My friends - As I rush around trying to get everything in place to depart for the JP tomorrow morning, I want to drop by and post the first of "The Best of..." group that I will be using while I am away. I have selected these from past data posts and tips, and most of them are far enough back that many of our newer subscribers will not have seen these, unless they found them in the JP List Archives. Tonight, I am repeating the post concerning how KY was one of the earliest states to get into(or try to get into) the business of collecting vital statistics. I post VS records regularly, and knowing how they came to be a part of KY's records heritage is, I think, both interesting and worthwhile. As most of the tenured members of this List know, we have about a 50-50 split among the JP subscribers about whether one should request data particulars from my data posts through a message directed to me privately, or by going through the List to post it. The logic behind the latter alternative is the possibility that someone else on the List is tracing the same individual and/or family, and a contact may be made in that fashion - and this *has* happened, numerous times. Others in the subscribership do not want to see these requests, and feel that it adds to the mail volume to a greater degree than perhaps they would like. When we took a vote on the related issue of whether the List server machinery should be set to send messages directly to me or to the List, if the "Reply to" function on a subscriber's mail program is used, a slim majority wanted such Reply to messages to go directly to me, and not to the List, and that is the way it has been handled from that time to the present. In those cases, either a CC or a separate message would be required to send that message to the List, also. A suggestion has been made by one of our subscribers that might be worth adopting. If those who wish to send their data requests to me through the List would, in the Subject Line, prefix the word "Request"(e.g., "Request - Calloway County Marriages, Part 20...",etc.), it would alert everyone that this particular post is a data request, and if they do not wish to read it, it can be immediately deleted. Others who have an interest in what data requests that fellow subscribers are making could then skim the message to see if it is one of their families. I suggest we try that for awhile and see if it helps both groups. I am not opening a discussion topic with this - I am merely saying that we can trial this and see how it works. Our JP Homecoming 2000 Planning Committee meets for the first time via chat room tonight - we'll keep the List advised in general of how things are coming, and the attendee group list will get the particulars. I'll visit with you again from Nashville tomorrow night. -B ============================================================ A Brief Overview of the History of Vital Statistics in KY We would very likely not have any early vital statistics records in Kentucky had it not been for the efforts of Dr. William Loftus Sutton, born in 1797. He resided in Georgetown, KY and became the first president of the Kentucky State Medical Association. He was very much interested in the study of vital statistics, which he believed were a valuable tool in spotting trends in deaths and births, as well as marriages, to a lesser degree. He lobbied, with great energy and effort, to get the Kentucky Legislature to enact a vital statistics law. As a result of his efforts, a bill, known as the Sutton Law, was introduced into the Legislature in 1850, and was approved on 9 January 1852. If you go to "Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1851/52", Chapter 393, page 359-60, you will find the general provisions of the Law. It states that all clergymen or other persons performing marriages shall keep a registry showing name, residence, age, and place of birth for each person married. In addition, all surgeons, physicians and midwives shall keep a record of all births and deaths, which shows the time and place of birth, the name of the child, name of the father, maiden name of mother, and their residence, color and sex. For the death event, each record shall show the name of the deceased, time and place of death, age, color, sex,residence, marital status, parents names and occupations and residence and place of birth of the deceased. These individuals were to file these records with the county clerk on or before 10 January of each year. The clerk was to pass along these records to the assessor, who would make a copy for the State Auditor, who would make a tabular compilation of the material. There was a fine of $5-$20 for anyone who failed to comply with these duties. If anyone was ever fined in the JP for failure to perform this duty, I am not aware of it. On 29 August 1862, the law was repealed, although only fragmentary efforts had been made toward compliance after 1859. In 1874, another attempt was made to gather vital statistics, which continued through 1878, and, in 1893-94, there was another effort made to do the same thing, both efforts failing. Finally, in 1910, the current vital statistics law was enacted, which was effective in January of 1911, and has been in effect since that time. In the early 1920's, the Kentucky Historical Society began to try to gather the remains of the earliest VS records in the 1852-59 time frame. They were successful to varying degrees, as there are some counties with no records, others with most, and many with parts missing or illegible. Kentucky was the first state west of the Allegheny Mountains to have a VS law enacted. As we use these VS records, even recognizing their pitfalls and shortcomings, we can all say a reverent "Thank You" to Dr. William Loftus Sutton, who died in 1862, after having seen his dream become a reality.                                                      -B ============================================================