{"id":3517,"date":"2025-12-19T15:34:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3517"},"modified":"2025-12-19T15:34:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:34:50","slug":"part-4-helpful-hoosiers-elusive-records-and-one-good-clerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3517","title":{"rendered":"Part 4: Helpful Hoosiers, Elusive Records, and One Good Clerk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ai Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is a continuing series on my recent adventures to acquire documents for dual-citizenship. You can read earlier posts here <\/a>– here <\/a>– and here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were up bright and early on Wednesday, ready to track down a divorce record at the Porter County, Indiana courthouse before they even opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another tip for researchers working in Indiana: be prepared to feel like a threat. Most facilities are swarming with armed officers who clearly believe they’re guarding nuclear codes rather than 19th-century paperwork. And no, you can\u2019t bring your cell phone in. Doesn\u2019t matter if you need it to pay. Doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re old and holding a manila folder. It\u2019s Wild West rules. Don\u2019t bother asking for an exception. I warned you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, they couldn\u2019t locate the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thanked them for the stack they had mailed me two years ago, minus the final dissolution of marriage I actually needed certified. Last time, it took them three months to find anything, and they charged me $50.00, a dollar per page, even though they\u2019d made five copies of the same ten pages. No, it wasn\u2019t a juicy divorce. Just sloppy duplication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, I showed them the exact document I needed. I was told I\u2019d hear back once they found it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we go again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Clerk, One Win<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On to the Porter County Health Department, where I entered a bit too early for some folks\u2019 comfort. While I stood silently at the counter, I overheard one clerk complaining about \u201cletting people in before we open.\u201d (Hi, yes. That would be me.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, another clerk came to the rescue. She was efficient, kind, and within five minutes, I had the certified record I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned the nightmare from the day before in Gary, and she replied with a sigh: \u201cI couldn\u2019t even get my own birth certificate from them. I had to go through the state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So maybe I was lucky after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Church with a Lock and a Secretary with a Key<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We drove back to Lake County to revisit the church that had been closed the day before. Again, the door was locked and the secretary spoke to us through it. When I explained what I needed, she let us in and quickly found the <\/strong>baptism and marriage books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She couldn\u2019t locate the names but from across the desk, upside down, I spotted them and pointed them out. She allowed me to take a photo of the entries, but only after covering up the rest of the page. I didn\u2019t bother mentioning that many dioceses have digitized records entirely, so full-page images are already online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She couldn\u2019t issue the certificates, though as there was no priest available, and wouldn\u2019t be one \u201cfor a while.\u201d The plan was to mail them when a priest showed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which, given how things were going, might be never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cemetery Software and the Mystery of the Missing Priest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Next, we made a quick stop at the cemetery, where I hadn\u2019t planned to clean any graves, but found myself wiping down markers anyway. I was there to get an updated cemetery record for the family plot. The version I had was from 2001, and a new family member had since been buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had upgraded to new cemetery software. Unfortunately, no one knew how to print a basic update using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So one employee simply handwrote the new information and told me to submit it alongside the old printout. (Ah, technology!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu with a Twist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While there, I got a call from Porter County. <\/strong>They told me to check my email to confirm they\u2019d found the divorce record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cue near-heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I checked: no email. Nothing in spam. I called back, no voicemail. I called again. The clerk laughed and said, \u201cOh, I didn\u2019t send it yet.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told her we were already on our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Archivist\u2019s Righteous Indignation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And then the Chicago Archdiocese archivist called.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wanted me to know firmly that my grandparents had not married at St. Salomea\u2019s and that she would not be refunding my money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hadn\u2019t asked for a refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was clearly annoyed that I had requested a church record despite already having a civil marriage certificate number. I explained that the county couldn\u2019t find the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her response? \u201cThey should find it.\u201d<\/em> Right – shoulda – woulda – coulda!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if that\u2019s something I can make happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then turned her attention to the birth\/baptism record copies I had submitted for reissuance. Because mine were in English and the parish books were in Latin, she couldn\u2019t issue a new version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told her Latin was fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next excuse: the form she uses doesn\u2019t include the word \u201cbirth,\u201d and my copy did. She couldn\u2019t reissue it for that reason, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I simply said, \u201cThat\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll explain that policies have changed over time.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She grumbled something about being unsure when she\u2019d get around to it. I told her to mail it. We were already heading home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tally So Far?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two days. Fourteen stops. Five records. Not great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a continuing series on my recent adventures to acquire documents for dual-citizenship. You can read earlier posts here – here – and here. We were up bright and early on Wednesday, ready to track down a divorce record at the Porter County, Indiana courthouse before they even opened. Here\u2019s another tip for researchers … Continue reading “Part 4: Helpful Hoosiers, Elusive Records, and One Good Clerk”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[208,187,1353,807,1191,1348],"class_list":["post-3517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boots-on-the-ground-researching","tag-cemetery-records","tag-chicago","tag-diocese-records","tag-lake-county","tag-porter-county","tag-vital-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3517"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3695,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517\/revisions\/3695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}