If you have already received this I apologize but I thought everyone needed to be aware so that we can all do out part to keep records open. Ann Phillips Houston, TX -------- Original Message -------- Subject: New Texas Legislation Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 12:50:58 +0000 From: "Jeannette" <jha@mindspring.com> Reply-To: <jha@atl.mindspring.com> To: "Expert Genealogy"<jha@atl.mindspring.com> EXPERT GENEALOGY Editor: Jeannette Holland Austin Series: Vital Records Subject: New Texas Legislation Date: April 21, 1999 Last week I posted the wrong address for the FHC. The correct address for the Family History Center Online is - http://32.96.111.13/default.asp Here is an email message from Mic Barnett concerning Texas Vital Records: HI Fellow Genealogists: In case you have not heard there is a bill in the Texas Legislature that might close the indexes to death and birth records in Texas for 25 and 50 years, respectfully. My column on Saturday April 24 will state most of what we know about the bill at this time. The column is already on my website at http://barnettesbooks.com Just click on read the columns. Scroll down and click on April 24. The column was submitted this morning for a Saturday publication date. Since being notified of this bill by Tommy Burns of Houston, I have found out only a little bit more. Supposedly, the bill was submitted to clarify the current law. The intent of the bill was to clarify the existing law and help open birth and death indexes in counties where the county clerk felt they were closed (At the same time, other county clerks felt the indexes were open). While in committee an amendment was placed on the bill stating the indexes would become open and public when the actual records (birth and death records) became open and public. According to the amendment the indexes would be closed for 25-50 years until the records themselves are public. The HB 836 passed the Public Health Committee in the State House of Representatives on March 30. It was referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee. As of today, the bill does not have a Senate sponsor. If we cause enough rancor, it is possible no one will take on the sponsorship of the bill and it will die in committee. On the otherhand, if a sponsor is found, we want to be on record requesting a hearing. At that hearing, we would need to flood the room with genealogists and other concerned citizens. While a law clarifying the present confusing law might be welcome, amendment on HB 836 closes the birth and death indexes until the actual records become public which is 25-50 years. .Monday night I contacted Jack Brissee, Chair of the FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee. Jack and his committee work with genealogists and other organizations all over the country when records are threatened with closure or misuse. He jumped on it and has faxed a letter to the Chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee. He has urged everyone to contact all genealogists, genealogical, historical and other concerned organizations to write a calm, collected, but, concerned letter to the Chair of the Senate Affairs Committee and to our own Senator concerning this bill. The Honorable Florence Shapiro Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs P.O.Box 12068 Capital Station Austin, TX 78711 Another bill in the legislature each of you should be aware of is HB13. This bill seeks to allow adoptees to obtain their original birth certificate upon reaching the age of 21. HB13 has met with the hostility of child placement services and birth mothers. Currently it is held up in committee where it may die. Part of the HB 13 awareness may have had some effect on HB 836 because both have to do with vital statistics registration If you wish to pass this letter around, please feel free to do so. I have included this mailing to a number of my columnist colleagues around the country who might wish to be alert to what is happening, down here, in Texas. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who hears any news on this matter. Thank You, MIC Mic Barnette's Writes a Weekly Genealogy Column In The Houston Chronicle. Read it on the Web At Barnette's Family Tree Book Company http://barnettesbooks.com ================================== BOOK REVIEWS ================================== THE WARREN FAMILY OF TRIGG COUNTY, KENTUCKY by Martha Jane Stone. $49.95 Postpaid, hard cover, 411 pp. This genealogy begins with the history of William Henry Harrison Warren and his wife, Nancy Stewart. Also includes his brothers, Manan, Timothy and Booker. This 8 1/2 x 11" book contains the history and genealogy of James Stewart, the immigrant ancestor, and includes the states of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. Related families: Aldridge, Blakeley, Breldenbach, Cameron, Fuller, Goode, Hodge, Jackson, Mason, Overby, Stone, Towler, Turner and Warren. There is an every-name index for both volumes. Illustrations, bibliography, locality finder, glossary. Vol. I, 1986, 141 pp. Vol. II, 1987, 350 pp. (both volumes are bound together). Includes obituary notices, letters and photographs of pertinent documents. Order from: Martha Jane Stone, 810 Cramer Avenue, Lexington, KY 40502-1414 (606)266-5030. http://www.genealogy-books.com/loc-ston.htm ===================================== NEW RELEASES ===================================== c1005. LOYALISTS IN THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOLUME I. Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana by Murtie Jane Clark. 635 pp., indexed, paper, 1981, repr. 1999. $57.50 This volume and the two below (c1006, C1007) represent the best and by far the most ambitious work on the Loyalists published in recent years. Based on the author's wide- ranging investigations in military records in the archives of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, this work contains a vast amount of previously undiscovered data pertaining to the identification of Loyalist soldiers and their dependents, and thus it bids fair to become the standard work in its field. In this and the subsequent volumes, Mrs. Clark has endeavored to abstract all extant muster rolls, pay rolls, vouchers, certificates, petitions, and various other documents relating to the Loyalists who were recruited for duty in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, as well as documents relating to Loyalist dependents, prisoners, refugees, and sympathizers--all data deriving entirely from original records, many never before available for research. In the preparation of this work the author surveyed the manuscript holdings of various archies, libaries, and private collections, ultimately producing this definitive collection of official rolls which document the service of approximately 15,000 Loyalists. The information available on each person varies according to the nature of the record, of course, but generally (in the case of soldiers), men are listed by rank, with dates of service (enlistment, discharge, etc.), place of service, company and regiment, and remarks pertaining to their status---on active duty, missing, deserted, killed, died, or sick. Other documents abstracted -- petitions for back pay, widows' and orphans' claims, and lists of refugees. Volume I contains mainly Loyalists recruited in the South for duty (exclusive of Maryland and Virginia Loyalists, who are dealt with in Volume II, which volume also covers Pennsylvania who were merged with the Maryland Loyalits toward the end of the war). C1006. LOYALISTS IN THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOLUME II. Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from Maryland, Pennsylania, Virginia, and Those Recruited from Other Colonies for the British Legion, Guides and Pioneers, Loyal Foresters, and Queen's Rangers. By Murtie June Clark. 687 pp., indexed, paper (1981), repr. 1999. $59.95 Deals with the Loyalist regiments from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Also treated are the British Legion, Guides and Pioneers, Loyal Foresters, and Queen's Rangers--regiments who served in the Southern Campaign and were captured at Yorktown in October 1781. Contains abstract of all extant muster rolls, pay rolls, vouchers, certificates, petitions and miscellaneous documents relating to the Loyalists who were recruited for duty in the Southern Campaign of the war, as well as abstracts of documents relating to Loyalists dependents, prisoners, and sympathizers, also a list of Virginia Loyalists compiled from treasury records, claims and other original sources. C1007. LOYALISTS IN THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOLUME III. Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from the Middle Atlantic Colonies, with Lists of Regustees from Other Colonies by Murtie June Clark. 484 pp., indexed, paper, 1981, repr. 1999. $47.50 This is the third and final volume, it is based on rosters, muster rolls, pay rolls, and other military records located in the archives of Great Britain, Canada, and the US, and it completes the carefully drawn picture of Loyalist participation in the Southern theater of the war by framing in all the data that can be obtained on those regiments raised in the Middle Atlantic Colonies for the duty in the South. With its listing of 10,000 soldiers and military dependents, it brings the total number of Loyalists identified in the three volumes to 35,000. The third volume abstracts muster rolls of regiments raised primarily in New York and New Jersey (i.e., Delancey's Brigade, King's American Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, Prince of Wales American Regiment). Other lists derive from records concerning civilian refugees and evacuated soldiers. Also included are additional rosters for the British Legion Infantry and the South Carolina Royalists, as well as other regiments not covered in the first two volumes. Postage: $3.50 1st book, $1.50 each book thereafter (4th class) priority US mail - $5.00 1st book, $2.00 each book thereafter ORDER FROM - Jeannette H. Austin GENEALOGY BOOKS 175 Thornton Drive Fayetteville, GA 30214 Phone 1-800-899-9524 Local 770-719-1754 Fax 770-719-8699 To Order online -http://www.genealogy-books.com/orderexp.htm ACCEPT VISA, MASTERCARD ===================================== EXPERT GENEALOGY is sponsored by GENEALOGY BOOKS and may be freely re-distributed or published