In a message dated 3/20/02 10:51:57 PM Central Standard Time, cbconly@midwest.net writes: > Subj: [ILHAMILT-L] courthouse files > Date: 3/20/02 10:51:57 PM Central Standard Time > From: cbconly@midwest.net (Cindy Birk Conley) > To: ILHAMILT-L@rootsweb.com > > Has anyone filed a formal Freedom of > Information Act request or have all contacts been informal?  I am > certainly not an expert in this field but other than charging 35 cents a > page for photocopying and claiming privacy for anything newer than > 1920............... > Cindy, > > You've heard the old adage "You can win the battle and lose the war." When > I first planned a trip to Hamilton County, many years ago, I heard that you > must be a member of the Illinois Genealogical Society or they would not > permit you to look at their records. However, when I did make a trip I did > not have any problem looking at the indexes. The staff has always pulled > the marriage records, etc and made copies for me. > > On one of my trips I had the indexes on the copy machine and they stopped > me from making a copy of the names that I was researching. I would not > want them to stop genealogists from researching in the courthouse. > Eventually I think we can pool the information we have and have a complete > index, even if we have to copy them with pencil and paper. > >