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Author: bonedigger176
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
I checked on the questions you asked about these earlier records. There are some criminal
court records available for the earlier time periods and were microfilmed (along with many
other types of records) many years ago (around the 1970s). These microfilmed records are
included with the microfilmed civil records. These microfilmed records are available for
researchers to use with a provided microfilm viewer and have been for years (since the
1980s).
Also, contrary to some misinformation, Greene County has never experienced a courthouse
file in it's history so no records have been lost due to fire and/or water damage.
I've read this kind of story over and over, apparently as an explanation for the
inability to find a particular record of interest, such as birth and death records.
It's simply not correct that fire consumed records as there has never been any fires.
If a birth or death record isn't found, the simple answer is because the recording of
these events did not become commonplace or consistent until well into the 1900s (1930s and
after) even though state laws outlined that these were supposed to be kept. Unfortunately,
it didn't happen in many instances.
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