I have not yet run into that problem, but I always have dreaded to go to
Greene Co for information. For the gen user, they have an old microfiche
machine outside of the clerk's office which they point you to when you ask
to see the records. The fiche are loosely placed in a box alongside the
machine in the corridor. I guess it is up to the user to refile the fiche
in the proper order. I have always had to go through almost every fiche to
find the right one. The Health Dept is a bit better, they have a computer
index of birth and death records that you can look through to get the book
and page number of the information that you want. And they are helpful when
you do so. However, I have my doubts at times as to whether all the records
are in the indexes. I know I have 2, probably three deaths in Greene County
that are not in the Index. When I asked one time for them to look for them
(I had the date), they offered to look in the computer program which
generated the indexes to start with. What a surprise when it wasn't there.
I just smiled, said "Thank You" and left. No sense making it harder for the
next person.
So, all in all, Greene is the county that I dread researching. Maybe it
helps being from there and you are known.
Just my thoughts..
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: <czechgal(a)juno.com>
To: <INGREENE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2000 3:15 PM
Subject: Requesting marriage licenses from the Greene County Clerk
Hi Greene County Listers:
I live in North Carolina. In the past I have requested marriage licenses
and death certificates from Greene County and have had no problem
whatsoever getting them. Last week I sent away for three more marriage
licenses giving names of both the groom and the bride plus the date.
Today I received my three checks back with a letter that stated:
"Due to the large number of requests received daily in our office for
research and the limited staffing of our office, we are unable to
perform the hours of searching required. As always, our records are open
to anyone desiring to do research. The search you have requested can be
conducted by any title/abstract company or any investigator. A local
researcher is: Mary Robbins, PO Box 603, Bloomfield, IN 47424." It was
signed by Tom Franklin.
I was compelled to talk to them about this, so I phoned and got the exact
same response. I mentioned that for those of us who live out of state,
it is impossible to do our own researching. I asked if this was just a
temporary situation.....no, it was permanent. I told him that I have
dealt with counties all over the U.S. getting vital records and Greene
County was the first one to refuse me like this. I thought they HAD to
furnish the records. No, the office is just too overwhelmed with
requests. But, if I had the book number and the page number, they'd
look for it. I told him I furnished the exact date but he said that even
with the exact date it sometimes took several hours to find the
information.
So, if we all contact Mary Robbins to do our look ups for us, won't she
be overwhelmed too?
This situation has really provoked me. Have any of the rest of you run
into this same thing?
Carole Shoptaw in North Carolina
czechgal(a)juno.com