One of yesterday's headlines in the Dayton Daily News says "Ohio birth, death data to be more accessible". That's great news! If you look at the article and read it, you may notice that the author mentions several times the Greene Room and the Greene COUNTY Room. The Greene Room is the correct reference. Xenia is a smaller town due east of Dayton, and located in Greene County. The Greene County library system is very nice, efficient and genealogy friendly. The main branch of the library is in Xenia, the Greene County seat that has a fabulous genealogy department. The Greene Room layout is similar to the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) main branch Genealogy Center in that the Greene Room is on the second floor and is a genealogy reference area, meaning no checkouts. Of course it is much smaller than the ACPL but is very much Greene County and Ohio friendly.
Well now, the article was about Ohio birth and death certs. It reminds me of a statement Curt Witcher, director of the ACPL Genealogy Center made in one of the several speeches of his posted on Roots Television. He was discussing the vital records system in the State of Indiana that was not standardized in any way, but needed to be standardized in some way or another. Sounds like from his reference of getting direction from the state about how to manage such a system is just what is being described here. I look forward to see what happens. Dick Eastman is very alert to these kinds of things. I sent him an email. I'd be interested in his view on the topic.
You can read more about the article at the Dayton Daily News website. http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/ohio-birth-death-data-to-be-more-accessible-625367.html?cxtype=rss_local-news
As I went to look for the Curt Witcher video, The Future of the Past on Roots Television, I thought, "Ha, maybe some head honcho in Ohio has seen this video, to make sure each of Ohio's 88 counties is not doing it's own little thing. Probably a more plausible thought is that the Ohio Genealogy Society is of some influence. In any case, I highly encourage you to watch all of Mr Witcher's 49 minute video if you have not seen it before. For those of you who have seen it and maybe want to refresh your memory on the specific topic, fast forward to 22:55. Or even better, because you question that maybe Ohio doing this database thing may not be a good idea, try starting at 15:05. In either case, please listen through at least to 30:50. Again, suggesting you watch the entire video, imho, this is one of his best, and those of you who do know Curt Witcher or heard him speak, already know that he is a great speaker.
A final thought to ponder, I wonder why marriage records are not included in the database.
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