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walkitoutI called the clerk's office just now. My great-grandparents moved around a lot (<-- something of an understatement), specifically, my maternal grandmother's parents. My awareness of these movements is largely via the birth place noted on census records for their kids. One of my great-aunts was born in Colorado, and birth records seem to live on in the county of origin. Since I don't _know_ the county, I started with Delta, because that's where a bunch of her maternal relatives were living and I had to start somewhere.
I got the usual story: $17/record and you have to be related to the person. Since this is a birth record from over a hundred years ago, this it-isn't-public thing sort of makes me a little nuts, but I'm polite when I'm trying to get something (generally), and got the Coolest Response Ever.
Me: "So I can't get it, even if it's over a hundred years old?"
Her: "But you are descended."
Me: "She's my great aunt."
Her: "That's fine. You have to show the relationship but you can go on ancestry.com and just print it out."
Lesson learned: don't take these things too literally, and life is easier all around.
And then it got better. She was quite happy to check a particular date/name combination on the phone and confirm it wasn't there. So I don't even need to spend the $17 and I got an immediate answer.
Still leaves me with the puzzle (possibly unsolvable) of _which_ county in Colorado, but this is a relatively low-priority question anyway.
I got the usual story: $17/record and you have to be related to the person. Since this is a birth record from over a hundred years ago, this it-isn't-public thing sort of makes me a little nuts, but I'm polite when I'm trying to get something (generally), and got the Coolest Response Ever.
Me: "So I can't get it, even if it's over a hundred years old?"
Her: "But you are descended."
Me: "She's my great aunt."
Her: "That's fine. You have to show the relationship but you can go on ancestry.com and just print it out."
Lesson learned: don't take these things too literally, and life is easier all around.
And then it got better. She was quite happy to check a particular date/name combination on the phone and confirm it wasn't there. So I don't even need to spend the $17 and I got an immediate answer.
Still leaves me with the puzzle (possibly unsolvable) of _which_ county in Colorado, but this is a relatively low-priority question anyway.