“Searching for More Details to Add to Your Family Research?”
By Jayne Jester Reed Tuohig
At times when researching my early 1700’s Jester family history, references were made on some family web sites and Ancestry.com charts which showed little proof. The comments of my early Jesters, who supposedly arrived from Scotland, were vague with no direct link to a source document. So, I tended to put off corroborating those details.
Recently, a few Jester family trees on Ancestry.com reported specific references from the two volumes of the Biographical and Genealogical History of Delaware by Bill Reamy. While searching location and access to the books, I found a wonderful research resource on the web:
The Delaware Genealogical Society (DGS) https://delgensoc.org/index.php. “The Delaware Genealogical Society was founded in 1977 with about 40 charter members. We now have almost 400 members from about 40 states.”
The web site is packed with searchable data which had been digitized.
The “Newsletter Index and Archives” Tab is extensive; and. searching is easy. You can view Volume Index, Name Index and Subject Index to identify the Newsletter Volume number, Issue #, Page #. Each Index is separate and PDF accessible.
The “Delaware Genealogical Society Journal” Tab is interesting to browse. DGS began publication in 1980, twice a year (April and October). The web site reports that each issue contains 32 pages of articles and an index. “Journals from October 1980 are available to Members in the Journal Archives. The Journal Index for 2018-current has not been included in the Master Journal Person and Subject Indices.”
The “Research” Tab contains projects as well as research articles. The DGS also establishes projects to publish various publications. An example is the Delaware Families 1787 to 1800. Projects & Titles from each issue are noted in the Subject Index.
While searching Indexes for early 1700s Jester Surnames, I found over 20 references to a Jester surname. The Delaware Genealogical Society web site includes multiple Indexes from which to research your family surname, a particular subject, or location in Delaware. The subject index is not limited to Delaware. There are many references to neighboring states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Like our Mount Vernon Genealogical Society web site, “Members Only” with password, provides extensive access to the digitized documents. If you have identified multiple resources, you can then decide whether a membership to access the document is required.
.JPG "Maury Cralle Admires the Ft Belvoir Model")
