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Greetings,
Recently I have met several people doing research at the Mercer County Courthouse, who, when requesting records, were told they were destroyed in a a fire. Although the courthouse burned to the ground twice, the records were saved. All of Mercer County's records from 1804 to date are kept by the county with the exception of the tax records that do not begin until 1906. Many of the records such as civil and criminal court records are kept in a storage area, and because of the way they are kept, cannot be accessed. By State Law, all records, except those sealed by the court or closed by law, such as payroll records, must be presented in three working days. The only records I have found damaged by the fire were a few naturalization records, some were burned on the edges and a few missing. Unfortunatley, either by lack of knowledge or willful neglect of their duties, it appears telling courthouse patron's the records were destroyed is becoming to often the norm in dealing with visiting genealogists.
Mark S. Painter
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