In a message dated 10/22/2006 3:08:41 PM Central Daylight Time, jreck@ecenet.com writes: well you can't get information about births at any courthouse that I've contacted either, most of them will verify info if you have it all written and they go to the ledger, but some won't even do that much. And this is not just for MN, pick a name to type in on ancestry and look that birth column . . . just lists the state! So we are back to doing some research the hard way. Mail shots, etc. That is what I used when I first started this hobby 30+ years ago, and can do it again. It actually netted me many more "live" cousins that I have gotten to know than just using info on the net has done. Annie in Minnesota