/Pages/Conference.htm for more information on the TSGS conference.

© 2010, Debbie Parker Wayne, All Rights Reserved

November Conferences and Seminars in East and Central Texas

There are many good conferences and seminars planned for the coming weeks. Last chance for a genealogy education "fix" before the holiday season.

On November 5 and 6 the Texas State Genealogical Society Conference is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the society. The conference will be held in Waco. The featured speaker on Saturday is Barbara Vines Little, a Certified Genealogist^SM renowned for her knowledge of Virginia research. In addition to speaking about research in Virginia, she will give pointers on locating women and on census research including the non-population census schedules: agricultural, manufacturing, slave, and social data. Teri Flack will be speaking on Texas research on Friday morning. Friday afternoon will be devoted to roundtable discussions and society management topics. See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txsgs/ for more information.

In addition to the educational sessions, the Association of Professional Genealogists, Lone Star Chapter, offers attendees a free 15-minute consultation. The consultations are offered during breaks so no one misses the great speakers. A professional genealogist will review one specific genealogical question and offer suggestions for research that may provide an answer. See http://lonestarapg.com/roadshow_forms.htm for more information.

One week later on November 12 and 13 the East Texas Genealogical Society is presenting a seminar in Tyler with Certified Genealogist^SM J. Mark Lowe as the featured speaker. He will be speaking on research techniques, researching rural ancestors, and finding manuscripts in Kentucky and Tennessee. Lowe is as well-known for Kentucky and Tennessee research as Little is for Virginia research. See http://www.etgs.org/meetings/etgsmtg11.html for more information.

These speakers are knowledgeable, entertaining, and not to be missed. I hope to see you all there.

© 2010, Debbie Parker Wayne, All Rights Reserved

Texas General Land Office - W.D. Twichell Survey Records

The Texas General Land Office (TXGLO) just announced a new acquisition on H-NET. The introductory paragraph is:

Beginning more than 120 years ago, Willis Day Twichell surveyed tens of millions of acres of public and private lands in West Texas. He laid out more than 40 towns and provided surveying work in 165 of 254 counties in Texas. The lands he surveyed included the boundary between Texas and New Mexico, gave rise to the legendary XIT Ranch, funded the building of the State Capitol, helped build railroads and fund public education in Texas, and were integral to the exploration of oil and gas in West Texas throughout the 20th century. ... read more ...

TXGLO hopes to have the papers processed and available to researchers in the facility early in 2011 and online by early 2012. The correspondence covers work done beyond Texas borders in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico.

The Texas General Land Office Archives and Records division is one of the best archival facilities you'll ever work with. Knowledgeable and helpful archivists, prompt response times, and access to some of the most interesting records in early Texas history. You may learn much more about your ancestor than what is contained in the land grant files. There are records from the Court of Claims and other government entities investigating land claims to prevent fraudulent claims.

The TXGLO recently redesigned their website at http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/index.html. In addition to a great new look, I found some new information since my last visit. The "Our Collections" link takes you to the online search form and to pages explaining the land grant process in Texas in great detail. If you have ancestors who moved to Texas or who fought for Texas and may have received a land grant, don't miss this site. More than two million maps are available online in PDF format.

© 2010, Debbie Parker Wayne, All Rights Reserved