Hi Thomas, Lucky you. Must have been your accent. :-D They wouldn't even talk to me. They couldn't figure out if I was a Yankee or one of them "Damn Southerners". I guess I am a cross. :-D Born and raised NH and lived now for 34 years in Florida. Can't quite make up my mind which I am. Anyway, I came armed to the teeth to Plattsburgh with everything but the documents of the 1800s. That is what I have been searching for. Found 1 will through a distant cousin but, with the name like Roberts, you need those doc's to prove parentage and marriage. Otherwise, the names in the will are meaningless. How many John Roberts have you tried searching for just in NY? It is worse than Jones or Morgan down South. Done both of those. I think we genealogists ought to do as they are doing in Canada in regards to release of their census records. They have bombarded their congressmen to release them. We should be able to go to our local town or county clerk, order any document from any state or country and get those documents. We would pay our own clerks the money and save all the hassle and hair pulling. Wouldn't that be a dream come true? You have a nice evening and will talk with you again. Sue [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Thomas W. Perrin <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 4:33 PM Subject: Re: [NYCLINTO-L] Vital Records Books for Clinton County >I recently visited the Surrogate Court's (Probate Court) offices in Plattsburgh, >and was able to find some records of deceased ancestors. Unfortunately, not the >ones I really wanted to find, but nevertheless useful. The records there go back >to the late 1790's but are not complete with respect to all deaths in the County. >In my limited experience, the probate records in St. Lawrence County were better >organized and kept. > >