Greetings All! I've been away from my computer for several days, so I've just found the flood of emails about the Surry County Circuit Court records. I see my name invoked several time, so I'll tell you what I think. But I speak only for myself as an individual, not for any corporate entity or government body. I share in the mixture of enthusiasm and frustration that I see in the "loose papers" discussion. I also confess to feeling a bit like a Native American when told about Columbus's discovery. I have lived in Surry County all my life and have worked with the Circuit Court records for nearly forty years. It's just possible I may know more about the situation than at least some of you, although I'm not interested in arguing the point. The Surry Circuit Court records are entrusted to the care of the popularly elected Clerk of the Circuit Court. The Clerk is legally responsible for what happens to them. The Clerk must operate within the budget provided by the Surry County Board of Supervisors. That means that the number of Deputy Clerks that can be hired is limited by that budget. The Clerk of the Circuit Court MUST perform duties set down by the law. The issues of today must be resolved BEFORE those of times past, whether the rest of us like it or not. Paul, perhaps you could expand upon the full range of duties of clerks of circuits courts in Virginia. I know they include verbatim recordation of court proceedings and handling all the details of those proceedings, issuance of various licenses (marriage, for instance), reception, recordation and preservation of other legal documents, including deeds, wills, mortgages, land surveys, and papers from lawsuits and others that do not come to my mind at the moment. We are all fortunate that Surry's Clerks have preserved and passed down to us nearly all of the records entrusted to them since 1652. This is no mean feat, because that represents a LOT of records. I'm positive that none of us has an accurate count of just how many that is. But that means that careful, thorough, accurate indexing, microfilming, and disseminating information from those "loose papers" will not be done instantly, no matter how much we all might wish it. The good news, however, is that the Surry County Historical Society, in just the three short years it has existed, is already aware of those "loose papers," as well as many other items of historic importance in the county. Now folks, there are legal, diplomatic, logistical, as well as financial, elements in this equation that must be dealt with, in the right way. This cannot be done quick and dirty, and I'm afraid there will be no instant gratification for any of us as individuals. And I cannot imagine that there will be any financial profit either. In case anyone is not aware that the Society's Newsletters contain transcriptions of original Surry documents that are not available anywhere else (the term "loose papers" comes to mind), perhaps you should take a look at them. They are all at the Society's web site, put there at the same hourly rate that Steve and Bunny get for the tax records they provide to the rest of us at the same price. Rome was not built in a day, but it was built. Surry's "loose papers" will not be indexed, microfilmed, transcribed and disseminated to the public all at once, "right now," but it will be done. It will require the cooperation of the appropriate governmental and civic entities and officials, as well as private individuals. We all need to exercise our patience and common sense in this matter, regardless of how we may feel. For some documents already transcribed and disseminated, check out the Society's Newsletters here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaschsm/SCHSNews.html A search engine on the main page can be used to search the entire site, including the Newsletters. Good Hunting, One and All! Eve ------------------------ Eve S. Gregory, Director Virginia Foundation for Archaeological Research, Inc. http://home.earthlink.net/~vfar1/ Visit my home page for history and genealogy links! http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~eve368g/

We should all pay heed to the comments following by Ms. Eve Gregory; she knows that county as well or much better than do almost any of us. . Then too, I hope we listen to Steve and Bunny; they and Margaret Haun have a measure of expertise that I - and most others of us - certainly do not share. At Eve's suggestion, I also have undertaken to answer the question of several of you "What are 'Loose Papers' and to whom do these belong?'" Eve wrote: > The Surry Circuit Court records are entrusted to the care of the > popularly elected Clerk of the Circuit Court. The Clerk is legally > responsible for what happens to them. The Clerk must operate within the > budget provided by the Surry County Board of Supervisors. That means > that the number of Deputy Clerks that can be hired is limited by that > budget. The Clerk of the Circuit Court MUST perform duties set down by > the law. The issues of today must be resolved BEFORE those of times > past, whether the rest of us like it or not. *** Amen, and this also applies to researchers in courthouses. Those folks are at their business day, and their time may not be such that they can assist you to any substantial extent right then. > > Paul, perhaps you could expand upon the full range of duties of clerks > of circuits courts in Virginia. I know they include verbatim recordation > of court proceedings and handling all the details of those proceedings, > issuance of various licenses (marriage, for instance), reception, > recordation and preservation of other legal documents, including deeds, > wills, mortgages, land surveys, and papers from lawsuits and others that > do not come to my mind at the moment. ***Records in the charge of the Clerks and their judges include those mentioned by Eve and still others that arise from the administration of any and all offices that have to do, directly or indirectly, with any activities of or for the Circuit Courts. Also, of great importance for us in this category are sherriffs' returns - whenever a judge ordered any sherriff or other county official to do something, a "return" showing what was done was legally required (even though that rule was often violated). BUT - and primary to this discussion - there is another category of documents and materials as to which the law has made NO provision, because such could not be anticipated with accuracy. Those are exactly what we now hope to help preserve, and consist of ALL those papers for which NO depository has been designated and no officer has been designated as "keeper." Such are the "Loose Papers." "Loose Papers" are just that; those usually written materials which were usually not "owned" by anybody who cared and were: a) left at the court house inadvertently or as not needed or any longer wanted by the citizens who once could have claimed such. As but two examples, 1) many are the deeds never picked up at the courthouse by the original buyers after recordation, and 2) copies of memos by the parishes that the court needed for whatever reason (their jurisdictions conflicted many times). b) the myriad exhibits, notes, and memos that were a part of a zillion grand and petit jury proceeding, coroners' proceedings, sheriffs and constables' activities, lawsuits and settlements now long ago concluded, notes by judges, petitions to the courts by the citizens, bonds posted for a hundered reasons, public notices and warnings judicially noted by the ancient judges, surveys, drawings and plats ordered by judges trying land disputes, ches - notice that many "estate files" you seek now consist of the inventory and appraisement only, even though there were many other writings in each of those cases, of which papers the clerks, etc., long ago disposed. c) The many memos and papers that once reported to the court what had been done by way of care for infants or the destitute, those reports and orders having to do with road work, documents that concerend land owned by the "Crown," the colony or the county, and those having to do with what few schools. d) Everything else not needed or required as part of the records of some other courthouse office, yet thought too important to throw away. SO, while someone may have once had some right to claim many of such, yet no citizen, court or official needed or any longer gave a hoot, those papers remained at the court house. BUT notice that the law did and does give Judges, their Clerks and several other officials (like a sherriff) the power to simply determine what else is "necessary and proper" for the harmonious operation of the county, those records are for our purposes the proiperty of the county/Circuit Court/Clerk. > > We are all fortunate that Surry's Clerks have preserved and passed down > to us nearly all of the records entrusted to them since 1652. This is no > mean feat, because that represents a LOT of records. ***PLEASE HEAR THIS, ALL; it is so important and we may be grateful to the Emmersons and the many Clerks before them > The good news, however, is that the Surry County Historical Society, in > just the three short years it has existed, is already aware of those > "loose papers," as well as many other items of historic importance in > the county. Now folks, there are legal, diplomatic, logistical, as well > as financial, elements in this equation that must be dealt with, in the > right way. This cannot be done quick and dirty, and I'm afraid there > will be no instant gratification for any of us as individuals. And I > cannot imagine that there will be any financial profit either. > > ....Rome was not built in a day, but it was built. Surry's "loose papers" > will not be indexed, microfilmed, transcribed and disseminated to the > public all at once, "right now," but it will be done. It will require > the cooperation of the appropriate governmental and civic entities and > officials, as well as private individuals. We all need to exercise our > patience and common sense in this matter, regardless of how we may feel.