Friday, November 20, 2015


Searching for court documents?


Searching for archived court documents is one of the most complicated aspects of genealogy research due to the fact that they won't usually be found at the court house where the case was heard.  Fortunately, we have two handbooks that cover New England:  Michael J. Leclerc's Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, 5th ed., and Diane Rapaport's New England Court Records.  Leclerc's handbook is strong in the area of geography.  Of particular interest to the genealogist is the county designation.  Armed with this information, I would advise you to flip to the appropriate section in Rapaport's book in order to get a complete list of legal archival records for that county.  She even tells you what has been microfilmed as of the date of publication, which was 2006.  Our holdings here are not confined just to New England.  One of our purchases during 2015 was Gordon L. Remington's New York State Probate Records, 2d ed.  Not only does the author explain where to find wills and other records, he provides a very helpful overview of New York's probate system, which is totally different from Connecticut's.





2 comments:

  1. Dana,

    I want to let you know that your blog is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/12/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-december-11.html

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thank you so much. I'll be following your blog and posting comments occasionally.

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