Hi y'all (that's FL talk) As sponsor of this newsgroup, and since I get into conversations with many people here and there, it occurred to me that there are quite a few people on here that don't know how to use a very valuable tool for tracking down family members. Soooooooo, I thought I'd post a Helpful Hint on here. For example, I just got an e-mail from someone (please don't take offense because I used you as an example) that stated 'I know they died about 1920 in (a certain county and state), but don't know their parents or where they are buried.' OK, depending on the county and state, birth and death certificates were required after a certain date. In most of OH it's about the mid 1800's. >From then up to around 1900, these records can usually be found in the Probate Court of that county. After about 1900, they were required to be sent to the state and are usually at the State Vital Statistics Office. Now these office names and dates will vary from state to state and county to county, but that's a rough timeline. Also, if you are lucky, that particular county might have some records from before they were required by law to keep them. Almost every death cert I have seen lists decedents name, place and date of birth, place and date of death, parents names and usually their place of birth, the undertaker and the place of burial, and if married, the spouses name. This is great information for tracking a family back. Usually you can write and sometimes e-mail the appropriate office and ask for a copy. Uncertified copies are usually under a $1. Now something else that goes along with this is that persons Will which will usually be in the County Probate Court. This is a great source for finding the heirs (only those living will be mentioned) and where they might be living. Once you find the exact date of death, find out where copies of old newspapers with obituaries are kept. I have found this to be the local library, or some counties have Archive offices. If not, someone at the library will usually point you to the right place. Obits are invaluable for finding children, siblings and wifes names, places of birth and where they are currently living. The above research method works great in most instances back into the mid 1800's once you find who has the records. I have tracked a line back 4 or 5 generations this way. Hope this didn't bore all of you that already know this, but I thought it might be very useful to some of our newcomers who don't quite know all the tricks yet. Good hunting - Terry Littleton (listdad)