By no means.. I watched them work their magic in Northern France in the 80's. I am amazed at how much they have recorded. I think.. I am not certain.. That there are personal items that people have contributed to the Family History Archives in Utah. They might be willing to store these documents. I speak for no organization or group. I am just "thinking out loud" as one might say. I fear that the documents will be destroyed and data lost for ever. It is nice to have a copy.. but priceless to a family member to see, feel, and touch the original that was held by an ancestor. I speak from experience here... I urge everyone to email the legislators until they hear from them. I will and do quite often.... Norman Adkins -----Original Message----- From: Carole Beth Arnette [mailto:nautilus@satx.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 10:31 AM To: JONES-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Jones] VIRGINIA SENATE BILL DESTRUCTION OF WILL FILES I wasn't complaining, just asking. For me, I was concerned that ancestry.com OWNS the 1930 census. Norman, I hope you weren't offended. Carole Beth ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adkins, Norman" <norman.adkins@houseofraeford.com> To: <JONES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 7:22 AM Subject: RE: [Jones] VIRGINIA SENATE BILL DESTRUCTION OF WILL FILES > The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is always filming any > and all documents it is allowed to. > > There are volumes of documents and few to do the work. > > I will send a copy to SLC Gamily History Dept for them to review... > > Norman Adkins > > -----Original Message----- > From: Carole Beth Arnette [mailto:nautilus@satx.rr.com] > Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:53 PM > To: JONES-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [Jones] VIRGINIA SENATE BILL DESTRUCTION OF WILL FILES > > > are they going to destroy them period? To our LDS friends is the church > filming anymore material? ancestry.com did the 1930 census > Carole Beth ----- Original Message ----- > From: "JEAN PAYTON" <jeanpayton@earthlink.net> > To: <JONES-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:27 PM > Subject: Re: [Jones] VIRGINIA SENATE BILL DESTRUCTION OF WILL FILES > > > > That is what we are trying to stop from doing. Its fine to microfilm them > > but to destroy the originals would be a very costly mistake. The State of > > Virginia by allowing this destruction to happen is destroying a very > > important historical documents that date back to the 1600s when people > first > > started to arrive in the New World. > > > > What I don't understand is why they won't donate them to the historical > > Society, Library of Virginia, or to other Genealogical Societies. Simply > > the lack of storage is a very poor excuse for destroyng these documents. > > Massachusetts has just as much historical papers and they haven't > threatened > > to destroy for lack of space. > > > > Microfilming them is not always a cost effective way of retaining these > > histroical documents. When they are microfilmed people who do this often > > make mistakes. They don't photograph them properly, they miss pages, and > > sometimes destroy the whole document in the process. Look at some of the > > Census records we have. Some of them you can't read from the microfilm, > > some of them have black splotches on their lens which transfer to the > films. > > Historic Wills that date back 400 yrs are hard to read in the immediate > > copy. If they are hard to read in their original state microfiming will > > just make it harder to read. > > > > If we the people let these States do these things because they lack space > we > > stand to lose a very important part of our history and heritage. Our > > ancestors when writing their last testant and will wrote them with the > idea > > of protecting their families and heirs and leaving a piece of history when > > they were gone. > > > > It is just the State of Virginia,but there is the State of Florida who > want > > to do away with their State Library which houses all of their important > and > > historical documents, The state of Washington is another state who wants > to > > do away with their historical documentation. We are the family > researchers > > must ban together and let our government know that these are precious > > records that should be retained for ever not thrown away because they lack > > storage. The least they could do is to offer them to the Genealogical > > Societues or have them transcribed and put online for the world to see. > > > > One prime example of retaining these documents is to be able to prove who > > were the heirs. I was trying to connect my Spencer line and I was missing > > the name of one son. When I thought I had the rright father I was told > that > > he didn't have a son named John. Well when I found the will in New York > he > > indeed did have a son John which connected my line from the First Spencers > > to come to the New Wolrd. Without that will I would have been still > looking > > for the connection. > > > > So yes we all need to let the Senators, Delegates, Congressman, and our > > President know that these papers are very important to all of the people > of > > the United States not just that state. We need to make sure they retain > > these copies. I don't understand how they can lack for storage space nor > > the money to fund these records when they can vote themselve huge wage > > increases as they did this past year and then complain they don't have the > > money to continue restoration or continue to keep these documents > available > > to the World. > > Jean Payton > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "BILL & KARLI DYE" <bdye@tcac.net> > > To: <JONES-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:30 PM > > Subject: Re: [Jones] VIRGINIA SENATE BILL DESTRUCTION OF WILL FILES > > > > > > > Thanks, I read what the summary was. Appreciate you giving me the > > > directions. > > > > > > Does that mean that as long as the wills are microfilmed then they can > be > > > destroyed -- like it says in the last line? > > > > > > Karli > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: <Jnshowl@aol.com> > > > > Wish this was a hoax. Go to the link below > > > > http://legis.state.va.us/ > > > > and type in this bill number SB818 > > > > Jackie Howell > > > > > > > > > > > > > ==== JONES Mailing List ==== > > > Direct your questions, comments or problems to the listowner at > > jones-admin@rootsweb.com > > > For detailed instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing visit this > > site: > > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/j/jones.html > > > browse the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/jones > > > search the archives: > > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=JONES > > > Unusual JONES given names, > > http://members.aol.com/stjones/jones/oddnames.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ==== JONES Mailing List ==== > > Direct your questions, comments or problems to the listowner at > jones-admin@rootsweb.com > > For detailed instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing visit this > site: > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/j/jones.html > > browse the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/jones > > search the archives: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=JONES > > Unusual JONES given names, > http://members.aol.com/stjones/jones/oddnames.html > > > > > > ==== JONES Mailing List ==== > Direct your questions, comments or problems to the listowner at > jones-admin@rootsweb.com > For detailed instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing visit this site: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/j/jones.html > browse the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/jones > search the archives: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=JONES > Unusual JONES given names, > http://members.aol.com/stjones/jones/oddnames.html > > > ==== JONES Mailing List ==== > Direct your questions, comments or problems to the listowner at jones-admin@rootsweb.com > For detailed instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing visit this site: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/j/jones.html > browse the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/jones > search the archives: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=JONES > Unusual JONES given names, http://members.aol.com/stjones/jones/oddnames.html > ==== JONES Mailing List ==== Direct your questions, comments or problems to the listowner at jones-admin@rootsweb.com For detailed instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing visit this site: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/j/jones.html browse the archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/jones search the archives: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=JONES Unusual JONES given names, http://members.aol.com/stjones/jones/oddnames.html