I hope the Jefferson Cunty courthouse fire will provide an opportunity to improve access
to courthouse records, which means giving many of the older ones to someone like the
Jefferson County Historical Society who can provide better public access to them and more
knowledgable help in searching them.
When the courthouse was remodelled, one of the things that was not improved was access to
records. All of the old probate books and civil and criminal court books were put in the
basement and could be accessed only with a courthouse staff member in attendance because
there were sealed records in the basement. While a staff member sat patiently with me,
this was hardly an ideal way to work and the basement was not the best of working
conditions.
The courthouse staff is also simply not set up to handle requests about old records--and
it's really not their job. The staff simply does not know these records and their
contents since they don't work with them on a regular basis. Several years ago, the
staff was telling people that the wills from the 1830s and 1840s were missing. This was
not true. It was simply that the wills were in books marked "Probate Record" not
in books marked "Will records." The Complete Probate Records often list heirs
not given in other probate books and court cases involving disputes over estates can also
have a lot of geneological value. Most of the probate records (I'm not sure all of
them from the 1800s) are available on Microfilm as are the warranty deeds and deed
indexes).
There were records in the courthouse that few know about that can be of value to
genealogists. This includes an Apprenticeship Record from the recorders office, which I
had started to transcribe a couple of years ago, but hadn't finished. There was also a
guardianship record book in the Circuit Court Clerk's office, (unless the rumor is
true that it was shipped to the state library or archives a few years ago.) There are
freedom papers for blacks in early mortagage records and mortgage records? (until about
1873) and Miscellaneous records (after that Period) recorded election of officers of
churches and other nonprofit groups, such as fraternal organizations. These are the only
records that survive for some extinct churches.
Other records that can be of use are Tax Title Sale Books (from the assessor's
office), which has deeds for property lost by owners through tax sales and the
Sheriff's/Commissioenrs Deed books from the recorders office. This all contain records
of property transferred to new owners outside of the regular sale process and these are
not recorded in the regular deed books, although many are indexed in the deed indexes.
I would hope perhaps that some movement can begin the early City of Madison Minutes to
some place like the JCHS that is interested in history and interested in dealing with the
public so that they can also be truly accessible.
As unfortunate as this is, if the salvage works Madison and Jefferson County have a chance
improve public access and ensure greater preservation, because if you don't know what
you have, you certainly can't know what's worth saving and there wasn't much
thought that went into this part of the process when the remodellng was planned and
executed.
Bob Scott