TIP#227 BURNED COURTHOUSES - OH NO! Some of the saddest words in genealogy world are when a researcher is told "the courthouse has burned." Alas, there went all the records of your one missing family which would have allowed you membership in the DAR, SAR or the completion of your pedigree charts back to Adam and Eve. Don't despair! There is a way to compensate and substitute for those missing records. First of all, don't take it for granted that ALL the records are missing; let your fingers do the walking (or the legs!) and do some detective work! Did they REALLY mean ALL the records are gone? What goes up in smoke in a county courthouse? Depending on the county, county courthouses house county government records. But, these are by no means all the records that pertain to that county. Well, what isn't affected? . Territorial censuses if applicable . State and federal censuses . Federal land records . Military records . Naturalization and immigration records . City Hall records . Newspapers . Cemetery records . Church records . Organization's records . Bible records . Diaries . Photos . City Directories . Plat Books . Published genealogies . and many more! Some county records in the past were not even stored at the courthouse. They were kept in the homes of county judges, justices of the peace and county clerks. One county and circuit court here early in Barren County kept the deeds and other court business transactions in his hat! He wore a stove-top hat and when asked by a citizen about a certain transaction, whipped off his hat and dumped thousands of little scraps of paper onto the table. Many of the early documents were not all on the now-common and standard 8 ½ x 11 white paper. Paper was expensive and difficult to manufacture, thus you will find some of the county's most important documents written on tiny scraps of paper of beige, blue and other various colors. Have you also considered that maybe some good soul; a neighbor or a clerk, was notified in time to rush to the courthouse and start pitching books and papers out the window; or hide valuable books during raids in the Civil War? It DID happen in Kentucky! Hey! Have you looked in surrounding counties? Remember that when a county was formed from another, the early records on your ancestor could easily be recorded in the parent county! Just because your ancestor was found in Hart County, Kentucky in 1819 doesn't mean that he didn't have some county business in 1818 or before in Hardin or Barren Counties (the parent counties), or even in Green and Christian County! I know that most of us would like to wring the necks of those no-good Union soldiers or Southern rebels who dare destroy that one piece of paper that would have solved our 30 year search of John Jones! Did you know that Union troops are said to have destroyed far fewer southern courthouse than one would think as courthouses were not prime military targets in the war. Nor was it so for the rebel. Many soldiers did encamp at the nearest courthouses and yes, many were burned. Railroad depots were far more attractive which would limit the amount of troop arrivals of the enemy. Some courthouse fires were accidental, some were just plain arson! We need to search out all possible leads when we hear the words "the courthouse burned." . Were scraps of paper saved? . Do other counties have records? . Have any records been donated to a nearby library from descendants of the early clerks or church elders? (Western Kentucky Library Archives in Bowling Green is a good source for donated records in the south central Kentucky area). Does your dear Aunt Matilda, age 99, have a trunk in the attic full of "unimportant papers" that she just didn't have the heart to dispose of? . Have you checked burial records at the larger cemeteries for burial permits? . Have you broken your neck in reading the old newspapers from your county on microfilm? . Have you checked to see if your ancestor was a member of a particular church and then found the pastor or clerk and asked to read the old church minute books? . Have you checked funeral home records which are very detailed and are full of genealogical materials? . Have you gone to the courthouse that burned and spent time looking through the records they did save ... perhaps there was that one little piece of paper you needed! In conclusion, don't give up hope and pitch all your family papers in the fireplace! There is no guarantee that you'll find Cain and Abel, but it's fun trying! (c) Copyright 23 February 1999, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved, sgorin@glasgow-ky.com TIP OF THE WEEK! Remember not to open any attachment with Happy.exe as the subject! Col Sandi Gorin 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (502) 651-9114 PUBLISHING: http://www.members.tripod.com/~GorinS/index.html GORIN WEBSITE: http://members.delphi.com/sgorin/index.html SCKY: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/BarrenObits TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl