Saving the county’s history
By MARK LAW Staff writerArticle Photos
STEUBENVILLE - The basement of the Jefferson County Courthouse holds a treasure chest of information for family historians, but accessing and preserving that information has been difficult up until now.
The Jefferson County Genealogical Chapter has been working for nearly two months to sort, organize and eventually remove records, some of which date back to 1797, so the documents can be digitally copied and preserved for today's family historians and future generations.
Flora VerStraten, Jefferson County Genealogical Chapter president, said all courthouse offices, with the exception of the county recorder, have agreed to allow the genealogical chapter access to the records so the documents can be digitally copied with a $30,000 camera on loan from the Genealogical Society of Utah.
The local genealogical society members and volunteers will index and organize the records for easier research by family historians.
Courthouse offices will receive the benefit of having the records in a digital format that can be accessed by computer, VerStraten said.
Gail Komar, Jefferson County Genealogical Chapter treasurer, and VerStraten said they talked to county Commissioner Thomas Graham about having access to the old courthouse records. Graham got the OK from the county prosecutor's office and probate court was the first to agree to open the records to the genealogical chapter for making digital copies.
"We have been trying to do this for six years," VerStraten said.
She noted surrounding counties have been working for years to preserve courthouse records.
The records from the courthouse will be taken to the genealogical chapter office at 100 Fernwood Road, Wintersville, which offers more environmentally controlled conditions for working with the documents, VerStraten said. Heat from the boilers in the basement of the courthouse have dried out many of the records, causing the paper to become brittle, she noted.
Members of the genealogical chapter will use the high-tech camera from the Genealogical Society of Utah, also known as FamilySearch - the largest free Internet search tool for people researching family history, according to VerStraten.
There are already two digital cameras in Ohio on loan from the Genealogical Society of Utah, and VerStraten said she had to make a strong case to the Utah organization for a third camera to be placed in the state.
"It shows how important these records are," VerStraten said.
The camera is on loan for a year, but VerStraten said that will probably be extended.
FamilySearch will teach the local genealogical chapter how to rehydrate documents so the papers can be flattened with an ironing process. The records will be indexed for easier research and then digitally photographed, and the information will be available on the FamilySearch Web site.
"This is it. With their condition (of the records), they will be lost," VerStraten said.
The records in the courthouse basement look like an organized mess but VerStraten said probate court over the years kept a close eye on the records under lock and key. Other offices have records stored in the basement and in the Courthouse Annex.
There are more than 7,000 files in the probate records. Most are probate packets, which contain wills and estate information on how assets were distributed.
VerStraten said the probate packets will be inventoried prior to being digitized. The probate packets have been kept in narrow filing cabinet drawers that nearly fill a room in the courthouse basement.
Komar said the older wills contain information valuable to family historians. The estates had to list an inventory of everything owned by the deceased and how and to whom it was sold. Komar said there is detailed accounting and receipts, and all the information was folded up and placed in the probate packets, which date from 1797 to 1970, when the format was changed.
VerStraten noted she took some time to read a couple of the probate packets.
One was from a woman who died in 1807. The probate packet contained information on how much the coffin cost, the cemetery where she was buried, which no longer exists, and information about the family.
"It will open up avenues we have never been able to explore," she said.
VerStraten said family historians know the value of Jefferson County records because of the Land Ordinance of 1785 that opened the Northwest for settlement starting at the Ohio River.
"It was a new starting point," she said.
Records in the courthouse start in 1797, before Ohio became a state.
VerStraten said an 1880 census book for Jefferson County was located - an exciting document considering the majority of the 1890 federal census was burned in a fire.
She was bitten by the genealogical bug when she was about 19 years old, she noted, and has been able to trace her roots back to Jamestown and even John Hancock, who is part of her family tree.
Several documents will not be allowed to leave the courthouse under orders of Probate Judge Sam Kerr, VerStraten noted, and books on adoption and lunacy - an earlier term for mental illness - will have to remain in the courthouse basement. She noted she will continue to try to convince Kerr to allow the adoption books to be copied and opened for research.
Included in the courthouse documents are naturalization books containing information on county residents becoming U.S. citizens.
"The earliest records are in the most deplorable condition because of how and where they were stored," VerStraten said. Those records will be digitized and will not be available for hands-on use by the public.
The county genealogical chapter is looking for donations of filing cabinets, shelving and other office supplies. For information, call VerStraten at (740) 632-4453.
(Law can be contacted at mlaw@heraldstaronline.com.)
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skydivesue
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11-15-09 8:43 AM
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Wonderful!!! Appreciate the efforts you and the Jefferson County Genealogical Chapter are taking to do this.
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