I just got back from the Howard county courthouse and would like to add a little something the Handybook didn't have. The probate records (packets), i. e. the actual files, up until 1875 no longer exist. They were either lost or destroyed. No one seems to know which. They were apparently never microfilmed. All that exist are the probate and will record books themselves, not the actual records. When you stop to think, that Howard county was the mother of over 26 Missouri counties, and the early records also pertained to those 26 counties, you can understand the magnitude of the loss. The settlements were microfilmed and those are available, but you have to go to Jefferson City to read them, or you can purchase them directly from the state. I don't know if those are the actual settlement and sales bills themselves, or if they microfilmed the clerks recording of the settlements in books. I suspect it's the latter. The original probate files, from 1875 forward, are still in existance, but they are in an office across the street from the courthouse. They are currently being microfilmed, and as the records are filmed, they are shipped back to this location. The gentleman who volunteered to house them in his office building, is getting pretty fed up with the volume of the records he is getting back, and they are becoming a hassle for him to maintain. I don't know how much longer they will exist. There is no storage capability at the Historical/Genealogical society to keep them, so I don't know what will happen to them once they have been filmed. My guess is, they will be destroyed. That will be a shame, because one of the probate records that I pulled, had original signatures for several of the children, who were multiple heirs of their father's estate. This is a scenario that is being repeated all over the state of Missouri, as County courthouses are running out of room. Most of the current clerks and office workers of these counties don't understand the significance of the original records to a genealogist. And to be fair, they simply don't have the space to keep them all. And Missouri law doesn't require them to do so. If someone with more knowledge of the courthouse and it's records wants to jump in here and correct me, please do. It was a frustrating trip for me. I got a lot of good information on some of the later records 1880-1915, but it was maddening to find precious little on the early stuff. Kathy Bowlin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Rasmussen" <rtrasmussen@worldnet.att.net> To: <MOHOWARD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 10:19 AM Subject: Re: [MOHOWARD-L] death records > Howard County; #1 Courthouse Sq; Fayette, MO 65248; Ph. 660.248.2284 > Details: (Courthouse burned 1887; few rec lost) (Clk Cir Ct has b rec > 1870-1955, m & ct rec from 1870, land & bur rec from 1820, mil & div rec > from 1900; Pro Ct has pro rec from 1835; CO Hlth Nurse has d rec from 1870) > Handybook for Genealogists > Judy Brown Rasmussen > CO > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <Bbmmem@aol.com> > To: <MOHOWARD-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 8:31 PM > Subject: [MOHOWARD-L] death records > > > > Can someone tell me what year death records started being recorded in > Howard > > Co? > > > > Benny and Mary McCune > > Missouri > > > > > >