Ditto and thank you Mary Anne. I have received sacramental copies from every Manhattan Roman Catholic parish that had them. If one told me no records, I wrote to another parish using the list of Catholic churches by matching my know address with a zip code. How do I do this? Keeping it simple. l) Phone ahead before submitting a written request. 2) Be courteous to the person you speak with and ask them to spell their name. Some of the searchers are not native speakers of English or are volunteers. Ask about donations. Ask who you should address your request to. 3) Write a simple, typed business style letter, including your home phone number beneath where you sign. 4) Include the 5 "W"s :who, what, when, where, why 5) Offer alternative spellings of names, dates, etc Most searchers seek exactly what you ask for, and that includes the NYC Municipal Archives, & computers. 6) Limit sentences. Make small lists: name, sacrament, date etc. 7) Enclose a SASE. If they don't suggest an exact donation, ask if $5. is sufficient per look up. You can even compose a form letter on yourcomputer and copy it and add specific changes each time. It's a new year. Let's quit kibitzing and go for it! BMcK gothic@acd.net writes: > Golly folks. What does it really matter in the long run? What you believe > is > what you believe. And we are talking DEAD PEOPLE here. All else is > irrelevent. Thank the Lord that Mormons have taken it upon themselves > because of their beliefs to make sure that so many records have been saved. > Without Family History Centers and wonderful Mormon volunteers I would not > have found so many of my ancestors over the past 30+ years. > > Can we really leave this topic now and get on with things that are really > important? > > > Mary Anne, an Irish Roman Catholic with Mormon relatives ************************************** See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)