Hello! Well, I took a week away from the puter--except for Monday, when I was working on a project board for Law Day 2001: Outlaw Roundup, and when Pama came by. And what a week! First of all, those of you looking for towns in Taney County...there are a few maps available at the Taney Website at WRV. Here is the link to the best one for towns, etc, in 1913 (I tried to add ones I knew about that weren't on the original, as well.) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/Maps/taney1913.html Secondly, there is a John McDade/Lily Walker marriage dated 8 Apr 1894 at the Taney Marriages, 1885-1900 (why it was titled that, I'd like to know; I didn't find a single 1900 marriage that I can remember when I did the index.) I can't remember if this was the right McDade marriage, but it's at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/taney_index/marriages_1885_1900/g_laf foon_michel.html (that looks like a 2 line link...) Third, I hope to get my own genealogy uploaded next week. I have a goal of 15 Nov. I'll let you know the link when I get it there...<BG> I'm not "techie-smart" enough to figure it out ahead of time. Fourth, when you mail a request to the Taney County (or any other county courthouse) for copies of marriage licenses and stuff, Please...remember that most courthouses or other archive holdings do not have one person hired to do searches for your records. If you don't have an approximate date--how most birth & death certs, and marriages are filed--they do not have the staff onhand to do in-depth searches. Even at state level, the biggest range of years for a person to request a search that I know about is 5 years (some might have 10, but I've not personally dealt with one). Genealogists can really be persistent--and that's a good thing--but when a person has a pile of paperwork on their desks, a boss that is yelling about "wasting time" on mailed requests for genealogical data, and any number of other things going on, the staff can get downright snippy about someone wanting to do research. I know people who have gone to the Taney Co. courthouse, and not been allowed to go back and look through records on their own (although they've always been very helpful to me). I get paid to do these kind of searches, and I don't think I'd want to go looking for records without some kind of idea of a date to look in. Besides, unless a person has limitless funds, no one would want to pay the bill that would get sent! <BG> I guess what I'm saying is to remember your p's and q's when you are dealing with folks who aren't into genealogy. It only takes one person who chews out the staff for an "unco-operative" attitude for all other researchers to be banned from getting a chance to do their own work. That said...(I never have liked being the bad guy...despite what my kids think) I got the chance to meet Linda Beilby when she was here last month. What a neat person! I had a fantastic brownie at "Betty's Cafe", which is across the street from the library in Forsyth, while we sat and discussed Taney Co. with her mother and one of her cousins/kindred researchers (whose name I have forgotten, but he was also pretty neat). Linda has visited Taney several times, so she rather knew her way around; it was still fun to talk, which is something I admittedly am good at...and she is a dedicated researcher. Last Saturday was the Renshaw Cemetery cleanup. Greg, my dad Joe Wilson, Carol McMullin, and some of the folks who live in the subdivision surrounding the cem were there, for a total of about 10 folks. Jan McCabe organized this cleanup. I have to tell you one of the problems facing this kind of work...Taney is fixing to go 1st-class in status next year, and it is unprecedented for a county to leap from 3rd to 1st. While Renshaw is the worst cem I've ever seen for downright neglect and overgrowth, our cemetery hoppers have not organized cleanups for the reason that these old cems are usually county property, and I have been advised to wait to stir up action on the cems until the county's status is official. We have some new officials who will be in the courthouse next year, and hopefully they will be co-operative in aiding with cleanups, surveys, dirt filler, gravel, and fencing. The statutes requiring the county to maintain the cems are not in effect, and the county will likely have to be "reminded" of its responsibilities when the time comes. Yes, we could organize cleanups, get volunteer groups in to do work or do it ourselves (as we did last week). But there is still dirt and gravel needed, fencing, regular maintenance, and even food and drink for the groups to be considered. None of us have the kind of funds it would take; and unfortunately, most of the folks who would like to "see something done" are elderly and unable to do the actual work. Many young people these days have a problem with doing "something for nothing", and won't get involved; others don't have the time. Adding to that last part, not many people are really willing to "get down and get dirty" anyway. Besides, someone who knows something about cems needs to be around any group doing work in one, to be sure stones are not moved or damaged. And then there are things like we are encountering with Logan Cemetery; the survey done by the county denied the house next to it of its backyard. A deed for the actual cem cannot be located, but it is accepted by the county as to what the boundaries are by later deeds. Who then is responsible for the cem? The county. What kind of fence? Well, the landowner next to it has ideas, as does the family. I get impatient with talk, and prefer action, but when general opinion and the law are saying that certain things must happen--supposedly a deed must be found for the county to accept responsibility, but in Logan's case, there may not be one and so the county must be convinced. Technicalities. Irritating. Anyway, I clipped about a 1/4 acre of what Daddy calls "Buckthorn Brush"--nasty stuff, intertwined with honeysuckle and green briars--and Greg ran a "burn pile" that got as large as about 15 feet in length at one time. A tornado hit the cem in 1961, some 13 years or so after the last person was buried in it, and no one had cleaned it since. Carol found some old Iris beds, and worked around that area, finding that someone had really done a lot of work ages ago, and trying to "recover" it. She is planning to restore it, as well--she is really great with this kind of thing. Daddy ran a leaf blower, and one of the guys who lives in the cem got happy with a weed eater and a chain saw. I got rather freaked out over the weed eater being used at Laura Etta Hensley Blackburn's tombstone; Jan soon re-directed the fellow's efforts to a couple of dead trees. The majority of folks left by noon, but the 4 of us--Carol, Daddy, Greg and me--stayed until it started growing dark. One nice lady across the street brought us sodas--turned out her bro-in-law, who was visiting, was also named Joe Wilson, which of course got the two Joes to talking. Maybe because of the elaborateness of the tombstones in the cem, I can see it circled with a wrought iron fence and a nice arched entry. That, we'll have to see. The county certainly wouldn't go that far. The cem is not done, and we're going back 18 Nov. I corralled a couple of big, strong nephews and a sis-in-law, and hopefully, we'll get a block-and-tackle rig of some kind to fix the tombstones that need re-aligning. I'm going to take plenty of calcium in advance--I don't remember the last time I was so sore, and it didn't involve childbirth...lol And...we're going to roast hotdogs over the fire, and maybe even figure out how to keep coffee going all day, rather than just for a little while. The nice part is that we have a Thanksgiving dinner to attend that night at an area resort, and I'll get to sit in a hot tub afterwards! But anyone in the area is invited to come "play" with us next week--email me for directions! Vonda Wilson Sheets ListMom for MOTaney and MO-AR-WRV http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/ Mail me at mailto:vonda@copper-turtle.com