WHAT TO LOOK FOR and where, when RESEARCHING When conducting courthouse research, it's perfectly permissible to wait until you get to a courthouse and then ask where each record you want is housed and how far back it goes. But in this day and age, it's not the most efficient approach. First, the records may exist at another location, which can be a hassle or even a deal-breaker for those with limited time or transportation. Using online finding aids and digitized or microfilmed records can free up more of whatever time you have at the courthouse to dig for obscure or hard-to-find records. What a waste of time it would be to spend all your courthouse time copying vital records you could have accessed from home, only to leave untouched the probate packets you can't access from home. Finally, sometimes it's not possible to visit a courthouse in person. When you learn all you can online, you reduce the expenses of hiring a local to research for you or of paying courthouse staff to copy and mail you documents, which not all offices will even do. The most valuable online sources for learning what county data exists are these: 1. county offices and their websites 2. county genealogical societies and their websites 3. websites devoted to county-level research, like USGenWeb <http://click.familytreecommunity.com/?qs=9565e49ac72bff39fe067a007219baea2028c70db96cae4521b9fe5928aec72953acf8ac360bb942> or RootsWeb <http://click.familytreecommunity.com/?qs=9565e49ac72bff399675ee3d9dbca02b24b77df180bb44e08f0195b2f3dadf44a644b8b0c0b8a02b> sites 4. recently-published guides to local or regional genealogical research 5. online card catalogs like WorldCat <http://click.familytreecommunity.com/?qs=9565e49ac72bff392559d9a98d0f48b3e2acd921c66129b04edf85e3c7a830bf6d473c3fbdb7e911>, the Family History Library (see below), and favorite regional libraries 6. online card catalogs of your favorite genealogical data websites 7. for older vital records now under custody of the state: state archives and their websites, state genealogical 8. guides like Family Tree Magazine's State Guide series and The Family Tree Sourcebook Learn more about the above resources in Court Records 101 <http://click.familytreecommunity.com/?qs=9565e49ac72bff39d3806606652ae5b8b5e660237c4e99c2da07ce6bf7ae794be3bb9e2502d03d6d> !