This past month I had occasion to work on an application for the National Huguenot Society, which meant I had to pull out the books and files on the Bowdoin Family.
Going back and reviewing the proofs I had in hand and what I needed, I realized I had more than I thought and was missing lots that I SHOULD HAVE already ordered. I had the names, dates, places and addresses of the courthouses where data could be obtained. I had done as usual and procrastinated writing for official copies. I had copied many pages from great books and did not or had lost the title pages and copyright data, so had to make arrangements to go to library and copy those pages (if I was lucky enough that it was the local library where I had originally copied them).
The first thing I did was to fill out the application form as completely as I could from the documentation I had. Next I subscribed at Rootsweb to the Lower-Delmarva site, and proceeded to write queries and to read old queries at their archives. I found some cousins there doing the same families and was able to get additional data from them.
Next I called the courthouse in Northampton and Accomack counties to verify they had records back in the 1600s and the cost of copies at today's prices. Then I wrote letters requesting the wills, probates, marriage licenses, etc., that I needed. I enclosed a check for the copies along with a SASE. Within the week I received the copies I needed with a refund for extra money I sent just in case.
One of the letters I received back from them had enclosed a copy of the 1717 will, a copy of the pages in the county history book, one signed by the clerk of the court verifying it could be used as legal proof for any lineage society use. Another book they had on the family pages, and the greatest part of the letter was that the clerk had gone out to the grave site which is on private property and copied what is transcribed on it. She said this tombstone is the oldest in the county.
I finally finished the application and turned it in for approval, will now keep my fingers crossed.
The moral of this story is to TAKE TIME now and review all that documentation and notes you have in your family files, check what is there, for duplicates and to avoid ordering more duplicates. Then sitting down and actually ordering the documentation NOW while there is still time, before the courthouses, archives, etc., decide to close their records for research.
