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Archiver > APG > 2005-09 > 1125755992


From: "Gladys Paulin" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] Beginning to assess impact on research in Orleans Parish
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 09:59:52 -0400
In-Reply-To: <BAY106-F174C2EF2994328F4D33764CAA20@phx.gbl>


All,
A quick look at the LDS catalog for New Orleans, Orleans Parish and
Louisiana show a considerable number of records microfilmed and or extracted
through the end of the 19th century.

The problems are greater for the 20th century which should be helped by
title insurance records; insurance company records were used to reconstruct
Chicago land records after the great fire.

Gladys
Gladys Friedman Paulin, CGRS
Winter Springs, FL
http://www.genealogybygladys.com

Editor "OnBoard the Newsletter of the Board for Certification of
Genealogists"
CGRS, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, is a Service mark of the
Board for Certification of Genealogists and is used under license by
Board-certified persons who meet program standards and periodic rigorous
evaluations.


-----Original Message-----
From: david mcdonald [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 8:51 AM
To:
Subject: [APG] Beginning to assess impact on research in Orleans Parish


While this is far from the most important thing going on in New Orleans, the

following piece from the Times-Picayune website (nola.com), begins to show
what sort of damage is readily apparent to documents in the parish.

Dave McDonald CG
(CG/Certified Genealogist are registered marks of BCG, you know the drill.)

<<
Mortgage records may be drowned

Orleans documents are in basement

By Greg Thomas
Real Estate writer

Thousands of lawyers in the metropolitan area have lost their files, their
clients and their offices, but one of the biggest legal ramifications of
Hurricane Katrina's flooding waters is the probable loss of real estate
records dating back to the early 1800s.

The records, which include titles, mortgages, conveyances and liens, were
stored in the now-flooded basement of City Hall on Poydras Street.

In 2002, employees of Register of Conveyances Gasper Schiro began the
tedious process of entering the records into computers, a $700,000 process
that could have been contracted out and accomplished quickly but was instead

done slowly by his staff to save money.

It's unclear how much of the information has been digitized or whether the
computerized information is stored safely. If either the original records or

the digitalization is lost, it will be a major mess, said Southern
University Law Center Professor Winston Riddick, who teaches real estate
law.

While it will be a tedious process to fix, and it can be fixed, it will be a

major headache that could take years. The records involved date back to
1827, with the earliest recorded by hand in Spanish and French.

According to the American Center of Real Estate Lawyers, or ACREL, the loss
of the records could be devastating to the local real estate industry.

The process of restoring the information could be incredibly tedious and
create havoc for homeowners who will be filing insurance claims, said
Professor Riddick. While he expects insurance companies to honor claims by
owners who have copies of their insurance policies, the potential for delays

and other hassles is very real.

New Orleans real estate attorney Marx Sterbcow of Marx Sterbcow Law Group
said Friday that the loss of the records, stored in the musty, moldy
basement of City Hall, may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
storm-related problems for Louisiana attorneys, citing a memo e-mailed to
Louisiana lawyers by Southern University Law Professor Michelle Ghetti.

"Many ACREL members have been in touch with us to express concerns for
colleagues in the region. Members have been generous with offers of office
space housing and other support," Ghetti said.

Real estate records aren't the only ones affected. Ghetti estimates that as
many as 6,000, or two-thirds of the state's attorneys, have lost offices,
files and other documents critical to civil and criminal legal cases.
Several court buildings were flooded by Hurricane Katrina, including the
basement in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Louisiana Supreme Court

building.

For City Hall records, Sterbcow said, "it's the mortgages that's going to be

ugly. To put it mildly, how are you going to be able to prove if you own a
piece of property if your records are gone? How are you going to be able to
prove you have a mortgage, or one is paid off?"

Records for the 24th Judicial District in Jefferson Parish are probably in
much better shape than the records in Orleans Parish, Sterbcow said.

"Jefferson Parish sounds like they're going to be ok for mortgages and
conveyances,'' he said.
>>



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