I have been to the cathedral in Sacramento to research and they simply asked what I wanted to look at and brought out 100-year-old books of records for me to browse through. This does not seem to be an issue with the diocese or a bishop. I would gladly spend my time looking through the records at the church for my family and I did ask to do that. First I was told the books were too old to be handled, then I was told that there might be "private information" in the records, and finally it came out that there was an index to some of the records. In the index it was discovered that there was a child (sibling of my grandmother) that no one was aware of and who presumably died as an infant. I know there is more valuable information for me in those church records because my grandmother's family were members of that church for three generations, but it is unlikely that I will ever be able to uncover the information unless the newly assigned priest consents to researchers viewing the records. And of course we have the issue of name variations that we are working with, i.e., Periera vs Perry, etc. It is very disheartening.
-----Original Message----- From: Joanne Mercier <[email protected]> To: azores <[email protected]> Cc: azores <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Dec 30, 2014 1:27 am Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] St Joseph's Church,. C;arksburg, Yolo County, California I work for the Catholic Church and I can say with surety that it's not a matter of money for information when it comes to requests for genealogical purposes. There are a few factors at work: 1) there is enough work going on in a typical parish on any given day that they cannot respond to every request in a timely manner. I once suggested that someone with genealogy experience compile a database that would be easy to look up for such requests. As you might imagine it was dismissed under "not enough time and too little requests." 2) the LDS folks have scared quite a few parishes into holding on to this information because of what they reportedly do with it when they get it. If you're not familiar with why they do genealogy in the first place I'm don't wish to debate it here but suffice to say while it's nothing sinister it is not a part of our belief system. I know for a fact that some bishops in my area have told their pastors not to fill our requests because of this. 3) lastly, the prospect of identity theft using our information is real since the church keeps such good records so, again, we've been advised not to share anything with just anybody. Even I have had a difficult time researching my family in the parish where I was born because of this and I work of the church. Folks are very cautious and sometimes they would rather just ignore a request than go the extra mile to fulfill it to later learn that the information was abused in some manner. I hope this insight helps explain why Catholic churches are sometime or most always uncooperative. Joanne Grota Mercier On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 2:23 PM, 'Lisa' via Azores Genealogy <[email protected]> wrote: I also have family that was active in that church and it is nearly impossible to get a look at records because they are "private". After much persistence & groveling in person, I was allowed to view an index of baptisms and found my grandmother and her siblings. I had been told there were no records for the family. The county record of my great grandparents' marriage states they were married at the church with the accurate name of the priest at that time but the church repeatedly tells me they have no record of the marriage. Why are they being so secretive & difficult? Sent from my iPhone On Dec 27, 2014, at 5:49 PM, Cakemom102 via Azores Genealogy <[email protected]> wrote: St. Joseph's Church, Clarksburg, Yolo County, California Portuguese Is there anyone in contact with a man who years ago was given permission by the priest to completely extract the vital records of baptism, marriage and death from this church in Clarksburg? I was told that he would one day publish it, though he may have hit a snag with that idea. There were so many from Pico in those early years and many Sacramento area families could learn where their ancestors came from if they had access to these records. The most recent priest has not been letting anyone see the records. Even though he has retired, it would certainly be easier if the records have been extracted than to go to the church I believe that my grandparents may have been married there. Mary Ann -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
