Your Quick Tips, 17 September 2007

Polite Persistence Pays Off
When searching for documents, you should not always take the word of the person onsite. I recently revisited a courthouse that merely had a note in a book that divorce proceedings had been dropped. After explaining that there had to be documentation for the divorce entry and refusing to accept that there was not any documentation, I was led to the basement where twenty-six boxes sat. There I found the filing for the divorce of the ancestor I was searching and it listed all living children, a marriage date, etc. My determination paid off.

Anita Keller

Photo Scanning Project
In the process of cleaning out the dresser drawer of my husband’s parents, many photos of extended family have been found hither, thither, and yon. We are scanning the photos and making album gifts for his siblings’ families, and keeping one copy for ourselves. It is a daunting task but is very gratifying. One uncle had the foresight to store copies of each sibling’s wedding invitation and birth announcements, and they make great additions to our albums. There are even some yellowed, but readable, newspaper clippings about noteworthy occasions. The scanned copies come out beautifully, and in fact we can often enlarge them to reveal some details unnoticed originally.

Best regards and good luck in your searches!
Julianne Jakab Brezina

Family Correspondence Speaks to the Heart
I have been scanning letters to share with my cousins. Family letters are often saved because they speak to the heart. And it is family stories that do that best. That is one reason scriptures are so effective–family stories.
 
Here’s an example from Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Damaris Fish
Central Point, Oregon

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2 thoughts on “Your Quick Tips, 17 September 2007

  1. Re Polite Persistance Pays Off: My husband and I had a similar experience in a lovely courthouse in an old pre-revolutionary New York State village. We were looking for an ancestor’s inventory of belongings filed upon his death. The clerk was not too helpful, but gave in aftr a bit of friendly persistance. The particular file was not alphabetized so I began at the front and worked my way through. Was I ever glad it was not in alpha order, for I found the inventory of a man whose son was a major contributor to our national pasttime, plus some other interestintg documents. In fact, in such a situation, it’s difficult to keep one’s mind on the reason for being there, it’s all so interesting. Yes, we did find the ancestors inventory … it even listed crockery, dishes, nails, lumber, equipment and livestock … you name it. What a great day for us.

  2. Comment on “Polite Persistence Pays Off”. Anita Keller, is there a genealogical society in or near the city where you found the divorce records? Would you write to them? It could do a real service to the county and the public by indexing those records and publishing the index. Libraries and others might be glad to buy the index. If a society would not do the job, an individual could. It needs to be done because papers in the basement might deteriorate.

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