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

Speaking of Citations

Artwork from Office

As genealogists and family historians, we have unlimited types of sources that we use and need to cite. We've all heard the phrase, "cite your sources" but sometimes it's easier said than done.  Let's face it, putting those citations together can be work. How about starting a citation "style sheet"? I did a few months ago and am now finding it to be extremely helpful, and a real time saver. Especially when I go to add citations to the documents uncovered during research.

Use your favorite word processing software. Each time you find yourself writing up a citation, put it as an example under a heading for that type of citation.

Here's a couple of examples from my "citation style sheet".

State Census – Ancestry.com

Source List Entry:

Iowa. Mahaska County. 1854 State Census. Digital Images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : April 2010.

Full Reference Note:

1854 Iowa State Census, Mahaska County, Iowa, Adams Township, no page number, line 7. William Ballenger; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 2010), citing _____

Subsequent Reference Note:

1854 Iowa State census, Mahaska Co, Iowa, Adams Township, no page, line 7, William Ballenger.

Document obtained from County Recorder

Full Reference Note:

Boulder County, Colorado, R:186, William H. and Lucinda Ballinger to George C. Corning, Warranty Deed, 30 Oct 1872; Boulder County Recorder, Boulder.

(see page 488 EE)

The next time I need to cite one of the many documents obtained from a county recorder's office, for example, I can do a cut and paste and then change the information to what I am citing. Occassionally I even reference Evidence Explained in case I need to go back and check something out.

My style sheet is nothing fancy and is a work in progress. It's also proving to be a time saver as I collect more and more examples related to the research that I am doing. I hope you give it a try.

To cite this post:

Michelle Goodrum, “Speaking of Citations.” Michelle Goodrum, The Turning of Generations, 10 November 2011 (http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2011/11/speaking-of-citations.html : access date DD Month YYYY), para. XX.

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum