This morning, I headed out to one of the local area libraries to participate in the Hendricks County, IN Probate Records Project. Volunteers are working to prepare old county probate records for digitization, and I thought I would go help and see what's involved.
I am not from Hendricks County, Indiana, neither me nor my husband has Indiana ancestors, and I've only lived here for about two years. However, I have found probate records in general to be VERY helpful in my research, particularly for my husband's family. I have had easy access to his ancestors' probate records because they had been digitized and put online at some point in the past (probably by volunteers). I realize the importance of a project like this, even though it will not directly affect my own research.
According to the project website, these probate records have been just sitting in the basement of the county courthouse; they had never been indexed or microfilmed or open for public access. Papers related to each probate case were folded and bundled into small envelopes. Volunteers had already alphabetized the packets and put easy-to-read name and date labels with each one:
I am not from Hendricks County, Indiana, neither me nor my husband has Indiana ancestors, and I've only lived here for about two years. However, I have found probate records in general to be VERY helpful in my research, particularly for my husband's family. I have had easy access to his ancestors' probate records because they had been digitized and put online at some point in the past (probably by volunteers). I realize the importance of a project like this, even though it will not directly affect my own research.
According to the project website, these probate records have been just sitting in the basement of the county courthouse; they had never been indexed or microfilmed or open for public access. Papers related to each probate case were folded and bundled into small envelopes. Volunteers had already alphabetized the packets and put easy-to-read name and date labels with each one:
So, I took a packet and went over to the next table where I would find the corresponding flat folder in which I would be putting all of the papers once I unfolded them. I sat down with my packet and folder started carefully unfolding and opening.
Most of the files I worked with today were related to wills, estates, and guardianship of minors. I had files ranging from the 1830s to the mid-1890s. We were instructed to remove all foreign objects from the files; some papers were attached to others using some old staples, straight pins, and even thread! I had to (sadly) dismantle a neat old receipt book, but it is just not practical when scanning so many documents.
Old staple
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Old straight pin
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Papers attached to each other with thread
Receipt book cover
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Receipt in book
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Occasionally, one of the records would have a newspaper clipping regarding the case attached to the paper itself, which I thought was really cool.
And some of the documents had these neat federal Internal Revenue stamps affixed on them. (This one is from 1864.)
Internal Revenue Stamp
I really enjoyed handling all of these old documents, and it was nice to know that my (small) efforts were contributing to a project that eventually will help others learn more about their family histories.
