Wouldn't it be nice if all wanted same info and charged same price and were sensible about it! Sometimes, various groups want to protect society from this or that and get a law passed that creates a hardship on us. Judy ---- Original Message ---- From: grlswthguitars@aol.com To: nywestch@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Vital Records & drivers license Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:06:52 -0400 >My two cents on this subject: > >The State of New Jersey required ID before processing my request for >a genealogical copy of a death certificate over 120 years old, even >though their own published guidelines say this isn't necessary. They >returned my request TWICE before I sent copies of utility bills with >the account numbers obliterated (in lieu of my driver's license). So >10 months after my initial request, I received a death certificate >from 1880 with the cause of death blacked out as a privacy issue. >The wrong death certificate. The name was the same but the other >information could hardly have been more different (an infant vs. a 60 >year old woman). Then I found the films at LDS with the indexed VR >and the causes of death were listed there anyway. Go figure. > >Rye Township (NY) clerk sent me a death record a couple of years ago >and only charged me $10 instead of the fee "mandated by the state". >Even verified that they had the record before I send the money. > >Racine WI will let you look through the VR index books & certificates >but you can't make copies. Before they let you in the room you have >to show your ID and fill out a form. They were not happy that my >address was not correct on my driver's license (California doesn't do >corrections on your physical license until you renew) and took much >persuading to allow me to do my research anyway. If you want copies >you have to order them and they'll mail them to you, no same day >service. They also won't take personal checks - money order only. > >And St. Mary's Catholic Church in Oswego used to let people look at >their records but now they don't because someone ripped out whole >pages. They have been very helpful looking up records, even >searching many years with vague criteria but they are now adamant >about not allowing people to touch their books. Personally, I don't >blame them. > >Then you have Missouri, bless them, doing their best to get their >older vital records online and available to all. > >We just have to find out the rules and play by them to get the best >results. Although in this day and age, I don't think I'd mail my >driver's licence to someone I didn't know. I'd look for some other >alternative. > >Kathi >IBSSG >New York - Thompson/Crane/Bramm/Fleischer >New Jersey - Thompson/Early/Coyle/Hunter >Wisconsin - Meissner/Steng/Diem/Zeininger > > >_____________________________________________________________________ >___ >AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's >free from AOL at AOL.com. >*************************************** >Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? >http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ >*************************************** >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message