COGenBlog

In May we reported that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Enviroment had removed marriage and divorce indexes from their Web site. This week there is good news for Colorado researchers who have been feeling the loss of that divorce index.

Because of the efforts of a Colorado State Archives volunteer, Gerald Sherard, a new divorce index is now becoming available on the Archives Web site as part of the Colorado Historical Records Index. The cases range from the 1870s to 1939. As of today, the database includes only the plaintiff entries, but the defendant entries will be added soon, making a total of 160,000 entries.

According to the Records Description, researchers will often be able to follow up by ordering or viewing original case files at the Archives:

The case files normally have the complaint, the decree, names of children and other documentation in them. The State Archives has a large portion of the divorce cases from throughout the state during the time span of the index. It is likely that we can find divorce court case files in Adams, Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek (to 1927), Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Denver, Dolores, Douglas, Eagle, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand, Jefferson, Kit Carson (1904-1910 with many missing), Lake, LaPlata, Larimer, Lincoln, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma (to 1923), Montrose (to 1934), Morgan (to 1922), Otero, Ouray (to 1935), Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, Summit, Teller, Weld, and Yuma counties.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Enviroment (CDPHE) has removed the marriage and divorce indexes from their Web site. An error is received starting this week on the site that formerly had the Divorce Index. The following statement is posted on the Marriage Index Web site:

Since 2003, the Office of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics has operated a web site where the general public may access information on marriages and dissolutions of marriage. As the issue of identity theft has grown, concerns have been expressed regarding the potential for misuse of this information. As a result, these records are now treated confidential consistent with other vital records in this state. Agencies that believe they have a direct and tangible interest in being granted access to researching these records need apply to the Office of the State Registrar by obtaining an agency application at the Colorado Dept. of Health and Public Environment website: www.cdphe.state.co.us

Individuals needing verification of a Marriage or Dissolution need to apply to the State Vital Records office. An application may be obtained by visiting the state website: www.cdphe.state.co.us

The Marriage Index included the years 1975- present. The Divorce Index included the years 1859-1939 and 1968 to present. The issue of identity theft and privacy does not apply to the older records from 1859-1939. No reason was given for taking this index off line.

Thanks to Paul Daraghy for the tip about this story.

If you have land entry files or military pension files to order from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), you’ll want to do it soon before the fees increase. The increases, which are due to go into effect the end of May, will increase the fee for copying a Civil War era pension file from $37 to $125 (338% increase) and a land entry file will go from $17.75 to $40.

Time is running out to comment on the NARA proposed copying fee increases. The deadline for comments is next Friday, 27 April 2007. (Isn’t it ironic that I just reported today a new Colorado law that reduces copying fees making public records more accessible.)

Link to the proposed rule.

It’s not easy to find the links for submitting comments. Thanks to Pam Smith, president of Colorado Genealogical Society for supplying the instructions which were written by Sue Axton.

1. Go to www.regulations.gov. On this page:
2. Under “Search for” select “Documents Open for Public Comment”.
3. Under “Agency” select “National Archives and Records Administration.”
4. Under “Document Type” select “All Document Types.”
5. In the “Keyword or ID” field, type “NARA-07-0001-0001″.
6. Select “Exact Phrase”. This will take you to the “Results” page
7. On the far right side is a “Comments” column. The “Submit” button is the little yellow bubble in this column.

If there are some public records you need copied, you might want to wait a few months. You could save $1 a copy.

Fees for copying public records will go down soon due to Colorado Senate Bill 45 which was signed by the governor this week. The law states that a custodian of public records may charge a fee “not to exceed twenty-five cents per standard page for a copy of a public record or a fee not to exceed the actual cost of providing a copy, printout, or photograph of a public record in a format other than a standard page.”

The old limit is one dollar and twenty-five cents per page. This is the highest copying costs in the country and will still be in effect until about August 2007. The new limit will apply to fees charged by all city, county and state governments in Colorado. There are a few exceptions to the copying fee limit, such as certified transcripts from colleges.

The first installment of Manuscript Collection News (March 2007) is available at the Denver Public Library’s Web site. According to the inaugural issue, the “page will be updated monthly and will include new Manuscript Finding Aids, Hidden Treasures of the Manuscript Collection, Recent Donations and Archivists Notes.”

For instance, in the Hidden Treasures section, there is a description of the 1863 Civil War diary of J. A. Young:

The 1863 Civil War diary of J. A. Young was found in the Frances Melrose papers. The adjunct union soldier wrote descriptions of the events and people he came into contact with while serving under General Ambrose Burnside. He mentions places his unit went, deaths, drills, the weather and other activities. This fragile relic is housed in the vault with catalog number -M1890.

If you would like to be notified when Manuscript Collection News is updated each month, you might want to sign up with one of the free page monitoring services, such as ChangeNotes.com.

Thanks to Roger Dudley for letting us know about this new resource.