Reclaim the Records Needs Us Again

We always try to help our friends at this wonderful organization because they are fighting our battles for us all over the United States. We've written about Reclaim the Records many times, and for those of you just joining us, let us introduce you to one of the most vibrant and hardworking of genealogy organizations. This not-for-profit group of genealogists and lawyers goes head-to-head with governmental agencies over and over again to keep public records public, prevent bureaucrats from denying vital records to genealogists and historians, and ensure that Freedom of Information Act requests are granted as they should be everywhere. It's a hard job, and they rely on all of us to help them, since they are doing it for us.

Marriage Bonds: How to Use Them to Build Family Relationships

Most genealogists are quite familiar with marriage licenses. Depending on where you live, they may or may not contain quite a bit of information. However, if your ancestors resided in the south or some mid-Atlantic states throughout the nineteenth century, you have another record set to examine that may help you to link families when marriage licenses are limited. These are marriage bonds, and we’ll take a look this week at what they are and why they may be useful to you in your research.

Reclaim the Records: A Genealogy Group Worth Knowing About

They call themselves "your favorite little non-profit organization that picks fights with government
agencies, archives, and libraries for better public access to genealogical records and historical materials." But, far from being "little," Reclaim the Records has become a powerhouse of behind-the-scenes legal activity that is bringing long-suppressed indexes and records to the waiting hands of eager genealogists.

Although birth, death, and marriage indexes are supposed to be open and available, the reality is that many governmental agencies have taken it upon themselves to block access to them.  Privacy laws restrict access to actual records in all states, but the indexes to the records are not liable to the same restrictions. They are just indexes, and, according to the Freedom of Information laws, they should be open to the public.

Genealogist Brooke Schreier Ganz began the fight to win back records from New York City in 2015, and Reclaim the Records achieved its registered non-profit status two years later. Like St. Louis Genealogical Society, Brooke and her eight-member board of directors are all volunteers; they have no paid staff and rely on generous donations and helpers to move them forward. In the short time they have been active, they have filed Freedom of Information Act (FOI) lawsuits in multiple states (Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Washington, and Wyoming to date) and have managed to win access to millions of records. In spite of massive push back from governmental agencies, they have successfully negotiated the courts and released previously unavailable data online for free. They have gone to battle with few resources and won all of us the right to view marriage, birth, and death indexes that were previously off limits.

You can benefit from their hard work by going to the group's website. Their home page features a list of current lawsuits and record requests. Each of the record requests explains what was asked for and the current state of legislation. More importantly, each of the request graphics is a link to the status of the specific lawsuit. If the suit has been settled, the actual indexes will be posted there. You may be interested to note that litigation is in progress to open the Missouri birth index, for which the state tried to charge $1.5 million dollars! You can read more about that here. If your ancestors came from any of the states that are in the position of withholding access to records, the site invites you to take a records survey and let them know what records you have interest in. (NOTE: They have no jurisdiction over adoption or cemetery records, as those are private and not within FOI boundaries.)

What Else?

While you are on the site, you can sign up to receive their free newsletter so you will know what legislation is pending and be alerted when new records come online. If you want direct access to the records, they are all posted on the Internet Archive, although you will have to search for them individually. And, of course, as a small non-profit doing expensive work on our behalf, Reclaim the Records will gladly accept donations.

Researching Marriages in Jackson Co., Missouri, Just Got Easier!

(Thanks to society treasurer, Viki Fagyal, for alerting us to this website.)

Jackson County, Missouri, Recorder of Deeds Office Marriage Records Online

Do you have Kansas City or Jackson County, Missouri, ancestors? The Recorder of Deeds office in Jackson County has digitized all marriage licenses and applications from the county's beginning in 1826. You can view and print copies free of charge! Go to the Web Access page to begin your search.

As with many search engines, less is more on this site. Unless you are searching for a very common surname, try just typing in either the groom's or the bride's surname and let the search bring up all of the people with that name. You never know what you might find. If your surname is too common to do that, then begin to narrow down by date. In the following screen capture, you can see a simple search for Haycraft and the result of just one marriage. The first field in the search result is "Image" and under it, you will see it says "View." Clicking on that link will bring up a digitized copy of the marriage license and the application.

Even better, though, is clicking on the next link, the string of numbers, under "Book/Page." As you can see in the screen capture below, this link will give you a column on the left with certificate number and other information that might be on the documents.

While you are on the website, take a look at the tab called "Official Public Records." Let your mouse hover over the tab and you will see lists for grantees and grantors as well as a subdivision list and a real estate index. Of most use to genealogists, of course, are the grantee and grantor lists, but be aware that these are fairly recent, from 1962 to the present. For earlier records, you will have to look at microfilm at the Recorder of Deeds office. Another road trip, perhaps?