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Places you'd rather not find anything in, but its better to look than wonder.....
Home » Genealogy » Sources for Genealogy Research - Official Records » Places you'd rather not find anything in, but its better to look than wonder.....Posted by Your Guide on July 6, 2006 9:47 PM
Official records also include criminal court proceedings, family court dockets and commitment dockets. Since researchers are often looking for someone who is closely related to them, they would rather not find their family members in these dockets. But those dockets exist because bad things happen to people and people make mistakes. When that happens, the mistake is often made a permanent part of public records.
When a family member disappears but does not appear in nearby obituary or cemetery records, looking in the criminal, family court and commitment/guardianship records at the court house may provide a clue as to where to search next. Not every family has someone who was thrown into jail at one time or another, but many do. Some family history researchers would rather not find out that grandpa was a regular at the local jail, and that is their prerogative. However, if you want to find him and haven't found him in other, more conventional, places, then these records exist and are easily searchable.
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