Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
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| COUNTY CLERK Barbara Simpson discusses one of the Coryell County record books sent out to be preserved. Some of the books date back to the founding of Coryell County. – Photo by PAUL J. GATELY |
Leader-Press correspondent - GATESVILLE — One would have thought she was turning over her first-born child Tuesday as Barbara Simpson watched seven precious record books leave the security of the courthouse.
“All I know is they need to get back here in one piece or I’ll start hearing about it,” County Judge John Hull remarked.
Simpson, the County Clerk, Hull and about eight members of the Coryell County Genealogical Society met in the basement rotunda of the courthouse recently to formally turn over the first batch of county records bound for restoration and preservation.
Jane Creel of Gatesville, a member of the society, presented the county group with $5,000 earmarked for the restoration project and the society matched the gift to provide the $10,000 needed to restore the books.
“I wanted to preserve my family’s records,” Creel said, and in the process she managed to save everybody else’s, too.
The record books are a snapshot of our county’s early history. The oldest entry in the oldest book, the Police Record, notes:
“On March 13, 1854, the Chief Justice organized the county.
O.T. Tyler, presiding.”
The Marriage Record books are usually the most interesting to families, Simpson said. And obviously from the breadth, there were more marriages going on around here in those early days than just about anything else. The books, each bound in leather and cloth, include five marriage record books, noted A, B, C, D and D-2; the Police Record, which actually is the minutes of the county’s governing body and Mortgage Records. The contents of the latter also being somewhat different from what one might think.
The Mortgage Record books record the ownership of slaves within Coryell County prior to emancipation.
“When families come into the courthouse searching for slave records, they have to look in the Mortgage Record book,” Simpson said. Slave records were considered property records and were therefore posted in the Mortgage Record. The Coryell County Mortgage Record includes at least one reference to slave ownership, although Simpson couldn’t pinpoint the reference on Tuesday, she clearly remembered it.
“I hadn’t been in office too long when I stumbled upon it,” she said. “All I remember is it dealt with the sale of three slave children. I’ve looked for it again but haven’t been able to find it.”
Simpson said the condition of the record books had her interested in restoration years ago, but funding was a problem because of the cost – usually about $1,500-per-book. But when Mrs. Creel offered to support the project, Simpson said she was overjoyed.
“The money from the Genealogical Society and Creel will pay for what is being done right now,” she said. Other funds, which are part of a records fee account maintained in the clerk’s office, will be used for additional book restorations, Simpson said.
Randy A. Ray, a consultant with Hart Intercivic, of Ft. Worth, drove to Gatesville to receive the books. Hart is a leading expert in restoring public records. Ray said Hart uses a conservator in Vermont – Joseph Marotti – who has spent a lifetime restoring old documents.
The process begins with deacidification, which involves immersing each page in a solution that breaks down oils left on the pages by fingers of those who have been using the documents. The process also will intensify the images left by old “iron gall” inks, like those used when these records were made. If the pages were not deacidified, he said, they eventually would decay into dust.
The archivists then remove any old tape, such as cellophane tape that was used for decades to repair anything from slight tears to replacing torn out pages.
The experts then encapsulate each page inside a mylar envelope, sealing out any further decay and allowing for extended use without damage. The encapsulation is very different from lamination, Ray said, because nothing is actually adhered to the document, rather it is only enveloped and may be removed without damage … but only by experts.
The pages then are each reinforced and bound into leather covers very similar to the originals. Ray said the original covers would be returned for safekeeping, but the restored pages would no longer fit inside them.
The entire process should take 10- to 12-weeks, he said.
“I have to say I have a little bit of a problem letting these books go,” Simpson said, as Ray donned white cotton gloves and began wrappi9ng and securing the books for transport.
“I know that’s a long time to have them out of the office, but I’ll get them back here as soon as I can,” Ray said. “And when I bring them, we’ll call you all together and open them up. It’ll be just like Christmas when you see them.”