Hi, Could they be Volume and page numbers? That is what it seems to me to be. Vol K page 73, and Vol 428 page 167? Maybe? Good luck.. Blessings and Happy Holidays.. Debbie Christie-Rogers Bellevue NE -----Original Message----- From: John Foust [mailto:jfoust@threedee.com] Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 10:33 PM To: WIMILWAU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [WiMilwau] What sort of index was this? I've inherited a stack of notes from my mother's genealogy work from 25 years ago. She wasn't very organized, and I've come across a piece of paper with no heading that has a list of names, dates and a mystery number, like: Jahn Hulda Oct 18 1852 K 73 Jahn Wilhelm Jan 26 1867 K 74 Paul Feb 23 1870 K 286 Cora Jan 21 1880 13-52 Jahn Ernst Feb 20 1907 428-167 Jahn Gwendeline Nov 6 1907 443-148 So, my question is, what sort of collection in the Milwaukee area has index numbers (or page numbers or ...) like "443-148"? I suspect she was searching some sort of book or index and jotting down "Jahn" names that might've been related to us. Ernst, for example, doesn't match any known relations, so I suspect this is a list of possibilities, not relatives. What's most intriguing is the Gwendeline entry. That's the name and birth date of a child who had been given up for adoption a week after her birth. We had found a reference to her in a "lying-in" book at the library. The family oral history had never mentioned her. I don't think my mother recognized her as a relative - after all, a previously unknown child would've been big news. Considering that the child had only lived a week under that name, it makes me think my mother was looking at some sort of birth certificate index. The index numbers almost seem consecutive, like the birth dates. On the other hand, the living relatives of the adopted child have a birth certificate under the new name, so I would've thought the original certificate would've been expunged. Or was Milwaukee record-keeping not so secretive back then? - John