I was called to the courthouse for jury duty - again. Jury duty can be boring when one waits in the jury room. Yet, it is part of our way of life. Our Constitution guarantees us the right to trial by jury.

Genealogists are blessed with court records, another source of information about their ancestors.

Court records for many counties have been microfilmed and are available on "loan" from local Family History Centers. When you look at the Family History Library catalog [online at www.familysearch.org], check out the "court records" section for the county you are researching. You may find that the courthouse records for the county where you are researching have been fully microfilmed. I've found divorce records and criminal records as well as the usual birth, marriage, and death records.

I have to warn that, in some states, it is difficult to access these due to the indexing systems. Sometimes, the cases are given a number, and are not referenced by a name. For those counties and states where an alphabetic index exists, court records are a treasure trove of information.

The Washington State Archives staff prepared an alphabetic index to pre-statehood (from 1853 to 1859) Washington Territory cases. The Archivists discovered an abundance of records. Maybe some of our early Washingtonians enjoyed participating in the court process. Suing another person may have been a source of entertainment in pre-TV and movie days. Whatever the reason, the records provide wonderful insight into life in the 1800s.

The two-volume index and accompanying microfilm are known as "Frontier Justice, 1853-1889." You can find a copy at the Clark County Genealogical Society Library, 717 Grand Blvd. The index includes information on how to order copies of the records from the Washington State Archives.

The Washington State Archives has prepared a list of common research questions regarding where can you find Washington court records. This includes such items as: where can I find birth, death, marriage, divorce, naturalization/citizenship, probate records to how do I find voting and election records. You can find this online at: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/archives/faq.asp#research

© 2001

Connie Lenzen, CG