Dear fellow/sister Listers: I don't often forward messages, let alone to a
gene. List, but this is so important. In a nutshell, the State of Virginia
has a bill which, if passed, will allow all wills and their accompanying
files, to be destroyed once they have been microfilmed. As anyone who has
done research knows, microfilm can never 100% replace an original document.
Suggestions being made to the legislature include passing the documents on to
an historical society, rather than destroying them. If I read the Virginia
website correctly, this bill has already passed their Senate and is in
sub-committee in their House. Virginia is the original home of many of our
ancestors. They should have more respect for their past!
Betty
In a message dated 2/8/03 1:08:14 AM, Jtrippneu(a)aol.com writes:
Dear Fellow Searchers:
I wrote to Barbara Vines Little regarding the Bill currently being considered
in Virginia that would allow the clerks to destroy oruiginal Wills after they
had been microfilmed, asking if we could help by making our voices heard. She
has responded, and from the number of responses I received in just posting
the original notice, I know many people feel that some alternative such as
donating the original documents to a Historical Society or a library would be
a much better solution than simply destroying them.
Below is Ms. Little's reponse. I certainly hope many of you will take the
time to respond to the address she has listed in her message and let your
feelings be known regarding this pending legislation. As we have all
experienced from trying to read Census Records and other old documents that
have been microfilmed, glitches do happen and information can be unreadable
or lost. These Wills contain much of the early history of this country, and
losing this valuable resource is truly going to be a travesty for all who
seek information on their ancestors who may have lived or landed on Virginia
soil and then emigrated to other parts of the United States.
Perhaps we need to remind these elected officials of the importance of
preservation and suggest an alternate means of solving whatever problem
prompted them to write this bill in the first place.
Please share this with anyone you feel would be interested in helping in this
effort.
Judy Neu
Springwater, NY
Thank you.
It isn't too late to call or write our Virginia Senators & Delegates. Please
do so.
find the legislator here: <A HREF="http://legis.state.va.us/">
http://legis.state.va.us/</A>
Virginia Senate Bill 818, Destruction of will files. Allows the clerk to
destroy a will's file along with the original will after it is no longer of
any value and after it has been microfilmed.
Barbara Vines Little, CG
Dominion Research Service
PO Box 1273, Orange, VA 22960