What building was one of the most popular tourist attractions in mid-19th century America? The White House? The Old North Church? Independence Hall?

Try the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Built in the 1820s, its structural design and system of solitary confinement for all prisoners caused a worldwide stir.

Curious citizens and government representatives from around the world toured the hub-and-spokes designed structure. Impressed with what they saw, governments as far away as Russia and China copied the prison's design.

Jails have been around ever since ancient do-gooders scratched rules onto stone tablets. But, jails were usually just temporary lodging until the real punishment was meted out. You know, crucifixion, lopping off limbs, hanging, that sort of thing.

Pulling back from excessive physical punishment and instead holding criminals for long periods in a penitentiary was a novel concept in the 1800s. The idea caught on and it wasn't long before the penitentiary solution spread.

Now, every state has a penitentiary, or two, for housing its worst criminals.

If any of your ancestors paid his or her debt to society in a state big house, the genealogical payoff for you can be huge. All involuntary guests of the state generated loads of paperwork. As soon as your ancestral thug checked into the penitentiary, the paper trail started with an intake ledger.

These ledgers books recorded the standard genealogical fare such as age, birthplace, and residence.

You'll also find the crime and sentence and a physical description: height, weight, eye color, complexion, facial hair, body marks and condition of teeth. Useful information in case the prisoner made a break for it.

Intake ledgers also may have recorded the nearest relative, the criminal's religion and the judge in the trial.

Each prisoner had a case file. The file might list his or her work details, visitors, disciplinary actions, and it might have a photo and copies of fingerprints. There may be copies of correspondence in the prisoner file as well.

For my own ancestral criminal who did time in the Kansas State Penitentiary in the 1870s, the case file no longer exists. But I did find that his case generated some correspondence between the warden and the governor.

Apparently the townspeople, including the attorney who prosecuted my great-grandfather for swine theft, sent a petition to the governor requesting that he be pardoned. The governor and the warden discussed his case in several letters, and he ultimately was pardoned and released from his sentence a year early.

It was a heart-warming conclusion to a black-sheep blemish in my family tree. Sure, my great-grandfather was a convicted felon but everyone in town still liked him.

So, check for other details about your convict in the warden's correspondence, the governor's correspondence, governor's executive pardons, execution dockets, death records, escape records, parole records, prison newsletters and prison infirmary records.

Look for state penitentiary records at the state archives or historical society. Some records may still be at the institution.