From My Email Box - "Local Vital Records"

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From: Terry Winchester
To: INVANDER@rootsweb.com
Subject: [INVANDER] Vital Records in Vanderburgh County


This is regarding the discussion about Vanderburgh County's new policy concerning limitations on Death certificates. Birth Certificates have the same limitations.


I initially received the same cold shoulder when I asked about a Birth Certificate for a client a few months ago. However, on a positive note, after being a bit persistent, but polite, I did receive it because it was 75 years old. The birth year was 1927. On the form, I was told to mark "genealogy purposes" under the Relationship section. Cost was $10. I don't know if they will treat Death Certificates the same, but I don't see a difference if it's more than 75 years.

On a rather frustrating note, however, the information from the original book was typed onto a certified certificate of birth, and the worker did not include the maiden name of the mother (as per policy for the new certificates, reported she).

The Indiana State Board of Health in Indianapolis may be a better resource. Their application is online at: http://www.in.gov/icpr/webfile/formsdiv/49606.pdf

Their website states:

To apply for a birth or death certificate by phone: Call 1-866-601-0891 (VitalChek Network).
To apply for a death certificate in person or by mail and pay by check or money order:

Please print form 49606. The form includes applicable fees, identification requirements, and mailing address. The cost for the first certificate is $8.00 and $4.00 for each additional copy. Please make check payable to Indiana State Department of Health. (Average Processing Time: 3 to 4 weeks. Processing time begins the day the ISDH Vital Records office receives the request.)

Navigating Along the River - Research Tips

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Obituaries...

As time goes on, more databases are posted on the Internet. Many of these are not known to us genealogists & family historians. Of course the online obituary sites are great for getting additional information about our families. Remember, however, that the information is only as good as the informant or compiler of that info. The newspaper will make mistakes, too. Most is correct, but it needs to be verified (documented) as we do everything else in our research.

I just learned about the Owensboro, KY Obituary Index from Bettie Cook [click on link to go to that site]. I have some Owensboro area family that have died... I searched for them and find all that I checked for, but I have many, many more to search for later. The index is full of information for the period of 1842-1919 and 1990-present with these two periods listing: Name, Obituary Date, Age, Birth Date, Birth Place, Death Date, Death Place, Cemetery, Cause of Death, Survivors, Comments! A third section from 1920-1989 only has a brief abstracts of the obituaries: Name, Obituary Date, Age, Death Place, Birth Place.

Most reading this blog already knows about the Browning Genealogical Database with obituaries posted from the early 1900's to date. This database also includes a "People Studies" section that has newspaper articles about people in the Evansville & tri-state area as reported by the Evansville newspapers.

These are only two of the obituary indices online. Perhaps our TSGS Webmaster might begin to compile a list of obituary websites in the tri-state area to help our researchers. I will discuss this with Terry Winchester to see what he thinks. In the meantime, seen me any links you have found concerning obits in the area... I will review them and then they can be put together on the website.

- Owensboro Obituary link provided by Bettie Cook.
- Article written by JGWest

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

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Meeting Reminder...

Individual Research Assistance, 6:30 p.m. Bring your information.

Regular Meeting, 7:30 p.m. Installation of newly elected Officers & Directors.

Discussion Groups (choose one): (A) LAND WARRANTS, GRANTS, & SURVEYS led by Bettie Cook, CG; (B) VALUABLE DATABASES ONLINE led by Mary Lou Bevers; or (C) WILLARD LIBRARY COLLECTION & SERVICES led by Lyn Martin.

Other News...

This will be our last meeting until September after all of the summer vacations are over. The society membership has voted to start our meetings at 7:oo PM starting with the September meeting.

It is time for membership renewals (please submit dues of only $12 by 01 Jul 2010). You can print out a renewal form from our regular web site: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~intsgs/join.html
We are still holding the cost of membership down as best as we can, while most genealogical societies are charging $20 or more.

By the way, we have a new Webmaster... Terry Winchester. He has been working hard updating some pages and improving navigation from page to page by providing a navigational bar on every page! Look for other improvements and additions. Be sure to let him know how he is doing and offer suggestions. It is very important to report to Terry any links that fail to work, so he can change the link - his email address is on most pages near the bottom.

Please consider sending in contributions for our members' quarterly journal, The Tri-State Packet. The next deadline for contributions is July 15th. for the September issue!

John G. West, TSGS President

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

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Research Inventory

by Terry Winchester

Have you ever found yourself scouring through records online, such as at http://www.ancestry.com/ or at the Family History Library Catalog at http://www.familysearch.org/, and come across records that sound familiar, but you can’t decide on whether or not you’ve already searched some of those records? Or, perhaps you’ve been in the process of looking through material, and discover only after a good amount of time spent, that you’ve already searched that particular source? We always want to avoid the duplication of research by others, but how often do we duplicate our own research? I know I’ve looked at the same records several times, only to discover that I had already searched them, and only after some serious time spent on the record, something shows up that reminds me that I’ve already been there.

Information on the internet is being updated on a daily basis, and somehow, we’ve got to remember where we’ve been and what we’ve done in order to avoid wasting time. And it’s not confined to the internet, either. Our own TSGS is constantly buying new books and material, and in order to save time and, frustration, it helps to know what you’ve already looked at in the enormous amount of material at Willard Library.

Well, I found a solution that, at least, works for me. I call it my Research Inventory Sheet. For each county that I’m interested in, I create a form, and make an entry for each record relating to that county, that I’ve searched, be it in book or microfilm form. Here’s how I do it. In Microsoft Excel, I create my own form, with column headers, as follows: Title, Author, Publisher/Location, Result. I think the headers are pretty well self explanatory, but I’ll explain a bit. TITLE is obvious. Under PUBLISHER/LOCATION, I’ll list everything about who published the material, and where and when I found it. If it’s a book that I found at the Library, I’ll include the Call#. Under RESULT, I simply list, in summary, what was found, and any notes that I may need to find the entire contents of the record which I have filed in my own filing system. Of course, at the top of the page, I allow for an entry as to County of Research and Surname(s).

- Written & submitted by Terry Winchester.