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Requesting Records, Step By Step

By Paula Stuart Warren and James W. Warren Premium

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Ordering records through a Family History Center can require several steps. For example, if you wished to find microfilmed deed records from 1820 to 1850 for your Green County, Ky., ancestors, here’s what you would do:

1. Check the FHL catalog (online, on CD-ROM or at the FHC) to see what deed indexes exist for those years and that locality. (Do a place search, and then look under the topic Land and Property.) Several series of indexes may cover the same time period.

2. At the FHC, order the pertinent microfilm rolls of index volumes.

3. Wait for the film to be duplicated and sent to your FHC.

4. Co to the FHC when the microfilm arrives, and use the microfilm reader there to search the film for all the names connected to your family. Those indexes will point you to specific volumes and pages of Green County deed books.

5. Check the FHL catalog again to determine the film numbers for the microfilm of the actual deed records you need to search (based on the index entries), and order those films.

6. Wait for the film to be duplicated and sent to your FHC.

7. Go to the FHC when the film arrives, and search the filmed deed books for the deeds connected to your ancestors. Copy those of interest if a film copier is available. Otherwise, handwrite the complete information, and document the source.
 
From Family Tree Magazine‘s November 2003 Trace Your Family History.

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