Several days ago I sent message starting out like this -- > I sent a letter to the Spencer County courthouse asking for some marriage > records sevral months ago. They apparently forwarded it to an independant > researcher. Because of the statement that followed mentioning about genealogical research, half of the answers thought that they were asking for genealogical research -- this was NOT the case and NOT what the problem seems to be. Let me rephrase the way I ask my question. I had received 2 messages (since then over a dozen) mentioning that some of the courthouses are not even giving copies or xeroxes of a specific birth, death, marriage, etc. when the information (exactly) is given to them -- for instance if I asked for a xerox of marriage for Anna Smith and Virgil C. Sandage, Apr 9, 1942 in Gibson Co, IN and that the county is then giving this over to an independent person or contractor (who charges between $10 and $40 hr with minimum of $10 plus xerox fees, postage and handling). (so far I have had over 40 saying YES this is occurring and the $$ figures I quoted came from them just for a simple xerox copy -- even if you say it was in Marriage books at Health Dept, vol 3 pg 310). THAT is what I am trying to figure out -- is this becoming a common thing among the courthouses? This is NOT genealogical research per se but is xeroxing public domain vital records. I always understood that THIS is what these people are there for and for which the tax dollars are being paid. I have been doing genealogical research for 37 years and the MOST I ever had to pay for a xerox of this kind was $2 (to cover the one xerox, their time, and postage, envelope, etc. Another concern is the number of courthouses or departments in courthouses that seem to NOT EVEN ALLOW looking at the records (I could understand if they used the US' rules of anything after 1920 to today, but before that time and dates in 1700's and 1800's I can't understand). Several mentioned that some records you can look at, but "down the hall" the other type of records you are denied access completely. Even mentioning the freedom of information act and other legal rules (even ones from their particular states) appears not to budge these clerks at all. I am just wondering and concerned about this problem (especially in the Indiana counties where I support 3 county USGenWeb Project webpages) as well as wondering if these clerks are REALLY giving this to the county or are they just pocketing the money for themselves (or a kick-back for themselves by using these independents and contractors), Judy M.

I received a post from Jerry Mounts this morning . Thank you to the InGenWeb for the Indiana yearly award given in my name... I am very humbled and you have my sincere thankyou. Indiana Volunteers are the greatest. I'll be helping John West -- an ole Kentuckian <smile> with Vanderburgh County. He's a pretty nice fella and knows a lot about southern Indiana... He'll be handling all the html's and main pages and Chris and I will be helping in other ways. I will take care of the mailing lists and the automated queries and obits... If we can help you please holler at us... Again - thanks -- Betty

At 12:30 AM 5/26/98 -0400, you wrote: >In a message dated 98-05-25 18:17:26 EDT, beheler@netusa1.net writes: >I didnt know there were laws regarding looking at the records. >Thank you! >Kathy Visit this page for a newspaper series on accessing public records in Indiana. http://www.evansville.net/~tsgs/courier.html#RECORDS Here's the URL for Indiana Code regarding Access to Public Records: http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title5/ar14/ch3.html Feel free to copy these URL's for your pages. -Chris ===================================== Genealogy, it's a Family Thing.

At 08:46 PM 5/25/98 -0500, you wrote: > We have something new with Vanderburgh County,the "Tri-Coordinators" are >hosting it and they have moved the site to; > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~invander/vand.htm > > The "Tri-Coordinators" include ; >John G. West , Chris Myers and Betty Sellers. > I think the three of them can handle Vanderburgh OK. > > Welcome John and welcome back Betty,good job Chris in getting all the >help.Now if I can get two helpers for Clay County ;) > >Fred > Thanks for the Welcome, Fred! As the new kid on the block (of the "Tri-Coordinators" for Vanderburgh Co.), I am pleased to get a chance to work in my home state and my home county. I am coordinator for four counties in KYGenWeb that I have spent over 20 years researching in courthouses, cemeteries & libraries, so I am not new to USGenWeb. I will be maintaining the main pages of the site with Betty Sellers managing the Lists & Forum Pages. Chris will continue to maintain his pages that he has on GeoCities and the ones he is managing on the Tri-State Genealogical Society Website. >John G. West: mylines@evansville.net >Home Page: http://www.evansville.net/~mylines/ >DaBugMan's Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8066/index.html > ````````````````````````````````````````````````` > >4-H Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8066/my4-h.htm >SAR Page (Sons of the American Revolution)[Posey/Vanderburgh Chapter]: >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8066/mysar.htm >KYGenWeb-Breckinridge: http://www.evansville.net/~mylines/breck.html >KYGenWeb-Christian: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kychrist/christian4.htm >KYGenWeb-Grayson: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygrayso/grayson3.htm >KYGenWeb-Hardin: http://www.evansville.net/~mylines/hardin.html >KYGenWeb-LaRue: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kylarue/larue4.htm >Tri-State Gen Soc: http://www.evansville.net/~tsgs/tsgs.html >U.S. Internet Gen Soc: http://www.usigs.org (Founder, Board Member) >My Bug Collection: >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8066/mybugs.htm >A Link to God: http://www.evansville.net/~mylines/mylink.html >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER ~ BERNADINE LONG (11 JUL 1921 - 01 OCT 1997) >Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and Christ will enlighten >thee. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the >mercy of God, Rest in Peace. ...Amen >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We have something new with Vanderburgh County,the "Tri-Coordinators" are hosting it and they have moved the site to; http://www.rootsweb.com/~invander/vand.htm The "Tri-Coordinators" include ; John G. West , Chris Myers and Betty Sellers. I think the three of them can handle Vanderburgh OK. Welcome John and welcome back Betty,good job Chris in getting all the help.Now if I can get two helpers for Clay County ;) Fred

In a message dated 98-05-25 18:17:26 EDT, beheler@netusa1.net writes: << By the way, it is illegal for them to charge for you to look at the record. Pay the fee and ask for a full receipt which explains what you are paying for and send a copy to the Indiana Attorney General. If you complain, the clerk may be forced to comply with the law. A friend was charge $5. to enter the record room at the Fulton Co., IN Clerk's office and reported them and got her money back. Don't know if they are complying now or not. >> Really??? At the Lake county clerks office they say their ONLY procedure is to fill out the form and give them the fee...and like one lady said, many want you to state your relationship to the person whose record youre looking up. The city of Gary keeps their own records (not kept at county level) and their procedure is the same...fill out the form, pay the fee, and go sit down, we'll be with you in a moment with your record. Jasper county clerk was great. Very nice woman there brought out the books and somewhat let me look through them...and she even helped. DeKalb county..."there's the books from 18##-18## and the books for 18##-19## are over there on that shelf....good luck." We found so many more things than we'd even hoped for that day! Searched through all of our dekalb surnames in each book finding people we didnt know existed. I just thought Lake county was picky and that things were easier in smaller communities...I didnt know there were laws regarding looking at the records. Thank you! Kathy

Yes, Kathy, with 2 counties I get plenty of requests for everything and anything to do with my counties including things not of a genealogical nature. Since the county seats of both counties are a good half hour drive one way, it is not even convenient for me to do this kind of thing. I have on rare occasion gone and looked for an obit for someone, but I really don't want to get in that habit, since it does cost me out of pocket for gas and copies. I feel that my time is better spent, putting items online that will be of help to many people. You may want to check Family Search to see if any of Lake County's records have been filmed by the Mormon Church and direct people there. Cass Co has quite a few things filmed, so I often direct people there. By the way, it is illegal for them to charge for you to look at the record. Pay the fee and ask for a full receipt which explains what you are paying for and send a copy to the Indiana Attorney General. If you complain, the clerk may be forced to comply with the law. A friend was charge $5. to enter the record room at the Fulton Co., IN Clerk's office and reported them and got her money back. Don't know if they are complying now or not. Debby Beheler Check out my Genealogical research in Indiana page: http://www.netusa1.net/~beheler/INrsrch.html beheler@netusa1.net http://web.netusa1.net:80/~beheler/index.html - Miami Co., INGenweb http://www.rootsweb.com/~incass/county.html - Cass Co., INGenweb http://www.netusa1.net/~beheler/fambeh.html - Beheler family webpage

I may have mentioned the Civil War query page before but we also have a new Mexican War query page as well.Here are the URLs for the pages; http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/In/CivilWar http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/In/MexicanWar Jerry has also made a new "third year" logo that you may want to display,you will find all three logos on his Washington County site at; http://vax1.vigo.lib.in.us/~jmounts/county.htm It is near the bottom of the page. Fred

Well, some of the country counties, farm counties, that Ive dealt with do let a person xerox their records. I went looking for a couple birth records and they pointed me to their book shelves and let me loose. Which was great because I was able to find everyone that had that surname...including a few people I didnt know about. You try to get ANYTHING in Lake county you're gonna pay. It's "fill out this form...make out a check to the clerk's office...go sit down and wait it out". I constantly get emails from people, since I'm the coordinator for Lake Co GenWeb, that seem to think I can waltz into the clerks office and get their information without forms or fees. They send the names and dates and ask that I get the info...I point them to http://www.inlink.com/~nomi/vitalrec/in.html -Indiana Vital records info where they can find out how to send for this info themselves. Not sure if this is the exact same thing you were talking about...was also wondering if other CC's got tons of these same emails. Kathy Lake County GenWeb http://users.rootsweb.com/~inlake Firstmom's Adoption and Genealogy Page http://members.tripod.com/~KHuish

I received this letter and another one later saying that this independent researcher charges $$$ per hour for this research: ----- "Judy, I sent a letter to the Spencer County courthouse asking for some marriage records sevral months ago. They apparently forwarded it to an independant researcher. She wrote to me telling me that the Spencer County courthouse will not do genealogy anymore. Is this true? And, if so, what do you recommend those of us who live out of state do? Sherri Hessick" ----- The other message I received said pretty much the same thing and said that she couldn't even get xerox' of records where she provided dates, etc. Thought it strange that 2 persons wrote within a couple days apart with same complaint/problem. I can understand them not doing research (where persons don't know the names or dates or want everything on a particular family) but getting xerox' of vital statistics that are public domain and in courthouse already seems "strange" -- isn't this why we are paying them their salaries? Are any of the other counties doing this and can anyone verify that the courthouse won't do the xerox' of birth, death, marriage, etc. records anymore? How are others handling this in their counties? Shame that you can't even get xerox' of a marriage record, etc. without paying for research fees too. Judy M.

The message I posted earlier today concerning criminal offense was in reference to the message I forwarded to the INGEN-L and was attached to my message. The attached message was not a message that you would have previously seen on the INGEN-L; it was sent directly to me. I forwarded the message to me along with my message to the INGEN-L in order that persons who had not seen the forwarded message previously could read it and hopefully help me determine what it really meant. Sam Cline AnoleLady wrote: > > Am I missing some messages that go through here or what? Half of the messages > that I receive on here make no sense whatsoever because theyre in reply to > something that I never saw....criminal? > Kathy

Am I missing some messages that go through here or what? Half of the messages that I receive on here make no sense whatsoever because theyre in reply to something that I never saw....criminal? Kathy

When you get the time be sure to check the "proposed" UsGenWeb by-laws online now. Fred *******FROM MEGAN AND THE BOARD********************************************* Resisting (barely) the inclination to tinker with them *one more time* before putting them out online, the board presents the draft proposed bylaws: http://www.usgenweb.org/official/bylaws.html Either the state-coordinator list or the usgenweb-all list are appropriate places for comment..... Please realize, however, that there isn't a committee---or a human---on earth that can write bylaws that are going to please **everybody**. We hope we haven't missed anything major, but we've beaten on these things till the letters run together before our eyes. megan & the board folks -- Megan Zurawicz, National Coordinator USGenWeb pigolit@ix.netcom.com * cochonnet@aol.com

WHO IS THE CRIMINAL HERE? If it is me????????--GenConnect is going to be deleted from all 4 of my county pages. I don't need the FBI, CIA, and FCC in my life, thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sam Cline

Here is the first message about the up-coming elections.Remember,all references to SC and CC are board members only NOT State coordinators or County coordinators. Fred ======================================================== >Please share this with your County Coordinators, Thank you! > >Nominations will be accepted starting today for the following officers for The USGenWeb Project. > >1. National Coordinator - one-year term > >In order to make the terms of the State Coordinator and County Coordinators "staggered" so that half of them will be elected each year, there will be special guidelines for the 1998 election. > >2. Four (4) State Coordinator Representatives will be elected; two (2) for two-year > terms and two (2) for one-year terms. One-year terms will be determined by "drawing > straws." >3. Eight (8) County Coordinator Representatives will be elected; four (4) for two-year > terms and four (4) for one-year terms. One-year terms will be determined by "drawing > straws." > > One State Coordinator Representative and 2 County Coordinator Representatives will be elected for each of these regions > > a) Northeast/North Central Region: > Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, > New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin > b) Southeast/Mid-Atlantic Region: > Alabama, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, > Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, > Virginia, West Virginia > c) Northwest/Plains Region: > Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North > Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming > d) Southwest/South Central Region: > Arizona, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, > New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah > >The persons nominated must have the following qualifications: > >1. National Coordinator > a) Qualifications - at least one year of continuous service with the The USGenWeb > Project and current activity as a State Project Coordinator (primary or assistant), > County-level Project Coordinator (primary or assistant), Township/Town-level Project > Coordinator (primary or assistant), or Special Project Coordinator (primary or > assistant) > b) Length of term - one (1) year > c) Term Limit - no consecutive terms > 2. State Coordinator Representative > a) Qualifications - at least 6 months continuous service with The USGenWeb Project > and current activity as a State Coordinator or Assistant State Coordinator > b) Length of term - two (2) years > c) Unlimited consecutive terms > 3. County Coordinator Representative > a) Qualifications - at least 6 months continuous service with The USGenWeb Project > and current activity as a County Coordinator or Assistant County Coordinator > b) Length of term - two (2) years > c) Unlimited consecutive terms > >Who may nominate? > > 1)Any project volunteer > 2) Volunteers may nominate themselves > >The nomination should include > >1) Name of nominee >2) email address of nominee >3) Nominated for what position >4) Nominee's qualifications > >Send nominations to: > ><nominate@usgenweb.org> > >Nominations will close on June 16, 1998 at 12:00pm PDT. > >Thank you > >Kay Mason >Elections Committee >The USGenWeb Project > >Member, National Advisory Board >The USGenWeb Project >http://www.usgenweb.org/ > >National Coordinator >The USGenWeb Archives Census Project >http://www.usgenweb.org/census/ > >Kansas Unknown Counties >http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/unknown >

First let me thank all that sent their thoughts and prayers concerning the death of my sister,they were appreciated. Sorry if I didn't reply personally but I got way behind in my mail during this. Now for the news, You will begin hearing about a election soon. We will be electing a new national coordinator as well as new board members.You will see references to SC and CC these are NOT state hosts and County hosts that are being elected but rather SC and CC board members. Next, we have been working on a set of by-laws that *should* be ready to go public soon. I have people here all of next week so I may be a little slow in responding but you can always remind me if you ask something and I don't get back to you. Thanks again for keeping me in mind this past week,good to know so many care. Fred

Hi Fred and Fellow CCs, I have moved Cass Co. INGenWeb to: http://www.rootsweb.com/~incass/county.html Thanks, Debby Beheler beheler@netusa1.net

Here you go, if you have asked for a new rootsweb account now is the time to ask again. *********DOC SAYS***************************************************************** >I'm caught up with making new accounts so if any of you know someone >still waiting for a rootsweb account.. have them drop me a line >maddoc@rootsweb.com > >We're also caught up on new mailing lists so if you know someone who >needs one (for usgenweb or worldgenweb) send them to this URL. > >http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/members/listrequest.html > >Thanks, > >Doc >

>Resent-Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 08:33:24 -0700 (PDT) >Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 10:40:43 -0500 >From: "Ms. Piglet" <pigolit@ix.netcom.com> >Organization: USGenWeb >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) >Old-To: "Board, USGW" <board-l@rootsweb.com>, > USGW/ALL <USGENWEB-ALL-L@rootsweb.com>, > "SC list, USGW" <state-coord-l@rootsweb.com> >Subject: [BOARD-L] Kids' Page >To: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-From: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >X-Mailing-List: <BOARD-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/2106 >X-Loop: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-Sender: BOARD-L-request@rootsweb.com > >(please share) > >What started out as a school kids' genealogy page at MOGenWeb has now >been expanded into a national site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgwkidz > >If any other states have stuff for school kids doing genealogy, I'd >appreciate if you'd consider sharing it with this site; if you get any >requests from teachers I'd appreciate if you'd point them our way. You >may note the start of a list of pertinent links--please feel free to >send me more that might be particularly useful to kids. > >Links from state or county sites cheerfully solicited.<G> > >Tnanks much, > >megan >-- >Megan Zurawicz, National Coordinator USGenWeb >pigolit@ix.netcom.com * cochonnet@aol.com >

>Resent-Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 08:35:19 -0700 (PDT) >Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 10:43:26 -0500 >From: "Ms. Piglet" <pigolit@ix.netcom.com> >Organization: USGenWeb >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) >Old-To: "Board, USGW" <board-l@rootsweb.com>, > "SC list, USGW" <state-coord-l@rootsweb.com> >Subject: [BOARD-L] change of contact person >To: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-From: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >X-Mailing-List: <BOARD-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/2107 >X-Loop: BOARD-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-Sender: BOARD-L-request@rootsweb.com > >Tom's asked that this go to all SC's and CC's. > >megan >-- >Megan Zurawicz, National Coordinator USGenWeb >pigolit@ix.netcom.com * cochonnet@aol.comReturn-Path: <THembrey@aol.com> >Received: from imo30.mx.aol.com (imo30.mx.aol.com [198.81.17.74]) > by ixmail1.ix.netcom.com (8.8.7-s-4/8.8.7/(NETCOM v1.01)) with ESMTP id SAA21359; > for <pigolit@ix.netcom.com>; Tue, 12 May 1998 18:46:35 -0700 (PDT) >Received: from THembrey@aol.com > by imo30.mx.aol.com (IMOv14.1) id EPUCa02449; > Tue, 12 May 1998 21:46:09 +2000 (EDT) >From: THembrey <THembrey@aol.com> >Message-ID: <e0df697.3558fb62@aol.com> >Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:46:09 EDT >To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com, USGENWEB-ALL-L@rootsweb.com, > rootsweb-help@rootsweb.com, stclairm@compuserve.com, > GENMTD-L@rootsweb.com, WorldGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com, > TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com, helpdesk-l@rootsweb.com >Cc: leverich@rootsweb.com, karen@rootsweb.com, pigolit@ix.netcom.com, > cgsnyder@uiuc.edu, cheps@juno.com, yorkhistorical@navix.net, > maverik@cwnet.com, Dragoona@rica.net, estral@switchboard.net >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Subject: USGenWeb Home Pages hosted by RootsWeb >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit >X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 16-bit for Windows sub 63 > >This is official notice of the change in Coordinators for the Guest Page >Register Index hosted by the RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative. There >will be NO URL CHANGES involved in this administrative move. >re: http://www.rootsweb.com/~websites/ > >Karen Isaacson (karen@rootsweb.com) has graciously accepted the duties of >managing the web pages including the Guest Page Register of USGenWeb County >Home Pages that are hosted by the RootsWeb server. She will be your point of >contact when new account URLs are established at RootsWeb and the links are to >be added to the Register. I will be assisting her for a short time until the >news gets distributed. Please pass on this info to all new and old county >coordinators. We are hoping for a smooth transfer and appreciate your help. > >The change is due to my other job (the one that contributes funds for >bread+butter around here). I have become involved in a new position that will >require my absense from the keyboard for extended periods which will hinder my >ability provide you the best possible service. If Karen receives the support >I got from you, she will be at ease with the new assignment in just a few >days. > >I sincerely wish to thank those particular individuals whom have worked >closely in helping to keep the Register as current as possible. Here are the >web page URLs that Karen will be updating to reflect the change. Y'all might >swing by and give a hand in review for current link updates. >http://www.rootsweb.com/~websites/ >http://www.rootsweb.com/~websites/usgenweb.htm >http://www.rootsweb.com/~websites/gensoc.htm > >It has been a pleasurable experience for me and I thank everyone again. > >Thomas Hembrey >