--part1_ca.974e48e.26da563f_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, Helen, if only I weren't trying to save a historic house, I'd work with you on this in a heart beat! Have you contacted the Heritage Commission? How about a few words placed in the appropriate ear, i.e., State Rep. Ron Raymond or U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon? Would it help, do you suppose, if anyone who experiences any difficulties obtaining records from the Delaware County Court House in Media were to document such incidences and share them with our State Rep and US Rep? I believe the federal wait time is 72 years, so any records at the Court House prior to 1918 are most definitely public records. It is county tax money that pays for their maintenance, the people maintaining them are employed at tax-payer expense. Seems to me the tax-payers or reasonable facsimiles should have free access to this material. Karen Greim Mullian booboopies@aol.com In a message dated Sat, 26 Aug 2000 10:33:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, HMWEBBER@aol.com writes: << Hi, You cannot believe how bad/hard it is to get records at The Delaware County Court House--please read the following: --part1_ca.974e48e.26da563f_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <Booboopies@aol.com> Received: from web33.aolmail.aol.com (web33.aolmail.aol.com [205.188.222.9]) by air-id07.mx.aol.com (v75_b3.11) with ESMTP; Sat, 26 Aug 2000 23:41:06 -0400 Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 23:41:04 EDT From: Booboopies@aol.com Subject:Re: Records at the Court House in Dela. Co., PA! To: <HMWEBBER@aol.com>, <PADELAWA-L@rootsweb.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Unknown Message-ID: <12.18d46b7.26d9e7d2@aol.com> Oh, Helen, if only I weren't trying to save a historic house, I'd work with you on this in a heart beat! Have you contacted the Heritage Commission? How about a few words placed in the appropriate ear, i.e., State Rep. Ron Raymond or U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon? Would it help, do you suppose, if anyone who experiences any difficulties obtaining records from the Delaware County Court House in Media were to document such incidences and share them with our State Rep and US Rep? I believe the federal wait time is 72 years, so any records at the Court House prior to 1918 are most definitely public records. It is county tax money that pays for their maintenance, the people maintaining them are employed at tax-payer expense. Seems to me the tax-payers or reasonable facsimiles should have free access to this material. Karen Greim Mullian booboopies@aol.com In a message dated Sat, 26 Aug 2000 10:33:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, HMWEBBER@aol.com writes: << Hi, You cannot believe how bad/hard it is to get records at The Delaware County Court House--please read the following: I have been very upset, about the Delaware Co. Court House Records not being available to & for the public the way they should be! Over the years while instructing my many Genealogy Workshops & at the lecture for the GENEALOGY 1995 Spring Conference, at Neumann College, I was asked to start a petition & go after the county in regard to these records. Just recently, I spoke to a reporter from the Phila. Inquire, hoping he would do a story, he told me, "We have no problems getting records." He did not see anything wrong with the way the records are kept. My response, "I guess not, your a newspaper!" I also, spoke to an attorney & I was told, "You don't want to get anyone mad at you!! :( Has anyone ever tried to get Citizenship Records? You have to go to the Passport Office, talk to the woman there & she in turn contacts a woman at her home! This info is in her basement--the clerk will not give you the woman's name. The woman use to work for the court house & is now retired. What is going to happen to these record when she dies?? Are these records going to disappear like The Adoption Docket & The Murder Index Book & other records? I have been told that they do not want the public to know where these Citizenship Records/Letters of Intent/Immigration Records are--now YOU know--I just TOLD YOU!! :) : About a year ago, I was doing a lot of research on VA Record at the Veterans Affairs Office, in the court house, they were very kind & helpful! The ladies' names are Fran & Angie, one day, one of them said to me, "Helen have you checked the VA records at The Recorder of Deeds Office." I looked at her--thinking has this lady gone a little bananas on me. I was born & raised in Delaware County & have doing research here for about 25 years--I NEVER heard of any veterans' records being in The Recorder of Deeds Office. So I finished what I was doing & went to the deed's office & very nicely asked a clerk if I could see some veterans' records from the Revolutionary War & the Civil War. She told me I could not because they were private records & the public were not allowed to use them. I told her they are not! And rattled on about the Privacy Act (still being very nice) & asked to see her supervisor, & she went to get her! This woman came out of her office, no cubical, screaming at me, telling me WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! I said very calmly, "I'm doing research on veterans to replace their tombstones at St. Martin's Cem., in Marcus Hook. I was again told that they were private records & I replied, they are not private! This woman is still being very nasty & loud! If I can send to The National Archives, get these records for $10.00 & you have them here, I should get them for free? I'm doing a community project for free--I'm not being paid for this work!! She said, "You mean to tell me that if you want to see my husband's Korean War Record, you think you should be allowed to see it"--I told her, "I do not want to see his record." I know I cannot see veterans' record from World War I up to present time unless I'm a direct descendant of theirs! I was still being very sweet to her & asked for her card--then I asked do I need a court order & walked out. I called Stephen BARRAR & complained-- which did no good. He had a Mr. JUDGE call me & he was of no help either!! The woman's name is Grace RUANE, Chief Deputy, Recorder of Deeds. Does anyone know if there is a State Office that we can get to help us in regard to these RECORDS or do we get up a PETITION?????? Happy hunting, Helen (DCGS) P.S. There are even more stories but I think I got my point across! :) In a message dated 8/26/0 10:03:56 AM, glo777@home.com writes: << Are the Fair Acres holdings accessible? In a word - no. I'm told by the archivist that he does not have any work space available for people who want to come in and do research. The only way I get anywhere with him is to call him and ask for him to check his records. Believe me, this is an issue I've already been over with him. I feel very strongly that these records should be available to the public just as with any other public records. Regards, Gloria >> ==== PADELAWA Mailing List ==== Please remember our pledge drive to support RootsWeb! http://199.72.15.191/Sites/Gen/Chet2/scripts/RWGoal.asp >> --part1_ca.974e48e.26da563f_boundary--