Re: Three Original John Hayslips in Adams Co
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In reply to:
Three Original John Hayslips in Adams Co
Stephen Bennett 2/10/01
A True Genealogy Story
In the mid 1960s, I was doing research in Union, Adams County, Ohio. I was interviewing an old man who was almost 100 years old. On asking about the Hayslips of early Adams County, he interrupted me with impatience and said in a very hill country voice: “ Young man, why fer are you going round asking folks bout yer people. Go on down to the Court House and look at the records… they’re all there.”I then attempted to explain that a fire in the Courthouse in 1917 had destroyed all the records from 1807 to 1917. Again he interrupted me with impatience and declared: “ Ain’t no such thing… boy my brother was the County Clerk during the fire and I helpt him taw them records out the winder. After the fire, my brother said to me:“Virgil, I whist all them records had burned up… now I gotta put em back and clean up the mess.”He continued with the following declaration. “My brother and me took all them records down to the old County Jail in the basement of the Court House and stacked em up. They’re still there boy!Go see fer yer self.”
I had previously made friends with the County Probate Judge and related the old mans story to him. The Judge said: “It might be true.” He then opened his desk drawer and gave me a very big brass key. He said: “Lloyd, go look and see what’s down there; the LDS Church was here recently and microfilmed all our records, maybe they missed some.”
In the dark moist basement of the Adams County Courthouse I came upon the old jail. It was about thirty feet square. I saw the entire jail (from the floor to about four feet high) covered with stacked records. At first glance, I found nothing but early 1900s Auto Registrations with wormy bug holes. As I moved the records, it became apparent that the registrations had protected the old Registrar’s Vital Records from the insects and the elements.There were hundreds of large record books under the stacks of automobile registrations.
Curiosity forced me to open one of the books. There before my eyes was the record of my Hayslip roots ... (a Tax Declaration of Assets for a year in early 1800s).Suddenly, I had a feeling of gooseflesh covering my whole body. I knew that I had just unlocked a prison and freed thousands of persons to genealogy seekers forever.
I called the LDS Microfilming Dept. in Salt Lake City and was assured the team would return to complete the filming job; the Probate Judge sent a permission letter to them.
When Carole, the children and I were later at the Oakland Temple for our Family Sealing, I related this story to the Temple President who was the brother of a long time friend. He was moved by the story and made a phone call to Salt Lake to follow-up. He said that they had a record of my communications and was sorry to report that the matter had somehow fallen in the cracks. They assured him that they would follow-up. So, the records were finally microfilmed and the originals were given to the Adams County Historical Society.
Uncle Andrew Hayslip was visiting me in Visalia just before his death in Tenn. He remarked to me: “Lloyd you are quite famous amongst the Hayslip Clan and Adams County Genealogists. I have heard the story of your find from many grateful people …you’re a real hero.” I answered: “Uncle Andy, I think The Spirit of Elijah is the hero.”
Lloyd Edwin Lawrence Sr. 5/3/03 Phoenix, AZ.
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