I discovered something last night, I just HAVE to share. At the Family
Tree
Maker web site, they have a subscription service called Genealogy Library.
I had never looked at this before, because I didnt wish to subscribe. BUT
I discovered you can find out some valuable information WITHOUT being a
subscriber!
And were in luck, because the WPA Miami County, Indiana index for Birth
Records, Death Records and Marriage Records is one of their on-line
offerings! There are tons of other Indiana vital records, too - including
Fulton County just to the north of Miami County. No Cass County yet, but
maybe theyll add those later.
The bottom line is all the records I have on my microfilm (except the Voter
s
Enumeration) are right there on-line!!! And you can get the information
you need
without subscribing.
Heres how to do it: Go to:
http://www.familytreemaker.com/
On their very messy home page, look for
GenealogyLibrary.com Growing
Its over in the yellow section on the right hand side of your screen.
Click on it. Be patient. It takes a little while to load.
In the middle of the text section, click on
browse our catalog
Then click on
expanded directory
Next click on
records
Ignore the Marriage Records - the Miami County ones arent there! Instead
go
to
vital records
and click on
Indiana
Finally! A search box. Enter your first name and last name and youre on
your
way. (I just left that first box that said other word blank.)
Note this will bring up ALL entries for that name (not just Miami County),
but its
easy to pick out the Miami County ones and it also shows you where else in
the state you might have ancestors. (I found a marriage for a great-uncle
in Fulton County that Id been searching for years!)
Now you have the name of the source document on the left and the somewhat
encrypted version of the record on the right - for example:
Studebaker Wm T Lou E McCurdy Sept 21 1890 C 8 431
But it gives you the information you want! And since thats all the info
included in the microfilm I have, you just have to add the imaginary
columns. For the above entry, the columns would be:
Groom Studebaker, Wm. T.
Bride Lou E. McCurdy
Date: Sept 21, 1890
Book: C-8, page 431
The Book is where the information is recorded. For Miami County, the code
is:
C = County Clerks Office, Peru
CH = City Health Office, Peru
H = County Health Office, Mexico.
If you get a garbled entry, let me know and Ill double check it on the
microfilm.
Happy hunting!
Nancy
P.S. I should add that Im not against subscription services. I didnt
subscribe to this one, because I subscribe to
Ancestry.Com.
P.P.S. This is addictive!!!