I do not understand why Hamilton County records haven't been filmed or archived. I believe if you go on line to find something listed with The State of Illinois you will find Hamilton County missing from the information that is available from other counties. The records in the court house do not belong to the court house but are there for the people and we pay the taxes that pay for their jobs & the restoring of documents. They are the custodians of these records and are there to help you. A couple of years ago at the Hamilton County Clerks office, I ask if I could go into the records room and was told yes, but I would have to leave my video camera at the desk as no cameras were allowed. They are very helpful and will make copies for a fee. Scraps of paper were given to write on if you found something you wanted them to look up or copy. I have heard some people report in some states that they use a digital camera to copy a document but not here. Last year while looking at the Index to marriages etc., I was informed that one of the books that I had opened was not permitted to be viewed by me. not sure now the reason, but probably was the date of the book. In 1995 a letter was sent out to the clerks about viewing Index records and another memo in August 1999 as follows: County Clerks p,2 We also need to remind you that only you or your employees may physically access and/or view the Vital Records or Indexes in your office. Private Agencies may not physically access records. (Next states the law and if custodian of Vital Records willfully and knowingly violates the law etc..) The only exception to this law is the indexes to records prior to Jan. 1, 1916 shall be made available to persons for the purpose of genealogy research. It is signed Steven L. Perry Deputy State Registrar. All this said, it still leaves many unanswered questions as to why & what is allowed at different locations. James This is my fear - that they won't let me have copies of the index. I don't really understand the purpose of this policy, but I've heard of other places not allowing Xerox copies of indexes also. It almost seems the only purpose is to make it harder for people to do research on these records (which may cut down on wear and tear, but is sort a CATCH-22 sort of reasoning). Anyway, thanks for the help. Jim Guess things have changed since I worked in a Court House. When I was a clerk in Lane County in Eugene, Oregon, it was made very clear to all of us that the taxpayers paid our wages and we were in that court house to take care of the public. If they wanted copies of something we were to get to it and help them out, those records were[and I thought still are] PUBLIC RECORDS and the people essentially paid our wages and we were to jump to and be courteous and get copies of whatever the people wanted.

I have heard the reason for not allowing copies or photos is that they don't want the information uploaded to a site that charges the public for viewing the records. Also, the reason for the restriction of certain records because of date is to respect the privacy of living people. Just like we can view census records unless it's been 72 years since the census date, I think something similar might now be required of vital statistics. Carol Janes James Gholson <jgholson@spiff.net> wrote: I do not understand why Hamilton County records haven't been filmed or archived. I believe if you go on line to find something listed with The State of Illinois you will find Hamilton County missing from the information that is available from other counties. The records in the court house do not belong to the court house but are there for the people and we pay the taxes that pay for their jobs & the restoring of documents. They are the custodians of these records and are there to help you. A couple of years ago at the Hamilton County Clerks office, I ask if I could go into the records room and was told yes, but I would have to leave my video camera at the desk as no cameras were allowed. They are very helpful and will make copies for a fee. Scraps of paper were given to write on if you found something you wanted them to look up or copy. I have heard some people report in some states that they use a digital camera to copy a document but not here. Last year while looking at the Index to marriages etc., I was informed that one of the books that I had opened was not permitted to be viewed by me. not sure now the reason, but probably was the date of the book. In 1995 a letter was sent out to the clerks about viewing Index records and another memo in August 1999 as follows: County Clerks p,2 We also need to remind you that only you or your employees may physically access and/or view the Vital Records or Indexes in your office. Private Agencies may not physically access records. (Next states the law and if custodian of Vital Records willfully and knowingly violates the law etc..) The only exception to this law is the indexes to records prior to Jan. 1, 1916 shall be made available to persons for the purpose of genealogy research. It is signed Steven L. Perry Deputy State Registrar. All this said, it still leaves many unanswered questions as to why & what is allowed at different locations. James This is my fear - that they won't let me have copies of the index. I don't really understand the purpose of this policy, but I've heard of other places not allowing Xerox copies of indexes also. It almost seems the only purpose is to make it harder for people to do research on these records (which may cut down on wear and tear, but is sort a CATCH-22 sort of reasoning). Anyway, thanks for the help. Jim Guess things have changed since I worked in a Court House. When I was a clerk in Lane County in Eugene, Oregon, it was made very clear to all of us that the taxpayers paid our wages and we were in that court house to take care of the public. If they wanted copies of something we were to get to it and help them out, those records were[and I thought still are] PUBLIC RECORDS and the people essentially paid our wages and we were to jump to and be courteous and get copies of whatever the people wanted. ==== ILHAMILT Mailing List ==== Listowner, Michael L. Hebert mailto:mhebert.usgw@charter.net ------------------------------------------------------------ Visit Carol Yarbrough's Yesterdays in Hamilton County, Illinois at: http://www.carolyar.com/Illinois/HamiltonCounty.htm --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email!