Being a Record Hog with OCFRD*

Yes, I am a record hog. No, I'm not talking about vinyl records either. I gave up on those long ago. I'm talking about vital records. When I see a site like Ancestry or the Family Search Record Search site post vital records, the first thing I do is start looking for records. After all, who knows how long those records will be available. The first site I remember doing this with was Missouri Death records at the Missouri State Archives site. I expected to find a "few" records there, and was stunned that my total was well over 300. In person, at the Ohio Historical society, where I have been twice to pull records, I found many, maybe in the 150-200 range plus what I've been able to find online since Family Search added the records from 1908 to 1953. And then there are the Texas records. A few of my lines settled there and I quite happily pulled those records plus whatever Family Search has on Massachusetts and Michigan. Oddly enough, the Michigan ones are fewer in number, even though my mom's paternal line has been here since the 1860s. I need more records after the Family search dates. Seeking Michigan picked up some of the slack for deaths from 1897 to 1920, however, they never finished adding the records and their database has some serious problems since I have records that do not show up on their index. I believe more than one person died in Iosco county, Michigan in 1909.

Lately, Ancestry has placed Vermont birth, marriage and death records up from 1909 - 2008. I'm just waiting for them to pull those out. At this point, I'd like to see the earlier records - Vermont does have them - so I can complete documentation without an 8 hour trip to Fort Wayne or a trip to the local Family History Center. There's something about film movement on readers that really drives me crazy.

So I continue to hog these records, go back and pull the census for them, find more information, go back and find another generation, another census, etc. Looks like my OCFRD* has flared up again.


 *Obsessive Compulsive Family Research Disorder

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes