Amy I did not mean to imply that the court house workers were not most pleasant because I too have had excellent service, (but I carried books from the third floor myself and took them back when I was done) I remember that I was in a hurry one day and took two of those big books down did my photocopying and returned them to the third floor, saw one court house employee along the way and she commented that what I must be doing some most important to be carrying two books. Anyway my point is the WPA book for Warren county was published, a copy is in the Warren County Library, I tells what books should be available and some are in the warehouse in Starbrick, I have never asked to have any of them taken to the court house for my viewing, but can see where that would take time. During the depression the Federal Government made jobs by paying WPA workers to inventory the records around the country, it was Federal law at the time that these records would always be available to the public. Thru this book I was able to locate State Prision records, it is an important genealogy tool and the book is available for Warren County. While I have the sounding board I will mention that the first time I went to the Warren County Court House I found a statement in a book that I did not understand, I went to man at the front desk in that office and asked him what it meant, he told me he had a surprise for me, he took a long pole and accessed a box from a top shelf and I held my grandfathers will in my hands. They did not have a copy machine available to the public at the time but later he let me photocopy it. He died in 1937. Anyway my point is nice people, you just have to know what is available, and ask. Hope this is helpful to some of you on the list. Mary anderson@penn.com ---------- From: Amy Hines[SMTP:arhines@penn.com] Reply To: arhines@penn.com Sent: Thursday, July 29, 1999 9:23 PM To: PAFOREST-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Court House I can understand your frustration with the records and I hope that it can be resolved, however in all fairness to the the Court House employees, please remember that the third floor was under renovation for ten months. This is where many of the old records are kept. No one, not even the employees, could go to the third floor except for the construction crews that were doing the work. I, too, had to wait ten months to get a divorce paper from the 1800's for a woman out of state. However, as soon as the third floor was open, I went over and made the request. The employee stopped what she was doing, and went up to the third floor. She had to hunt for the book as they had not yet been put back in order. She brought the book down, copied the page for me and was very pleasant about it. I have been to the Court House many times and have always been treated with kindness and respect. There were times that a copy couldn't be made right at the moment, but they did it as soon as their schedule allowed. They have a tremendous work load and do the best they can. Thank you. Amy R. Hines