Genealogy research in Ashville, AL

We spent yesterday here at the RV and I worked on genealogy to prepare for today's trip to Ashville. Mike and I (Tinker, too) took naps yesterday afternoon. It felt good to have a day with no appointments.

We left the campground this morning a little before 9:00 and drove south on I-59 to Ashville to go to the St. Clair County Archives and Museum. Ashville is a small town with about 2400 people. The county was established in 1818 before Alabama became a state in 1819.

We arrived at the Archives about 10:00 (it was a 60 mile trip). The archives had moved from the courthouse to a building across the street and is housed in an old bank building.

From Ashville, AL

We met Charlene who is the archivist and explained to her the families that we were researching.

From Ashville, AL

Mike's 3-great-grandparents, William Milton and Anna Scott, had lived in St. Clair County in

the early 1800's after moving there from South Carolina. Charlene was very helpful in locating the records for the county for that time frame. I didn't find any marriage records (their children were too young to marry), death or cemetery records and no land records; the family eventually moved west to Arkansas.

But I did find a couple of letters in the Scott Family correspondence file that referenced Mike's Scott ancestors in Arkansas and St. Clair County. The letters (dated early 1980's) gave me information on William Milton's father and grandfather (which we didn't have information on). The letters told where to find the wills for William's father and grandfather.

By now it was noon and the Archives close for lunch from 12:00 - 1:00, so we decided to go to lunch. Charlene was sorry that we didn't find any more information and told me to e-mail her and she would be happy to look anything up for me. We were very happy to have found the letters with new clues on the Scott family.

Before going to lunch, we drove around town and took photos of some of the historic homes in Ashville.

From Ashville, AL

We stopped for lunch at Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant north of town and decided to have the buffet lunch instead of ordering off the menu. The food was good and we especially liked the cheese sauce, salsa and the thin tortilla chips.

From Ashville, AL

We decided to take a different route back to the campground and drove north on US-231 (the same US-231 that goes through Dothan) to CR-79 north through Guntersville and then through Guntersville State Park. We arrived back here at Mountain Lakes Resort about 2:30.