A Day at the County Recorder's Office-Part 2



Courtesy of clker.com

...Continued from yesterday...You can read Part 1 if you missed it and would like to catch up.

Upon arrival at the Boulder County Recorder's Office, with my prioritized lists, I presented myself at the front desk and explained that I would like to look up some old deeds, marriage records and other documents. The nice person behind the desk asked if I had used the fische before and took me over to explain the system before turning me loose.

All of their older documents are on fische, organized by book and page number with some documents having been digitized.

First, using the information printed out from their online system, I looked up each item to see if it had been digitized. Very few had but those that were had been scanned at a very high resolution so the copy printed out very clear.

Next, it was on to the fische. Since I had the book and page number of each document I was after, it was very easy to pull the fische one by one, find the page and make a copy from the reader. I made sure to note the book and page number on each copy.

I had been warned that sometimes the printer in the fische reader could be temperamental and after a couple of jams, I asked if it would be OK if I were to unjam it the next time there was a problem. The lady was more than happy to show me how and she went back to work and so did I. I always like to ask before messing with other people's equipment because sometimes they don't like you doing that.

So what can you find in the Recorder's Office? Here's a list of some of the types of documents I pulled. I'm still transcribing, citing and digesting the information. The time period of documents I looked at covered the early 1860s through the 1950s. That's close to 100 years!

• Marriage certificate
• Deeds
• Patent (as in land patent)
• Quit Claim Deed
• Deed of Trust
• Warranty Deed
• Notice of Intent to Hold Mining Claims (lots of those)
• Mortgage
• Sheriff's Certificate of Purchase
• Contracts
• Notary Public Commission
• Location Certificate (related to mining)
• Bond Official
• Satisfaction of Judgement
• Chattel Mortgage
• Cemetery Deed
• Power of Attorney

There are probably a couple of other types of documents that I missed. As you can see there's quite a variety of information in the County Recorder's office about your ancestors. Each one contains clues about their lives, the people they associated with and when and where.

Boulder's Recorder Office seems to be pretty modern and it was easy to locate records by doing my homework ahead of time. If you haven't visited the Recorder's Office where your ancestor lived, it could prove to be a very productive experience. I hope you give it a try.

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

A Day at the County Recorder's Office

Courtesy of clker.com

Last summer I had the opportunity to visit the Boulder County Recorder's office to retrieve a number of documents recorded by my ancestors. As it turns out some of them were rather "active" in that regard and this has turned into a fairly significant project. Today, I want to share with you the planning that went into this trip and my experiences in a Recorder's Office in the hope that it will encourage you to visit, if you haven't. I also hope you might share some of your experiences with us if you have.

First, I asked for advice. Since I am a member of the Boulder Genealogical Society, I contacted one of their members who was able to provide some fantastic pointers allowing me to prepare a list of documents I was seeking. She also explained the organizational system of the records and mentioned that the staff are very helpful (whew! for some reason I was intimidated by the thought of going into a place of business and asking for historical records).

Next, as instructed, I went to their online site to search records. I was able to compile lists of the documents I was interested in. Imagine my surprise when, by extending the search periods past the times my ancestors lived in the area (and even past their death dates, items appeared in the 1930s and 1940s. There was even one in 1951, decades after he had passed away.

Now with my compiled lists, I prioritized the items I would be looking for.

Finally, I checked the hours of operations and obtained a map to get to the office.

I was ready to go to the Recorder's Office. Tomorrow we will talk about my visit.


© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

What I Learned From Curt Witcher this Weekend

On Saturday, I had the distinct honor and pleasure of attending the Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board's workshop with Curt Witcher, Genealogy Center Manager at the Allen County Public Library. This was my first time hearing him speak live and he is as inspiring, entertaining, and educating as the recorded talks I have heard him give.

Here are take aways from each of the four talks he gave:

1. Roll Call - New Sites and Sources for Military Records and Research. This talk was jam packed with information and sites. One thing that I wasn't aware of is how powerful WorldCat.org is. Did you know that you can sign up for your own free account? WorldCat can literally be your research assistant. You can set up bibliographies and to do lists for a particular repository.
2. Using Government Documents for Genealogical Research. Local communities may have "yearbooks" of people who held positions in that community. This can be anything from mayor down to constables and town clerks. State and counties have Blue Books and Red Books which are like yearbooks. Have you sought these resources when researching your ancestors?
3. Pain in the Access: Getting More from the Internet for Your Genealogy. This was my favorite presentation. Mr. Witcher gave us  a step by step surfing strategy which I won't outline here because I would be giving away the heart of his talk! Suffice it to say that I now have another checklist to use when researching online. I will share some links that I was not familiar with.
• USGenNet
• Libraries on the Web
• State Archives - I'm pretty excited about this one right now because I think it's pointing me to some records that I need to access in Colorado.
4. SOS! SOS! Saving Our Societies: Answering Our Distress Beacons. There were many great points in this talk but two things stood out in my mind:
• People want to have fun and be successful doing genealogy. Is this happening for your society members?
• Them vs. US - There are more of "them" (meaning genealogists who were "born digital") than there are of "us" (genealogists who have been researching since before the digital age). What is your society doing to attract and engage "them"?

          It's important for societies to keep these and other points in mind in order to keep our societies alive and vibrant.

If you have the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Curt Witcher, I highly recommend taking advantage of it. In the meantime, I hope you picked up something useful from this brief summary.

 
© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum