Michelle -- The NYS vital records I wrote for in mid-April are just now arriving, so that makes it about 6 and a half months. Not great, but better than two years. After dealing with New York State for quite some time, I find I am now in the habit of sending for vital records (making a note of everything I send for) and then just forgetting about it. Then one day several months later -- if you're lucky -- you get a nice surprise in the mail. Dealing with clerks at the town level in New York can be an interesting experience. Some have been very helpful to me -- even providing material free of charge -- while others have been "snitty and snippy" -- requiring a xeroxed copy of my driver's license and taking nearly as long as NYS to fulfill the request. One serious consideration about getting records at the town level -- and this may have already been mentioned on this thread (I haven't read all the messages) -- is that the records you get from the town clerks are almost invariably transcriptions (or transcriptions of transcriptions) and as such are almost guaranteed to contain errors and omissions -- and some of the errors can be serious enough to throw your research off track. So if you have the time and the money, I definitely recommend getting vital records from NYS, since they provide a photocopy of the original record. Then you can take all the time you need deciphering the handwriting. You can bet a local clerk is not going to spend too much time puzzling over handwriting on your behalf. Dave Simonds ============================================================ At 12:09 PM 10/28/99 EDT, you wrote: Hey..I just found out it can take up to 2 years..2!!!!!!! to get certificates from Albany (Vital records) I called because I have been waiting!!! I can't believe it...so much wquicker to go through the county if you know it or if you feel comfortable writing to people in a county. (I didn't and that's why I sent to vitals) Yuck!!!! Wish something could be done to move it down to a 9 month span of time! Michele Lockwood