Let us know what you think!

Episode Overview

Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen is the genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers, helping researchers uncover records and historical context that bring family stories to life. In this episode, host Kathleen Brandt explores the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, one of the most overlooked resources in genealogy research.

Far more than a collection of congressional documents, the Serial Set contains petitions, testimony, claims, investigations, and reports that can place ordinary Americans into the historical record. Kathleen explains how these records can help researchers discover ancestors, understand community issues, and add context to family histories that extend far beyond names and dates.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

•  What the U.S. Congressional Serial Set is and why genealogists should care about it 
•  How digitized federal records make searching easier than ever 
•  The types of ancestors who may appear in Congressional records 
•  How to use the Serial Set alongside other record collections 
•  Research strategies for finding ancestors when direct name searches fail 

Topics Covered

•  The U.S. Congressional Serial Set and its genealogical value
•  Searching digitized federal documents through govinfo.gov 
•  Veterans, widows, petition signers, centenarians, and community advocates 
•  Congressional petitions, testimony, claims, and investigations 
•  Using the Serial Set as both a primary source and supporting evidence 
•  Freedmen's Bureau records and federal documentation 
•  Reconstruction-era records and connections to Juneteenth 
•  Southern Claims Commission files and witness testimony 
•  Researching formerly enslaved individuals and enslavers 
•  Search strategies using ships, locations, organizations, and community events 

Episode Discussion & Key Moments

Kathleen explains why many genealogists overlook the Congressional Serial Set, assuming it only contains information about elected officials and national politics. In reality, these volumes often document the lives of everyday Americans who interacted with the federal government through petitions, compensation claims, military matters, land disputes, and community concerns.

The episode explores how digitization efforts have made these records more accessible and how researchers can use them to uncover details unavailable in local records. Kathleen discusses the value of combining Serial Set findings with sources such as Freedmen's Bureau records, military files, land records, and local histories.

Special attention is given to Reconstruction-era documentation, including Southern Claims Commission files that contain affidavits, witness statements, and testimony from formerly enslaved individuals, enslavers, neighbors, and community members. These records can provide extraordinary context for understanding families during and after the Civil War.

Key questions examined include:

•  How can federal records help solve local genealogy problems? 
•  What kinds of ordinary people appear in Congressional documents? 
•  What should researchers do when a name search produces no results? 
•  How can historical events be used to uncover hidden family connections? 

Resources & Research Tools Mentioned

•  U.S. Congressional Serial Set 
•  GovInfo.gov digital federal collections 
•  Freedmen's Bureau records 
•  Southern Claims Commission files 
•  Reconstruction-era federal records 
•  Military and pension records 
•  Petitions, testimony, and claims documentation 

Why This Episode Matters

Many researchers focus exclusively on local records while overlooking federal collections that document entire communities and major historical events. The Congressional Serial Set provides access to stories, claims, testimony, and evidence that can place ancestors within the broader context of American history and reveal connections that other records miss.

About the Podcast

Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen is the genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers, helping listeners navigate historical records, uncover hidden sources, and understand the larger historical forces that shaped their ancestors' lives.

Support the show

Be sure to bookmark linktr.ee/hittinthebricks  for your one stop access to Kathleen Brandt, the host of Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen. And, visit us on YouTube: @HTBKRB with Kathleen John and Chewey video recorded specials. 

Hittin' the Bricks is produced through the not-for-profit, 501c3 TracingAncestors.org.