Three years ago we helped
one of our Florida friends find information on his grandparents, married in
Cook County, Illinois in early 1900s.
My hubby found the marriage certificate on Family Search.org and
captured the image. A few weeks ago we received a call from this friend who was
in Chicago doing genealogy research. He needed some clarification on the
information hubby had found.
Hubby emailed him the
image and told him it was available on the Family Search.org website under “Illinois, Cook County Marriages 1871-1920.”
Our friend sent a frantic note yesterday saying
he had searched for two hours and could not find this image. Could we please
send the exact link? Hubby went to get the link only to find the
marriage was listed in the index only. No more image. What happened?
He contacted a trainer at the local Family
History Center and her answer is:
“Cook County made a contract with Family Search that their images
could only be shown for, I think, two years. After that index only. That was
Cook County's stipulation to partner for the project.”
She went on to explain, “If there's a particular one you really want, last I checked it was $7
& you get to immediately download the image.”
She uses the Cook County site - Hubby went to that site this morning to check it out. The price is no longer $7.00, but $15.00 and records prior to
1930 are not there. They have a contact button. He tried that only to learn you
can communicate with them ONLY if you have a requisition number. Since we
haven’t purchased anything, he didn’t have a number, therefore could not go any
further. A present day Catch-22. Later today he will have to pick up the phone and talk to someone about their computer/database issues.
How many times do genealogists get deep
into searching, find an image, and figure it can be download later? Especially
on sites like Family Search.org. I, for one, now know there is no guarantee an
image will be there in the future.
Capture those images - Now!
