In a message dated 6/13/2005 1:01:19 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, lboorom@fuse.net writes: John, I don't recall there being a distinction between the books at the courthouse. But, I have often wondered if there is a list of what was lost with each fire & what was able to be restored after. There were several fires, I don't recall exactly the years of all, but 4 in all, 1st b/f 1800, 2nd ca 1814 when the courthouse was used as a barracks during the war, 3rd 1848/49 & last in 1884. We are told that following each fire the county basically salvaged what they could into new books I presume & also advertised for people to resubmit info to be "restored" and/or I guess this was done if the need arose, say perhaps following a death & the need arose to prove a relationship. If people moved away, had died or had no other reason to have their marriage record re-recorded, it's likely they didn't bother. Hence the reason for so many gaps in our records up through the last fire in 1884. But, back to the distinction between the books. I don't know if this will help, but I have posted a page to the Hamilton Co. OHGenWeb site which refers to the microfilm that LDS has of Hamilton Co. Marriage records: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohhamilt/marrbatch.html LDS description includes "Original", Restored A, Restored B, & Restored C. As I said, I don't recall their being a distinction between the books when I've been at the courthouse, but I also have to admit that I've mostly gone after copies for records say before 1850 which fall into the Restored A catagory & more recently for copies of later records after the 1884 fire. I will say that I've noticed by searching LDS with the batch #'s I've listed that is seemed with some of the restored records or maybe it was the single searchable batch under section C (1893-1903) that the marriages actually occured before the 1884 fire so perhaps were restored in 1893-1903 period. At some point I have thought about checking into this, I'd be curious if there was a record or something of when it was "restored", which who knows what valuable information one might glean from that if the courts required proof of some sort :-) Afraid this isn't much help, but if I find anything more conclusive I'll post it. If anyone else has something to add, please do. Linda Boorom Hamilton Co. OHGenWeb co-CC Does any library in Cincinnati have these microfilms (or other copies of the "restored" records), or are they only available through LDS or at the courthouse? Wilson DeCamp