In a recent case we worked on, a dispute over land led to identifying the parents of an individual and solving a family brick wall problem. We share this story with permission to illustrate the importance of thorough searches - not just in vital records, newspapers, and censuses - but in land, probate, and court records. Our client asked us to trace the ancestry of his Boykin family, and research had stalled with a direct-line ancestor named William T. Boykin of Southampton County, Virginia, … [Read more...]