Thank you Liz. I have been overwhelmed with messages about this situatio= n. = The responses leave no doubt that we all want the old records protected, but at the same time need copies. = It is my honest opinion that counties should be required to use some of our tax money to provide an alternate method of obtaining copies when the= records are too fragile to put on a copy machine. In summation, it is my opinion that we as researchers must immediately begin to educate our county officials to this problem and demand they use some of our tax monies to correct and prevent this type of situation.= Thanks for you response. Eugenia "liz" <liz@ultravision.net> wrote: Hi Eugenia, In this part of the country, allowing you to take old marriage record= s is a common practice. They don't want to house the original as all they n= eed is the recording in their books. Some courthouses mail the original back = to the couple if it is not picked up after it is registered. Others just shelved them waiting for someone to call for it. Our license was mailed b= ack to us in 1941. In researching my husband's family in Smith County, Texas, I found th= e recorded marriage record of his great grandparents. I was happy with that= until I met a 2nd cousin, never know to my husband, who had the original.= She had been researching her ancestor, the sister to his great grandmothe= r, and the clerk had told her to take what she wanted as they were going to dispose of them. The 2nd cousin gave me a copy but never did give up the original. Now she is deceased and who knows what happened to her research= =2E Good hunting, Liz Pierce Gun Barrel City, Texas ----- Original Message --- ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=3D= 1 ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1

Money could be usefully spent to laminate the old documents in plastic to protect them from handling and copying abuse. I doubt that officials would spend taxpayer funds for this purpose, so maybe donations from the users and general public would be appropriate. GWP At 10:38 AM 2/2/2001 -0600, you wrote: >Thank you Liz. I have been overwhelmed with messages about this situatio= >n. = > >The responses leave no doubt that we all want the old records >protected, but at the same time need copies. = > >It is my honest opinion that counties should be required to use some of >our tax money to provide an alternate method of obtaining copies when the >records are too fragile to put on a copy machine. > >In summation, it is my opinion that we as researchers must immediately >begin to educate our county officials to this problem and demand they >use some of our tax monies to correct and prevent this type of situation.= > >Thanks for you response. > >Eugenia > > > > > >"liz" <liz@ultravision.net> wrote: >Hi Eugenia, > > In this part of the country, allowing you to take old marriage record= >s >is a common practice. They don't want to house the original as all they n= >eed >is the recording in their books. Some courthouses mail the original back = >to >the couple if it is not picked up after it is registered. Others just >shelved them waiting for someone to call for it. Our license was mailed b= >ack >to us in 1941. > In researching my husband's family in Smith County, Texas, I found th= >e >recorded marriage record of his great grandparents. I was happy with that= > >until I met a 2nd cousin, never know to my husband, who had the original.= > >She had been researching her ancestor, the sister to his great grandmothe= >r, >and the clerk had told her to take what she wanted as they were going to >dispose of them. The 2nd cousin gave me a copy but never did give up the >original. Now she is deceased and who knows what happened to her research= >=2E > >Good hunting, > >Liz Pierce >Gun Barrel City, Texas > >----- Original Message --- > > > > > >____________________________________________________________________ >Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=3D= >1 > > >____________________________________________________________________ >Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 > > >==== BROWN Mailing List ==== >contact list manager at judjack@rocketmail.com > >============================== >Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: >Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. >http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com