Ann - Yes, we certainly share some of the same frustrations. I can't tell you definitively, because I'm only familiar w/prison records in KS, but.... If it's at a _state_ penitentiary, your best place to begin is to contact the State Archives. Different laws apply in different states - so you may or may not be able to get much information that way. If he's at a _Federal_ penitentiary - down in that part of the country, the records would probably be at the National Archives Regional Branch....located somewhere near Atlanta (even if he was in AL at a _federal_ pen, those records, I'm fairly certain, might be at the Atlanta branch of the National Archives. Now, that said, I should follow by saying, depending on when he was incarcerated, those records may or may not be open and available to you. Some states open records after 70 years, some after 100, and some....well, whenever they please, I suppose. Also, yes, prisoners should be enumerated in the federal censuses. It isn't much, but I hope it's a start. If you haven't already, you might take her "Atlanta" or "Alabama" as a lead, and search for him in the 1900 census (as an example) in those states, or elsewhere in the south. Good luck!!! Linda B. battg2@grapevine.net (descendent of the now-infamous (but not infamous enough, since no one cares to claim him!) Harvey BOLIN b. 1874) :-) At 08:46 AM 08/01/2000 , you wrote: >Hello Mystery Busters! >I've been lurking for quite a while, but thought I might throw my >mystery into the ring. It was brought to mind by the Harvey BOLIN >mystery posted. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the two individuals >(Harvey BOLIN b: 1874 and King HARVEY b: 1876) were 'of an age'. > >My unsolved genealogical mystery is King M. Harvey. He was born on May >31, 1876 in Scioto Co. Ohio. I have a photocopy of his birth record from >the record book. His mother was Mary F(rancis?) PARKS, although in the >record book it is recorded as POTTS. I suspect his maternal grandmother >may have been a King. His father left his mother shortly after King's >birth. He was the youngest of four children - Wm.Thomas, Elmira, Charles >& King M. The father remarried in Kentucky, and had another family. King >ran away from home at age 14. A great-aunt said she once saw a photo of >him in a prison uniform; she thought it was from the Atlanta >Penitentiary around the turn of the century. We have not been able to >get a response from them as to old prisoner records. Could it have been >Alabama instead of Atlanta? My greataunt was in her 90s when she told me >all this. > >I was wondering if there was any information available on inmates of the >Atlanta Penitentiary when it first began at the turn of the century. I >wrote to the Penitentiary, but the letter was returned. I called, and >they laughed at me. I can't get records from the NARA without his >prisoner number. Wasn't the Penitentiary enumerated during the Federal >census'? > >Another line of thought is that he altered his name; possibly to (heaven >forbid) Harvey KING (there's sooo many of them!), or even used his >middle name (I have no idea what it could be, other than Initial M... >and no family on the HARVEY side were M's.) > >Would appreciate any information or suggestions on were to go from here! >-- >Kindest Regards, >-- -- -- -- -- -- -- >Ann Harvey Lahtinen >-------------------- >www.HarveyGenealogy.com >GOONS/ONS#2938 >HARVEY-L Administrator > > >==== GEN-UNSOLVED-MYSTERIES Mailing List ==== >Please consider becoming a Rootsweb contributor. > >============================== >Ancestry.com now has more than 200,000 subscribers! To celebrate, >access to ALL of Ancestry.com will be free from July 18 to July 31! >http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/freepromo.asp?sourcecode=A11AM