Hey, Bill.  I advise all students to be sure that the Yankee arsonists really did burn ALL the records.  I know of no better example than the Cumberland County, TN courthouse which did burn - or so the story is widely told - yet IN FACT, the deed, mortgage, miscellaneous and at least 22 volumes of other records and reports were not destroyed.  Still, the tale that "Genealogists are in trouble here because the records were burned" lingers on even to right NOW.

   Even if your courthouse did burn completely down, all should remember that still yet the citizens, commencing the following morning, and local researchers over the years have reconstructed what they could of the "originals", and so, no matter what was lost, THOSE people know MORE than anyone else.  So ask them what they have.   

Once again, as a general rule, exhaust all the sources available through the counties websites and the local societies first, and what is not there seek elsewhere, and in the meantime see what the Internet does have for you.    Paul  

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Woodard 
  Subject: Re: Courthouse and Clerks and Old Records


  ....
  I have also 
  found that one can run up against that proverbial brick wall when 
  researching County Courthouses, city halls, local libraries , and 
  even the state archives in some states. My ggggreat grandfather 
  settled in several places in Alabama, and all the records ( and there 
  are many) are extant. However, he came to Alabama from South Carolina 
  where there are no records to be had since the "Yankees" burned all 
  the courthouses and their records in each and every place he was 
  reported to have been.
  What does one do to overcome these events ? Even a former "Newbie" 
  has problems with this sort of thing.

  Bill Woodard
  >   Henry Wiencek
  >   Charlottesville
  >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html

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