Do you ever get frustrated trying to track down vital and court records for your U.S. ancestors? Sure, most of these records (not all) were originally kept by county offices. But where are they today? Have they come online? What privacy policies block access? Where do you order originals of U.S. public records and how much does it cost?
You can dig through county government websites for answers (if they are there, and current) or printed guides to U.S. county offices (if they are current). But these paths don’t always quickly yield the answers you’re looking for.
I just learned about a FREE website that simplifies the search process: SearchSystems.net. (A hat-tip to Kim Komando for pointing this out to me!) Here, you can search by place or record type across the U.S. for birth records, court records, marriage and divorce records, and more.
I tried a sample search for divorce records in Ohio. Divorce records aren’t maintained with vital records: they are court records. They aren’t always easily accessible to genealogy researchers. Below is a screenshot of what SearchSystems.net says about Ohio divorce records (it’s cut off–there’s more!). How useful is THIS?!? Love it! Think about it: what kind of government record would YOU like to find for your U.S. ancestor? Click on the SearchSystems.net link above and give it a try!
