Carol C Taylor Blog

County courthouses are full of great legal records to help you in your genealogical research.

There are some great legal records hiding in county or parish courthouses just full of genealogical information.  But they are not often consulted for various reasons.  Some researchers are leery of the courthouse.  They feel the staff members in the courthouse are not friendly.  The main reason, if the truth were known, is that these old records are sometimes dusty, fragile, more often than not handwritten, and therefore, difficult to read. 

So let’s look at these pitfalls.  Courthouses are as safe as any place in our modern society.  I did get on an elevator almost forty years ago with a law enforcement officer who was taking a drunk up to the jail.  I exited on the next floor, not out of fear; but because it was during the heat of a Texas summer and that prisoner must not have bathed since Christmas.  To this day I walk up the flight of stairs telling myself it is good exercise.  And the jail is no longer in the courthouse.

Yes, sometimes the staff does not welcome genealogists with open arms.  They are employees of the county or parish; hired to record legal transactions according to state mandates.  Many times they are overwhelmed with their routine work.  In my courthouse, there is a sign notifying patrons that they cannot answer legal questions.  Just as the staff member is not an attorney, neither is she a genealogist.  So, here are a few tips from yours truly, Carol Taylor about working with court clerks.

A smile goes a long way.  Please and thank you are very magical words.  You learned that in kindergarten, right.  Well apply it at courthouses, land offices, and libraries.  At the courthouse, introduce yourself, explain what type of record you want to find, and then give the ancestor’s name and a time frame.  You might want divorce proceedings, marriage records, a deed for a burial plot, a criminal record, or probate records.  Depending upon the State these records are not usually found in the same office.  Ask for only one kind of record at a time.  Once you know that you are in the right office, give the approximate dates and names.  The staff will tell you if you are in the right office.  If not, they will either tell you or show you where you need to be. 

Having been the director of a genealogical research center in our local library and a dedicated genealogist for many, many years I can tell you that the person helping you will not be impressed with your entire family history.  Keep it simple.  Stick to the ancestor who was at that locale and don’t stray to your ancestor who arrived on the Mayflower.  I know you are enthusiastic; I am so excited about my ancestors from the Palatine.  But few people want to hear my lecture about Europe in the Middle Ages and why Germans migrated to the American Colonies.  You know glazed look that comes over your audiences’ eyes when they are confronted by enthusiastic genealogists. Remember to recognize it in a courthouse or library.  And be sure to smile and say thanks.

What about the records themselves?  Courthouses, like the rest of the world, are overwhelmed with paper.  Some have microfilmed records, or allowed volunteers from the Mormon Church to do so.  Since before World War II, microfilms were considered the best way to archive papers, if the originals could not be saved.  That is the reason censuses are on microfilm.  As digitalization became more acceptable, many of those microfilms are now being digitized.  Either way, it is a tedious and expensive process. 

Today we find a combination of the two processes plus access to the originals in some cases.  Hopefully, all county courthouses in the country have retrieved their probate packets (wills, inventories, dispersion of property records) from those old metal cabinets crammed with folded papers.  A probate packet may contain 100 or more sheets of paper. 

Many if not most courthouses have a computer file of records they hold as well has the old index books.  In my courthouse, the county clerk who deals with probates, land records, vital records, etc. keeps the original papers in archival folders stored the old jail with no climate control.  To access a probate packet, I ask the clerk to see if one was filed.  She then goes up four floors, pulls the file folder, and brings it to me.  At that point I photocopy what I need, or the clerk would if she didn’t know me.  Then she returns it to the old jail.  That is not a good situation and our county is very much aware of the deficiency.  

I prefer photocopies if at all possible.  You can take them home and transcribe them.  Sometimes, I pull out the digital camera I carry in my purse and copy a page.  But, please be sure to ask permission first.  This is not a situation where you can ask forgiveness later. 

I plan to write a series of blogs pertaining to divorce records, land records, and tax records.  All are crammed full of genealogical information.