I heard that this is a statewide problem for New York. No Vital Records kept before the mandate was issued in 1880 or 1882 and the little counties didn't get the message until 1884 or 1885. Someone from DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Society in Washington DC told me that they call New York State the genealogical "black hole" state. DAR does a lot of work to help people with genealogical research, so they'd know. What I'm told is to find church records...What I wonder is how? How can I know what church, if any, my ancestors would have belonged to? And I've received a lot of cold shoulders from people who have access to records but seem to be afraid that I will ask them to go out of their way to do MY research for me. I feel so bad that before me were requesters who were too overwhelmed, busy piecing things togther, or just plain rude to say a proper "thank you". What I wish is that there would be deposits for records--and I mean ALL the records-- that researchers could access inexpensively without having to ask anyone to go out of their way. But I guess I'm dreaming there. There are LDS family history centers, but from what I've encountered, they are fairly incomplete. Anyone have any other experiences with them or suggestions? Anastasia p*r*a*i*s*e H! I! M from W#H#O#M all blessings f~l~o~w especially for the sacrifice and resurrection of J@E@S@U@S, so that we might have l%i%f%E with H^I^M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anastasia, If you go to www.Familysearch.org. and click on "Library", you will gain access to the entire listing that the LDS Family History Center in Salt Lake City has. You can rent a roll of microfilm for 30 days for $3.50 (may have gone up to $4.00). You do this at the Family History Center near you, as they will have the film sent to them. Using the Library Search is sometimes tricky. To start, you may want to just type in New York and see what comes up. You'll need to write down the number of the film and a brief description on the order blank. Getting this information while you are at home saves a great deal of time. Keep a record of all the film that you view so you won't order the same film twice. The Family History Centers have thousands of microfiches that are often overlooked by people. You may find some data on these, as well. Reading old handwriting is tricky and takes practice. These two sites;http://www.cyndislist.com/handwrit.htm#General and http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/68_sperry.html?Welcome=1035489446 will give you some background in old handwriting. This site; http://www.genealogia.fi/faq/faq031e.htm has several alphabet formats of old letters that you can copy and print out to use as aides in translating. Good Luck, Mac ----- Original Message ----- From: "Little Moose" <MozizRB@webtv.net> To: <NYCLINTO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 10:01 AM Subject: Re: [NYCLINTO] Records for Clinton County prior to 1880. > I heard that this is a statewide problem for New York. No Vital Records > kept before the mandate was issued in 1880 or 1882 and the little > counties didn't get the message until 1884 or 1885. Someone from DAR > (Daughters of the American Revolution) Society in Washington DC told me > that they call New York State the genealogical "black hole" state. DAR > does a lot of work to help people with genealogical research, so they'd > know. What I'm told is to find church records...What I wonder is how? > How can I know what church, if any, my ancestors would have belonged to? > And I've received a lot of cold shoulders from people who have access to > records but seem to be afraid that I will ask them to go out of their > way to do MY research for me. I feel so bad that before me were > requesters who were too overwhelmed, busy piecing things togther, or > just plain rude to say a proper "thank you". > > What I wish is that there would be deposits for records--and I mean ALL > the records-- that researchers could access inexpensively without having > to ask anyone to go out of their way. But I guess I'm dreaming there. > There are LDS family history centers, but from what I've encountered, > they are fairly incomplete. Anyone have any other experiences with them > or suggestions? > > Anastasia