Bill~ Re: Cleveland Diocese Archives, they are extremely slow to respond and usually it is a partial response to your query with a nominal fee attached. I have NEVER sent a check beforehand because the fee has always been different. To get a response I have used letters, a repeat about every 4 weeks, phone calls to a machine and to Chris (the only person who appears to work there) about every 2 weeks. I have asked if I could even do my own research but was told no that was not the policy. Usually it is about 6 months of nagging before a response with fee. Wasn't aware they were online with "E" mail or I would have used it. Cemeteries: City of Cleveland Cemeteries General Office 21400 Chagrin Blvd. Cleveland Ohio 44191 216-348-7210 Catholic Cemeteries Association No address in phone book 216-641-7575 I have talked to people at various times re: ancestors at Cleveland Cemeteries and found them quite helpful, responding to request, even going the extra mile. I have never called the Catholic Cemeteries but have called Calvary on several occasions. I found them most helpful and accommodating. Mary Ellen Chambers Lakewood, Ohio

My experience with the Cleveland Diocese, as well as the office people in the Catholic Cemeteries Association for Cleveland, has been mainly negative. The staff(usually groundskeepers or security guards) are most helpful and friendly. One has even called me to follow up on a particular relative I was researching, and personally physically checked out a gravesite to save me a trip to Cleveland. However, the office people, those who answer phone calls, are generally negative, and at times unfriendly. They assume the question is either unanswerable(i.e., "I don't know where to look, nor do I WANT to look, so therefore I can't help you") or refuse to help out, citing "official procedures or policies." This is specifically the main office at Calvary Cemetery. Good luck to all who dial that phone number. I have had better service mailing info requests to the Cemeteries Association-also located at Calvary Cemetery. They usually will do 2 or 3 look-ups for grave plots, but you need your name/date information in some sort of order for them. I guess the phone people don't get the mail. In general, the diocese office(Chancery Bldg.) is of little help to genealogists; better to try at the parish level for help. Even here, various parishes will glean you various responses. Some pastors are most helpful and engaging, some busy and unable to help much at all. (As an aside, this option will probably get worse as the dwindling number of priests in the diocese are asked to take on more responsibilities.) As for the Association, mail is the way to go, as the people on the phones are interested in selling stones and plots today, not in helping those who have already spent(or whose ancestors have spent) their money there. Pat Ohio --- Maryln61@aol.com wrote: > Bill~ > Re: Cleveland Diocese Archives, they are > extremely slow to respond and usually it is a partial response to your query with a nominal fee attached. ===== "The advancement & diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." - James Madison __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com