In a message dated 07/05/2000 5:30:14 PM Central Daylight Time, MWise@prodigy.net writes: << Is this true of Arkansas as well? Are probate packets usually located at the court house? >> I can only speak to Bradley Co. AR, as that is the only experience I have in AR. And, yes, there were probate packets on file at the Bradley Co. Courthouse. So, probably true of other AR counties. The microfilm that you have looked at was probably (and I don't know this for sure) film of the probate minute books. The packets are the original loose papers. SOMETIMES these packets contain receipts, correspondence, etc. that does not get recorded in the minute books. There is no one reason why some of the packets are empty. When the WPA did the survey's, if there were no papers in the jacket, they recorded "deceased (or whatever), no papers". Did they grow legs and walk? Were they simply misplaced? Who knows? By the by, a source folks sometimes overlook in Texas are the Civil Court records. These, too, have papers filed in packets. In Williamson Co. the early packets are filed in boxes in the District Court Clerk's office, up through about Cause #5000 (can't remember what the time span is -- 1848 to ????). After that, they are on microfilm, available for viewing in the Clerk's office. This is microfilm of the actual papers, not the District Court minute books. They are indexed by both plaintiff and defendant. One has to go in person to search these records, but if you are in Georgetown for research, it is well worth your while to check these indexes. The District Court is now in the Williamson County Courthouse Annex, on Martin Luther King Blvd. -- not at the main courthouse. Linda E.