MI-CCGS-L Archives

From: "Nancy Hastie" <>
Subject: [MI-CCGS-L] Fw: Catholic Parish Registers
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 10:38:19 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Roberts <>
To: Nancy Hastie <>
Date: Thursday, September 21, 2000 9:56 AM
Subject: Catholic Parish Registers


>Hi Nancy. It was a pleasure meeting you last week at the library. I am
writing
>today because I want to share with you and other Genealogical Society
members, my
>impressions of doing research in the parish registers at the Cheboygan
Catholic
>Community facility. First of all, the people there could not have been
more
>accommodating or more pleasant. My wife and I spent nearly 6 hours there
poring over
>the various registers for the Catholic churches in the Cheboygan area.
(BTW, we
>found a considerable amount of significant information.) My first reaction
to having
>access to the original registers was that these are documents that should
be
>preserved in their original form for as long as possible. As you and the
Society
>members are no doubt aware, Catholic parish registers are arguably the most
valuable
>source of accurate genealogical information available. We were disturbed
to find
>that some of these parish registers were in pretty bad shape with loose
pages,
>failing bindings, and perhaps the most troublesome of all, many notes and
markings
>that were undoubtedly added by persons reviewing the registers.
>
>While there, I mentioned to the staff that it would be a good idea to
microfilm the
>registers, and was informed that this already had been done by the Diocese.
They
>indicated that the Diocese has the films but they are not available to the
public.
>Only the original registers are available there in Cheboygan. I'm sure you
and the
>other members can appreciate that this is not a good practice, and will
result in a
>continued deterioration of the original records. An archivist would have
heart
>failure at experiencing this situation. I did not pursue this issue any
further or
>provide this input to the staff for fear that my concerns as to the
condition of the
>registers might cause officials to completely deny access to them in the
future.
>
>In my opinion, the ideal solution to this problem would be for the
microfilms of the
>registers be made available locally, either at the public library or the
Catholic
>Community, and that the original documents be restored and stored in a more
friendly
>environment. Even better, would be to make the registers available for
filming by
>the LDS so that they could be made more widely available. But perhaps that
is
>wishful thinking? Above all, and particularly for those family
researchers that
>follow, we don't want to take any action that would cause a denial of
access to this
>invaluable resource.
>
>I write this note to you and the Society members in the hope that someone
will take
>the initiative to perhaps discuss this situation with the Catholic
officials in
>Cheboygan in an effort to guarantee the survival of the original documents
and
>continued access to the information. Maybe the Society could contribute to
this
>effort in some way, possibly even providing financial support necessary to
accomplish
>this objective. I know that I would be willing to provide a personal
contribution to
>such a project. The key to success would be in approaching the Catholic
officials in
>such a way as to ensure that the parish registers will continue to be
available for
>research. I will be interested in your ideas on how to approach this issue,
and
>whether the Society is interested in taking some action. Regards. Larry
>============================================
>Larry Roberts
>
>
>
>Ancestry w/photos:
>http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lmroberts/index.htm
>Full genealogy:
>http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=rbrtslm
>
>

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• [MI-CCGS-L] Fw: Catholic Parish Registers by "Nancy Hastie" <>