This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/iJB.2ACE/975 Message Board Post: I visited the Tippah County courthouse this past week. I was able to get a copy of a marriage record from 1859 from the Chancery Office, which is across the street from the main courthouse. I was told there was a packet of estate records listed for my ancestor, Thomas Bryson, who died in 1859, located on the third floor attic of the courthouse. I was shocked at the deplorable condition of this attic. Records and old books were on the floor, in plastic garbage cans, and in boxes. Nothing was organized. It looked like a rat's nest. Anyone can go in there and take whatever they want, and nobody would ever know. A female worker there told me Faulkner's estate packet was stolen. If you plan on visiting that courthouse, don't get your hopes up. I never found Thomas Bryson's estate packet. It may have been stolen or taken out and not returned to the right drawer. In some counties, the historical and genealogical societies have gone in and organized the old records. I hope the folks in Tippah County will look into this problem.