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 ______________________________<