My friends - We join collectively, I am sure, in sending our prayers and hopes for those involved in the tornado which went through Marshall County in the past 36 hours. Fortunately, there appears to be no loss of life, although there was some property destruction. Our southern neighbor, Henry County, in TN, also suffered damage from this same set of storms. This has certainly been a difficult year weather wise, with everything from droughts to flooding to tornados and hurricanes. A word about the General Land Office Records which have been available through the Bureau of Land Management - that site is still unavailable, due to continuing security concerns in which the federal court system has been involved. The GLO and BLM have been trying to get these security issues addressed for nearly two years, and the site has been up and down during this time. In one case, it came back up, but the judge in question was not satisfied and it was ordered to be taken down again. In another case, the BLM itself decided to take the site down, as they had found a loophole through which security could be breached. This continues to be a major loss of an online resource for genealogists. There is something of a work-around for this problem for those who have Ancestry's subscription service, which has the document numbers to actually order the files themselves from NARA. Much slower, but it will get the records to you. On another matter, with the 100% increase in the cost of microfilm reproductions of 19th century from the University of Kentucky Reprographics group(to which I addressed a complaint recently about this incredible increase) after they reopened their facility in August, the use of Interlibrary loan should be gaining popularity. The American Library Association has guidelines for ILL which can be seen at www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/interlibrary.htm Be sure to use the WorldCat resource through the Online Computer Library Catalog(OCLC), in which searches for family names, companies, areas and regions and other topics. WorldCat can be found at www.oclc.org/worldcat/genealogy I also recommend the Godfrey Library's databases, although theirs is a fee based service, but very reasonable at $30/year(www.godfrey.org). I will shortly be posting another of Gordon Wilson's delightful little essays. -B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Actually, Bill, there was one life lost in Marshall County. My grandmother's cousin, Danny Ray Fields, was killed on Tuesday night in the storms. His obituary can be viewed at: http://collierfuneralhome.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=web.viewobit&obitid=1191 Justin Richardson --- Bill Utterback <billco@ARN.NET> wrote: > My friends - > > We join collectively, I am sure, in sending our > prayers and hopes for those > involved in the tornado which went through Marshall > County in the past 36 > hours. Fortunately, there appears to be no loss of > life, although there was > some property destruction. Our southern neighbor, > Henry County, in TN, also > suffered damage from this same set of storms. This > has certainly been a > difficult year weather wise, with everything from > droughts to flooding to > tornados and hurricanes. > > A word about the General Land Office Records which > have been available > through the Bureau of Land Management - that site is > still unavailable, due > to continuing security concerns in which the federal > court system has been > involved. The GLO and BLM have been trying to get > these security issues > addressed for nearly two years, and the site has > been up and down during > this time. In one case, it came back up, but the > judge in question was not > satisfied and it was ordered to be taken down again. > In another case, the > BLM itself decided to take the site down, as they > had found a loophole > through which security could be breached. This > continues to be a major loss > of an online resource for genealogists. There is > something of a work-around > for this problem for those who have Ancestry's > subscription service, which > has the document numbers to actually order the files > themselves from NARA. > Much slower, but it will get the records to you. > > On another matter, with the 100% increase in the > cost of microfilm > reproductions of 19th century from the University of > Kentucky Reprographics > group(to which I addressed a complaint recently > about this incredible > increase) after they reopened their facility in > August, the use of > Interlibrary loan should be gaining popularity. The > American Library > Association has guidelines for ILL which can be seen > at > www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/interlibrary.htm > Be sure > to use the WorldCat resource through the Online > Computer Library > Catalog(OCLC), in which searches for family names, > companies, areas and > regions and other topics. WorldCat can be found at > www.oclc.org/worldcat/genealogy I also recommend > the Godfrey Library's > databases, although theirs is a fee based service, > but very reasonable at > $30/year(www.godfrey.org). > > I will shortly be posting another of Gordon Wilson's > delightful little essays. > > > -B > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > > ==== KYJacksonPurchase Mailing List ==== > For KY Geologic Society maps of the JP region and > western KY, visit: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygraves/KentuckyCountyMaps.htm > > __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com