On Thu, April 16, 2009 8:42 am, TW Scott wrote: > All, > My courthouse really did burn down, it was well documented. It was That was really my point. Many old courthouses were wood structures, There were LOTS of American courthouse fires, some completely burned down (repeatedly). However, often the clerks would have the records in their houses and when the courthouse burned down no records were lost or maybe only a few. What I'm trying to say is don't just take someone's statement that there are no records for county [fill in the blank] for [some date] because the courthouse burned down in [some other date]. I've researched in a county where the courthouse burned down three times, and only a very few records were lost. However, I've done other research, were records were kept and fires have nearly destroyed all records for a large timeframe. In American research you need to do your homework to know what really is lost, and not just because someone says so. Of course, generally many records can also be found in the local churches and when churches shutter, it's not unusual to have historical societies get those records. Local historical societies in America are a valuable source of information. I would not be surprised if there is a German equivalent to them? Brian