Charles I would love to help but I'm in Texas. frances ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Neal" <BarbPoythressNeal@compuserve.com> To: <ALSUMTER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 1:33 PM Subject: [ALSUMTER] Sumter County Loose Records Filming Project > To all Sumter-List recipients, and any Sumter County residents that > List-recipients may know, to whom this can be forwarded: > > Joe Stegall's below-reply outlines the hard-to-find & hard-to-use loose > records which he knows are still existing in Sumter County. This is in > regard to my below message, with information about the volunteer help > needed there in Sumter County, in order to get records filmed by the > Genealogical Society of Utah professional microfilming crews. [original > message is copied first below; Joe's reply is below that] > > Joe's suggestion of hiring young qualified people in Sumter County to do > some of this work is an excellent suggestion, and as he says: " This would > be a way to accomplish a worthwhile project and, at the same time, > providing opportunities for at least a few young people in the economically > depressed area of Sumter County to have summer jobs." > > Joe is knowledgeable, but not able to head up the volunteer effort needed. > He is also quite willing to help with the project, and lives close enough > to Sumter Co to be of help. I am unfortunately not able to head up the > effort since I live about 3,000 miles away. Hopefully some recipient of > this message knows people located in Sumter County who can be of assistance > in this needed project to save these old surviving records. > > If you can help in any way to get this project started up, please call the > Alabama Dept of Archives & History, who is coordinating the effort > state-wide: phone 334-242-4452 and speak with Tom Turley on ext.234, or > Lyn Frazer on ext. 236, for more information. (This phone is for the > Alabama Dept of Archives & History in Montgomery, Government Records > Division) > Thanks for any help that any of you can give! - Barbara Poythress Neal > = = = = = > [copy of original message on this subject] > > Today I got my copy of the Fall newsletter of the AL Genealogical Society. > It includes an article about the fact that the AL Dept of Archives & > History (ADAH) is cooperating with the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) > to microfilm the loose "probate records" (including not only estate case > files, but also marriage records, apprenticeships, manumissions, and > Confederate pension records, etc, etc) and the loose divorce records, from > ALL the circuit clerks' offices in Alabama. > > ADAH is currently working with volunteers and probate offices in 56 > counties, and there are at least 35 projects already underway. > > HELP IS NEEDED FOR SUMTER COUNTY!! > > Each county that completes a project gets a free copy of the microfilm of > the loose records for that county. Other copies of the microfilm are > stored at ADAH, and at The GSU Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City > (which is huge & fantastic, & which lends copies of its microfilms to the > various LDS Family History Centers around the country). By having copies > in all these places, many more of us researchers will be able to access > these valuable county records. > > Volunteers in each county project prepare the actual records for filming, > and camera operators from the GSU do the filming. Without volunteers, none > of the filming can be done. The actual preparation of the papers for > filming is not difficult, and working with others having genealogical > interests is great fun. These loose records need to be identified, > cleaned, preserved, and FILMED before it is too late, and they deteriorate > beyond the point of being readable. It is a very worthwhile project and > one that should be close to the heart of everyone seriously searching for > their ancestors -- By helping, you might find that one scrap of paper that > will identify your most elusive ancestor. > > Volunteers are particularly needed to prepare the records of Sumter County. > Please call 334-242-4452 and speak with Tom Turley on ext.234, or Lyn > Frazer on ext. 236, for more information. This phone is for the Alabama > Dept of Archives & History in Montgomery, Government Records Division. > > Please help in any way you can & please pass the word to others who can > help. Records in Autauga, Limestone, & Shelby counties have already been > filmed, and filming is underway in Baldwin, Blount, Calhoun, Clarke, and > Winston counties. New projects are now starting in Coffee, Crenshaw, > Henry, & Wilcox counties. Sumter is not the only county for which > volunteers are needed. The article noted that help is particularly needed > in Butler, Chambers, Choctaw, Coosa, Elmore, Etowah, Hale, Jackson, > Lowndes, Sumter, and Washington Counties. > > = = = = = > [Copy of Joe's message Re: Sumter County Loose Records Filming Project] > Barbara, > > I am glad to hear that an effort is to be made to film the remaining > unfilmed records in the Sumter County Courthouse. To my knowledge there > are two or three sets of surviving "loose" records there that have not been > filmed. > > First, there are many volumes of civil, and perhaps criminal, court records > upstairs in the Probate Annex, in a single room, that date back to the > earliest days of the county. I know for a fact that a lot of those records > have been carried from the courthouse, but many remain, more than enough to > justify a filming project. > > In another room upstairs in the Probate Annex are valuable old tax > assessment records. I had them permanently bound when I was the Tax > Assessor, but they need to be filmed. Unfortunately, I believe that all > that remains are three volumes of real estate assessment records from the > 1850s, plus one or two volumes of personal property assessment records from > later in the 1800s. All other such tax records from the 1800s have been > lost. > > As you probably recall, Jud Arrington gave to me the only surviving death > register from the 1800s, which had been given to him by a former probate > judge. After using portions of it in our book, I deposited the death > register in the Alabama Room at the University of West Alabama. I still > have in my possession some old voting records from the 1800s that I intend > to deposit for safekeeping in the Alabama Room. I believe that the death > register and the voting records should be included in any filming project. > > If a volunteer effort is to be attempted, I suggest that consideration be > given to volunteers organizing the project, and perhaps doing some of the > sorting of the records, but asking the county commission to hire qualified > young people next summer as interns to finish the job. This would be a way > to accomplish a worthwhile project and, at the same time, providing > opportunities for at least a few young people in the economically depressed > area of Sumter County to have summer jobs. > > I also suggest that the effort be widely publicized within the county and > people asked to search their "attics" for old public records. > Unfortunately, former courthouse officials allowed individuals to remove > public records from the courthouse. One of the old personal property tax > assessment records that I had bound was brought back to the courthouse by a > friend who just happened to know about my effort to preserve old tax > records, and who knew that that record was in his attic. > > While I do not feel up to leading the volunteer effort, I would be glad to > assist in it. > Best of luck! > Joe > ______________________________< > > > ==== ALSUMTER Mailing List ==== > "If your family tree doesn't fork, you might be a Redneck." > - Jeff Foxworthy > Sumter County, ALGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~alsumter > Listowner Kristy Williams Sumter@US-Gen.com > >