Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures

by Christine Rose

Finally--the only guidebook devoted exclusively to research in America's courthouses. Full of essentials starting with preparation, interacting with the clerks, using the indexes, and what to expect to find in each courthoiuse office. But it doesn't stop there. Evaluating the records and using them to solve genealogical problems are included. For those who can't travel to the courthouse personally, use of the Internet, microfilm, and published books of abstracts are discussed. Tips galore from an author who has researched in more than 500 courthouses.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Christine Rose, is a Certified Genealogist Emeritus of The Board for Certification of Genealogists®, and a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Her lecturing experience included national conferences, and many regional seminar and local county seminars. In addition, she undertook client research across the country for many years. Since 1992 she was been an instructor and coordinator of Samford University's Institute of Historical and Genealogical Research. She is a prolific author of well reviewed genealogy guidebooks.

Reviews

[Laini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without Christine's handy-dandy guide, I might never have conquered my trepidation of researching in courthouses. With no experience, I was nervous about what I might encounter, and what was necessary to obtain the data I needed. I needed a good guide, but knew I'd have to do my research alone.

Now that I've read her book, I can't imagine why I was ever nervous! I started small, in little bitty Monroe (Green County) here in Wisconsin, and have now hit Racine, Marathon, Rock (twice) Counties, and Winnebago County down in Illinois, unearthing oodles of the information I needed to finish my book. I also keep the page with the land record filing system method with me when I go so I can remember the letters to look for, in case I forget.

This book changed my life!

[Thelma Noble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource book regarding ancestry search. Gives wonderful information how to find who and what at the courthouse, which has many documents not available on line .
Well written, examples of documents, and local and state and federal assists.
Are you researching your family history ? You will want to read this book. It was available at my local library.

[Kathy KS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the second edition of this book published in 2020. Obviously, there are some things already out of date because of more online resources and changes in URLs. But the meat of this book is extremely useful for both beginners AND more seasoned genealogical researchers. Even though more and more of these records are becoming available in digital format, there are many records in courthouses that are still not found via computer. I have researched in courthouses several states and felt I knew the basics; however, I now realize I should have looked into some volumes that I ignored! But I will definitely be working on some online work on some new locations soon!

Rose's examples and case studies were inspirational and helped put things in context.

The chapter entitled "The Internet, Microfilm, Scan and Libraries" was useful. However, this is where my biggest disappointment was.when the author discussed searching for materials in WorldCat (the closest thing to any international catalog!), especially in conjunction with interlibrary loans. She says you might be able to access the catalog only at a library. Actually, a public version of WorldCat has been available for consumers for quite a few years before 2020! See https://worldcat.org

My only other wish is that more information highlighting places west of the Mississippi River, including examples. I realize that much of Rose's research has been in the eastern USA and many of us eventually need to research further east as we go back in time, but there are some pretty major research libraries, etc. that could have been mentioned, including searching the Family History Library in Salt Lake in person, at the very least.

Don't get me wrong, I highly recommend this one.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information, and an interesting read into the bargain. This book reviews the different kinds of records that can be found in a courthouse, provides guidelines for their analysis, and includes many interesting examples from the author's own research. This book should probably be on every genealogist's bookshelf.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful reference book for doing genealogical or historical research at county courthouses. It is a must read before doing any kind of courthouse research in any part of the country. The book is only referring to US courthouses.

[Georgene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone anticipating doing research in a courthouse, or research using court records, including wills, deeds, and court minutes, dockets, etc. The author makes these documents understandable and tells the reader what to look for and what it means.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for everyone, but full of information. I learned a lot.

[Nora Olmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continued reference book...life’s full of surprises ... when you think that you know your family ..

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

W

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good reference book in doing research in courthouses. Christine Rose even goes over the importance of personal conduct when approaching law clerks for assistance with their ever-so busy office hours. This book also covers some legal jargon that are common to be found in old courtroom documents. The law terminology in this book also comes from Blacks Law Dictionary 4TH Edition Revised.

The books serves more as a reference guide and isn't something for pleasure reading. Reading this book is like reading a phone book at times, and I get more enjoyment from reading out of a dictionary.

[Debbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of information here. I'll have to keep it handy and review sections before I go into any courthouses to conduct research. The section on the various styles of record keeping was especially informative.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent guide to take to the courthouse and find those dead people.