Some ACHENBACH AUGHENBAUGH and AUGHINBAUGH in the Western States

Western States

Compiled and prepared by Bill and LaVonne Lee.

149 pages, double-columned, every-name index, softcover (8 1/2 X 11) 2004.

The four W's of family history are Who were they? What did they do? When and Where did they do it? These four W's are covered in detail in Some ACHENBACH AUGHENBAUGH and AUGHINBAUGH in the Western States for the states listed below. This book is not a family history, as such, for any specific ACHENBACH, AUGHENBAUGH or AUGHINBAUGH family, but most assuredly could provide some missing links to your special family history for any of these three names, or related families. This material was gathered by the Lee's during a ten-year search throughout the Western United States (from Indiana to the Pacific Ocean) for information on these names. This book is the next best thing to actually going to each of hundreds of county courthouses to research the records yourself.

One of LaVonne Lee's great-grandmothers was an AUGHINBAUGH. In 1987 she and her husband, Bill Lee, began traveling from county to county in the Western states, doing research on a number of family names, AUGHINBAUGH among them. In searching for information on the AUGHINBAUGHs it soon became evident that records for this name became confused with the similar name of AUGHENBAUGH. Then the name ACHENBACH surfaced, with a somewhat similar sound, although extremely different in spelling. Consequently, this research effort ended with all three names being included. An unbelievable amount of information on these three names was accumulated. Wishing to make this information available to others interested in these family names, the Lee's have prepared this book and are now offering it to the public.

Some ACHENBACH AUGHENBAUGH and AUGHINBAUGH in the Western States includes thumbnail sketches of county courthouse records from the states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. From 1987 until 1996 the Lee's visited every county courthouse in 13 of the states listed and selected counties in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Oklahoma, searching for any occurrence of the subject names. The California information in the book came from marriage and death listings furnished by the California State Department of Health for a limited number of years and does not give the level of detail available in some of the other records.

Included in the book are abstracts of nearly 1300 public records, including marriages, civil and criminal court cases, probates, births, deaths, military discharge recordings, directory listings and interesting articles from newspapers and local histories. Every name in this book is indexed - more than 6000 names, including nearly 1400 ACHENBACHs, over 500 AUGHENBAUGHs and more than 500 AUGHINBAUGHs.

Be sure to advise other ACHENBACH, AUGHENBAUGH or AUGHINBAUGH researchers who would like to benefit from this informative book, and keep in mind that Some AUCHENBACH AUGHENBAUGH and AUGHINBAUGH in the Western States would make an outstanding gift for any ACHENBACH, AUGHENBAUGH or AUGHINBAUGH family tree researcher.

The cost of Some ACHENBACH AUGHENBAUGH and AUGHINBAUGH in the Western States is $24.95, including shipping and handling.

SOLD OUT

Bill Lee
9501 West Business 83, Suite 871

Harlingen TX 78552

Do not send cash. Texas residents: Add 8.25% sales tax. International and Canadian customers: Please pay in U.S. funds.

All orders will be sent via USPS Media Mail

This is a book of facts gathered from the public records of the states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming on the names ACHENBACH, AUGHENBAUGH, AUGHINBAUGH and other similar ACHEN______ and AUGH_N______ names. Between 1988 and 1996 we visited the county courthouses of every county in 13 of the states listed and selected counties of the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Oklahoma, researching all occurrences of the indicated names in the civil and criminal court, marriage, probate, birth and death records of the counties visited. The California information we have was taken from indices prepared by the California Department of Public Health. Since these names are so alike in sound and/or appearance, they are often mistaken for each other and sometimes interchanged. It is not uncommon to find the same person's name spelled differently on the same document. The same applies to other names, both first and last names, as well. In all cases we have attempted to report what we saw, so inconsistencies do appear in this book.

In addition to searching county records we also visited a number of libraries in the states researched. There we found a number of interesting articles in local histories and in newspapers. We have selected some of these articles and included them in the first section of the book. These articles have been presented in chronological order within the state they apply to, with citations to the source of the article given.

The second section of the book contains abstracts of the records found in each of the state's courthouses. In the 13 states where we researched every county, if a county is not included, it was omitted because we did not find any recordings in that county for the names researched. The other states show recordings only for the counties where we did research. The states are in alphabetical order, each county listed alphabetically within the state. Marriage records are listed first, then civil and criminal court cases, probates, military discharge recordings, birth records and death records. Each group of records is presented chronologically by the date of occurrence, within the record type, within county.

A few words need to be said about research at county courthouses. First, a researcher is totally at the mercy of the personnel working in the various courthouses. Some counties have personnel who are both knowledgeable and helpful, while other counties have personnel who are neither. The norm is somewhere between these extremes, and our experiences were generally around the norm. However, in some counties we were not allowed to even look at some of our so-called public records, even though state laws, in most cases, are adamant about the public's right to these records. One county in Washington would not allow us to see indices to court records. One North Dakota county would not allow us access to probate records, usually the most public of all "public records". A good number of counties would not allow review of criminal records, even though this is, in realty, a protection of a person's right to break the law. In some South Dakota counties we found court records in the indices, but were not allowed to look at the actual record without paying a fee. Those records are indicated in the book, but little or no information is given because we established our own rule when we started this project that we would not pay to look at public records. An interesting observation in doing research at county courthouses is that if you return to the county a year or two later the climate may be altogether different as management and/or personnel changes. This can be both good and bad.

Meanwhile, back to the book. The final section of the book contains a list of ACHEN_____s and AUGH_N_____s taken from telephone directories throughout the United States, a good portion of which were found on the Internet in May 2002 at switchboard.com. We hope these listings are reasonably accurate.

To the best of our knowledge, every name in this book is included in an index that appears as the last section. Where it is obvious, we have attempted to index both maiden names and married names for females. For example, Violet AUGHINBAUGH, who married a ROSS, is indexed under both AUGHINBAUGH and ROSS. Violet's parents were John OVERCASH and Candace OGDEN. We have also indexed Violet under OVERCASH, and her mother, Candace, under both OVERCASH and OGDEN. The number of occurrences of a name in a column is given by a number enclosed in parenthesis, and the column is indicated by "a" for the left column and "b" for the right column.

We have attempted to report the data as we saw it. However, some of the source material is sometimes in error, and other times difficult to interpret. There is also the case where we have introduced errors in the transcription of the data, though we have made every effort to minimize this type error. Some of the records list a great deal of information, others very little. For example, some marriage records give all kinds of information regarding birth dates and places, occupations, divorces and widowed info, plus similar info for both the bride and groom's parents. On the other hand, marriage records in other jurisdictions may only give the name of the bride and groom, and perhaps the name of the person performing the marriage. We have attempted to report all the information contained in the original records. Some of the court records are subject to individual interpretation. We are not attorneys, and have attempted to only summarize the content of the court cases. Any individual interested in more detail on any of these cases may find the actual case file at the indicated county courthouse. Because of the voluminous nature of land records, we have not included any land records in our research, but it is a reasonable assumption that if records for a particular surname exist in a particular county, there are probably land records for that surname in the county too.

Finally, we want to thank the many people who have helped make this book possible. First has to be those who provided services to us during the nine-year excursion through the states included in the research. Those people include RV park owners and employees, service station employees, restaurateurs, and, in general, everyone we had the privilege to come in contact with. The personnel at the various libraries and archives were especially helpful and deserve a special thanks. Last, but not least, we thank all the personnel at the county courthouses who were most helpful, and those who were not quite as helpful, as well. It is to this group of people we have entrusted the care of our county records. These records are probably the most precious gift of one generation to another.

                                                                                                   Bill and LaVonne Lee
                                                                                                   Harlingen, Texas
                                                                                                   June, 2003

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