Step 4:  Run a cross-check of database

The COM Index...has several fields on which inquiries can be run.  The 
name search-for the party of interest-is the natural one.  Beyond that, 
searches can be made for names of associates (including adjacent 
landholders and surveyors), watercourses, and even counties.  

(Charlotte's note:  she shows by using this cross index method that she 
was able to locate two other records for her Kelley name...)

Step 5:  Consult original records for additional clues:

Plats:  The plats, conveniently available at the archives, yield several 
pieces of useful information.  Especially important to the present case 
are the warrant and/or precept dates, idnetification of surveyors and 
some neighbors, and more-complete land locations.  ...

Petitions and Memorials:  The warrant and precept dates appearing on the 
plats enable researchers to locate the abstracts of the oral petitions, 
as recorded in the Provincial Council journals, and the memorials-both 
held by the State Archives....

....

Step 6:  Run Search for Associates

Craven County's deputy surveyor left hundreds of documents, as might be 
expected.  Other surviving colonial collections include records bor a 
John Evans of Santee, acting in some capacity other than that of 
surveyor.  Whether or not this is the same may, a father-son set, or two 
totally unrelated men is a question yet to be proved.  ...he names James 
Kelley as his son in law...

From these survey records she found that James Kelley had requested land 
several miles from his own land for his son...the reason, he was 
settling next door to his new father-in-law....

(this is interesting-)  Memorial reads:  John Smith Conveyance to James 
Kelley "A Memorial exhibited by James Kelley to be registered in Auditor 
General's office for 100 acres in Craven County on Great Cypress POnd on 
the SW side of Black Creek originally gratned 13 August 1766 to John 
Smith and was conveyed 23 May 1767 to the memorialist.  (signed) Josiah 
Scott.

The names are again coupled in 1779, when Elias Fort of the Kelley-Scott 
neighborhood on Black Creek drafted his will.  To his son Albert, Fort 
left "(his) platation on Great Cyprus Swamp purchased of James Kelley."  
To his osn Egbert, he left "(his) land in the name of Josiah Scott near 
Black Creek."

Hmmmm...guess this could mean that the deed to Fort was never recorded 
but that the recorded deed was in the name of Josiah 
Scott...interesting....

Step 7:  Studying/platting adjacent tracts

As implied by the ...(case)...considerable time in this project was 
allottd to the study of the two Kelley neighborhoods significant to this 
paper-Santee River and Lynches River/Black Creek.  Dozens of other 
documents, created by a dozen Kelley neighbors, shed important light 
upon the oder James Kelley and his offspring.  However, the ...(the the 
neighbors) should serve to remove any remaining doubt the reader may 
have regarding the link between the James Kelley of Lynches/Black Creek 
and the James Kelley of Santee.

Summary:

Whether using a database or a document, the crucial question the 
reseracher must ask is not "What does this say?" but "What does this 
mean?".  Answering that question, with regard to databases, leads to 
still more queries:  "What cross-checks can I run to better protect 
myself against data entry errors?  Where are the records from which this 
database was created?  What information might the originals offer that 
may be omitted from the electronic extracts?"  Researchers prize 
databases for the opportunity to "shortcut" tedious and time-consuming 
searches.  But thoroughly using them-extracting from them all the value 
they have to offer-may still require a serious investmetn in time and 
intellectual energy.  A database or an electronic index is not "quick 
proof" of any genealogical point.  Used thoughtfully, though, they are 
still valuable timesavers for reserachers who seek the kind of reliable 
answers only thorough research can provide.




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