Marsha, Sorry to hear you came up empty-handed. I enjoy the same thing referring to paging through the books. I was reprimanded when I was there last time. the ladies weren't very nice when I was there. I mentioned the fact to my friends at the Sparta History and research center and thought it was just me but they assured me that they have had other complaints about the Mauston office. They have quite a bit of Juneau Co. material there plus the FHC cd's. They sent me an 1898 map of Mather the other day that I probably would have had a time at the Mauston office getting. If you wish to list the people you're searching for maybe when we are searching, we would keep you in mind. my ancestors came from Lemonweir twp., and New Lisbon area. Thanks for sharing your trip, Terry Nichols [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Marsha Wilcox [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 12, 1999 4:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Juneau Co. trip Hello listers! Thanks to everybody who sent directions and advice, my morning in Mauston was very pleasant. I didn't find a thing, however. It seems that altho 5 siblings of my ggrandmother were born there, nobody bothered to record their births. Hmph! How could my Porters live there for 12 years, have 5 children, and probably ggggrandpa Asa's wife Tabitha died there, and still not leave a trace, other than the 1860 census? Arrrgh! Anyway, the ladies in the Register of Deeds office were extremely friendly & helpful. They prefer, however, if you don't find your names in the Indexes, that you not page thru the books of records anyway. Book 1 of Births is not available for viewing, due to the fragility of the documents. Personally, I love paging thru the books. I often find that surnames were misspelled, and the Index records the misspelled version. By going thru the books, I can pick my people out via parents, etc. Also, the Marriage book is very interesting when I find my people as witnesses on other people's marriages. It gives me an idea of who their friends were. I love it for migration patterns, since very often people moved with their friends. That's my report! Does anybody know if St. Patrick's cemetery, on Rte. 12 just outside of Mauston has been indexed? Maybe my Tabitha Porter is there? Happy Hunting! Marsha Wilcox [email protected] Wilcox Web Design -- http://start.at/WilcoxWebDesign USGenWeb County Coordinator for: Lake Co., IL -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~illake/ Listowner for ILLAKE-L, tracing your roots in Lake Co., IL (Temp CC) Iron Co., WI -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiiron/ Home Page -- http://mall.lnd.com/wilcox/ My Genealogy Page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mawilcox/index.htm SpamHunt! -- http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/1616/