Everyone, I guess it's time for me to finally chime in on this matter. Seems like we have this topic come up every now and then. First someone brings it up, and then there is this big discussion about who did what and what to do about it, which in the end leads to nowhere. First a little background. As Tom & Wayne said, there apparently was a courthouse fire in 1872. I haven't checked primary records to confirm this, but secondary sources seem to indicate that the courthouse was destroyed by fire. However, if in fact there was a fire that destroyed the courthouse, lets look at what records were destroyed and what were not. The only records that are missing are the first will book which covers the years 1786-1803 and the first marriage book which covers the years 1786-1853. All the other will books after 1803, the other marriage books, deed books, law order books etc., up though 1872 are all still present. My belief is that surely all the records would have been kept in the same place and that if the courhouse had been destroyed with records in it, that all the records would have been destroyed, not just the first marriage & will books. Therefore my assumption and belief is that either the courthouse wasn't completely destroyed or the re! cords were not being kept and the courthouse at the time it was. In either case, I do not believe the first marriage & will books were destroyed by fire. Assuming that the books were not destroyed only leaves one other option, that they were removed at some point. If this is so, the only relevant questions at this point are, do they still survive and if so, where are they and how can they be returned. It does not matter at this point who took them, for what reason, or what they have done with them if they do still survive. The reason I say this is because I have personally discussed this matter with several people in RCV, some of these persons much older than I. From my conversations I can say that I believe that the books have been missing at least 50 years, maybe as much as 100 years. No one that I have spoken with knows exactly when they turned up missing and none knows where they are for sure, though some have stated that they knew someone who claims to have seen them. Some have theories about about who and why, as do I. But I will not discuss these theories on a public forum at this point. Anyway, as you can see,! the records have apparently been missing for a very, very long time. Some of you have asked why haven't the state's attorney etc. gotten involved. Forget it, it isn't going to happen. Not for something like this that happened 50-100 years ago. Not only that, but if the books do still survive, and I do not know at this point if they even do, but I think that is a big if, but if they do, talk such as this will only lessen the chance that they will ever be recovered, especially if someone who may know about them sees it. My feeling is that if these books do still survive, there is probably a good chance that whoever has them may not even know they do. I have seen to many times where someone has found something in an old house that they didn't know was there when they moved in. My opinion is that the best approach to their possible eventual recovery is the low key approach, quiet discussion between individuals about the fact that they are missing and how great it would be to be able to eventually recover them if they survive. As for the message that was posted on the message board, Max is correct, it has been removed. It was both inflamatory and accusatory and was way over the top. These types of messages have no place on the message board and will be removed when/if they are posted there. Further, as a warning, anyone intending to post these types of messages to the mailing list in the future, realize that you may subject yourself to being suspended or removed from the mailing list. I will not permit attacks of this nature to occur on my message board or mailing list. Mike