That is So sad that the county doesn't take more pride in their history. Once it's gone it's gone. If I lived in Belmont Co. I sure would volunteer to help! If some one would write a Letter to the Editor about this problem it,it hopefully would at least start a discussion from the local citizens & a whole bunch of people willing to work to solve the problem. If someone would talk to the county judge & their County Commisioners maybe that would help too.Talk to the Editor of the newspaper too. They are always looking for good human interest stories. Also, maybe there's an Historic Preservation Grant out there for this type of work. Ask about one at the State History Society in Columbus too. Good Luck! Pam Drake in IN. [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra Ferguson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:50 PM Subject: WICs bldg. > I KNOW you're right about the courthouse not knowing where records are > .......and, quite frankly, they don't care. In my search for early tax > records I was all over the courthouse, from the women in probate all the way > to the treasurers office. NO one knew were they were, if they were still > in existance, and the treasurer himself didn't even know when they had > started recording tax records....had NO idea, can you imagine? . The only > way I found out where they were was from a 'civilian', who had heard me > asking some clerk, and told me she'd "heard" they were in the basement "out > at the WICs Bldg"! So, we drove to the WICS building and I went in and > spoke to a receptionist, telling her what I wanted. She said, "I don't have > a key", but not being one to take "NO" for an answer, I said "That's fine - > I'll just sit here and wait till you find one." She laughted and said that > she'd used this 'line' many times with other folks who also came looking for > the records, but guessed it wouldn't work with me - and went and found a > caretaker who let me in! However, it did me no good - where to start with > hundreds of black ledgers piled up higgeldy piggeldy along the walls, > surrounded by filth and trash! > > S. > > > " I would bet even the folks at the Court House don't know where all these > records have been stored over the years. " > > ______________________________