I forwarded the note from the Sauk County Historical Society to Jack Brissee, Wisconsin State Genealogical Society President, asking him for advice. I too have done research at the courthouse. I have spent four-five hours there and only took perhaps five minutes of their time for brief instruction. I was the only one there and certainly was not in the way. It is a lovely facility, they were very friendly and I felt welcome. It was not crowded and I certainly DID NOT MARK THE RECORDS! I may go up there before March 1 and get as much done as possible. All of my grandfather's family came from Sauk County. My research centers there. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeannette L. Schwarz <jeannett@execpc.com> To: < Sent: Friday, February 18, 2000 9:42 PM Subject: Re: [WISAUK] Sauk County Courthouse searches > Dear Kathy & List Members: > > I am rather upset to hear about these changes. I can understand the > limitation of perhaps making COPIES of many records, since this does > take up the time of the staff. Milwaukee Co., for example, will only > allow a certain number of records to be pulled for copy each day and you > are only allowed 4 hours at a time in the records area. > > However, Sauk Co. has the best research facilities that I have seen so > far (and I've only been to about 7 or 8 counties). They have tons of > room for people to move around back there - it's not like their folks > don't have room to work around anyone else. > > Losing the ability to view the actual records will definitely hurt my > search BADLY!!! I am researching the KIRNER's and the GRAF's in the > county. As you can imagine, GRAF has several spellings, all of which > they seem to have used at one time or another. Also, I am researching > PRETSCH in Sauk. I only found the marriage certificate of my > great-grandfather by chance since it had been so hideously misspelled in > the actual document (please note that we did NOT attempt to correct any > misspelling in the documents with the staff). > > Please be assured that I will follow up with the courthouse on this and > if this is true and the ramifications are such that we will not have > access to the actual document - there will be a letter writing campaign > to the higher ups in the county or higher if necessary. My great-aunt > used to be the Register of Deeds there and I'm sure she will direct me > appropriately. > > I prefer to do my own research since I am the most familiar with the > family. A remote connection may appear that someone outside the family > would not find and therefore, more time would be lost or the information > might never be found. I have been to the courthouse many times over the > last year and am extremely familiar with their record keeping system. I > don't understand why we won't have access to information which was > previously available. This doesn't make sense. > > Jeannette Schwarz > Slinger, WI > jeannett@execpc.com > > > > > Sauk County Historical Society wrote: > > > > FYI: > > > > Bad news for researchers. The Sauk County Register of Deeds office, > > effective March 1, 2000, will no longer allow researchers to research their > > own birth, marriage, death, and land records. Researchers will be permitted > > to look at the indexes only and will only be allowed to see a limited number > > of certificates due to a shortage of staff and other work the staff needs to > > do. This limitation has come about due to some researchers who believe it > > is acceptable to correct records when they see what they believe to be a > > mistake. (The records are so marked up with "corrections" that is difficult > > to tell what is original and what is not.) Rules that were set down by the > > Register of Deeds office have not been followed. In order to preserve > > records, these limitations will be in affect. > > > > It is sad to see that so few are going to affect so many. > > > > The Sauk County Historical Society will still be allowed to do research for > > clients (a fee is involved). There are only two of us in the Society, > > however, permitted to check records. The two of us are allowed due to the > > Society's history with their office, our mission to preserve county history, > > and we are currently funded by the county. Society members, however, will > > have to follow the rules of every other researcher. If queries are sent > > directly to the Register of Deeds office and require any research, they will > > be referred to us. > > > > If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at schist@shopstop.net > > > > Kathy Waddell, Archivist