The Mad Genealogist

Beginning Monday, Aug. 24, the fee for a single copy of a birth, death, marriage or divorce certificate or a report of fetal death from North Carolina Vital Records will increase from $15 to $24. The fee for additional copies will remain at $15 each. The change is due to a new law, the Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2009 (G.S. 10.22 130A-93.1), passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor on Aug. 7.

The cost for conducting a search of files for the record even if no copy is made will also rise to $24.

In some religions, a dispensation was necessary, under certain circumstances, for a couple to be married in a religious ceremony. Dispensations were requested for various reasons, such as not wanting banns read or posted, a marriage between cousins, or, most commonly, a marriage between a couple of different religious backgrounds. In the Cathcolic Church, for example, a dispensation is  necessary for a Catholic to marry someone of another denomination.

In those cases, dispensation records reveal a good deal of biographical information: names of prospective bride and groom, their birthplaces (sometimes including exact towns, which can be especially  helpful in learning a foreign origin), residence at the time of filing for the dispensation, and the names of both parents, often including the mother’s maiden name.

So, you go to the courthouse to get a copy of a simple marriage record….. and you are hit with the fact that the courthouse was destroyed at some point in the past. What are you to do?

Well old Newspapers are a good option but unless you are in a major city, actual copies can be spotty at best. Well here is a great option that is often overlooked…. DIVORCE RECORDS!

I am so glad to see this kind of work by the county courthouse.  I would love to see other courthouse follow suit. Thankyou to Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles and staff!

News Release -  January 5, 2009 -  Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles said today “It pleases me to announce an extra dimension of service to citizens interested in researching Hamilton County marriage history. Records covering an eighty-five year period may now be accessed by visiting http://countyclerkanytime.com. My goal to assist the public in examining marriage records online is a reality after many years of planning. Genealogists are able to print a specific record being viewed.

This is a new project by Footnote.com and what a large one it is. Browsing through what they have online right now is very promising. I am salivating at what states they are going to do next. The text below is from their website:

Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29 – Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If you’re unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu. These records can be searched by father’s first and last names, mother’s first and maiden names, year, county, and city. The certificates include the child and parents’ full names, residence, occupations, age, time and date of the birth, and the name of the physician attending the birth.