To read more on the Darthula Ross case study, click here.

Hypothesis

One hypothesis on Darthula Ross is that Darthula’s maiden name may be something other than Ross. Perhaps searching Alabama marriage records for a Darthula Langford, the daughter of William and Drucilla Langford, may be helpful. Darthula Langford is living with her family in Lauderdale County, Alabama and is similar in age to Darthula Ross. Did Darthula Langford marry a Ross? Could she have married Thomas Ross, the son of Colby Ross? Darthula could have married William Ross, also the son of Colby Ross, but it is not known when William died. We do know that Thomas Ross died in 1859, which fits with a remarriage to William Jasper Eaton in 1860.

Much of this theory rests on finding a marriage record between Darthula Langford and Thomas Ross. I estimated the marriage to have occurred sometime between 1856 and 1859 based on Darthula’s age and Thomas’ death. The marriage would have likely occurred in Lauderdale County, but it also could have occurred in Limestone County, Alabama.

Alabama began recording marriages about 1820. Lauderdale County is not a burned county, so it did not experience major record loss. However, Florence was destroyed during the Civil War. The courthouse was still standing at the end of the war, but it is still possible there was some record loss. Limestone County, however, is a burned county and many records were lost when Athens was burned during the Civil War. Fortunately Limestone County did manage to preserve their early marriage records.

Digital Collections

There are several digital marriage collections for Alabama on Family Search and Ancestry. Unfortunately, very few of those marriage records include marriages for Lauderdale County in the needed time frame. There are a few indexes for Lauderdale County marriages in books that Family Search has digitized, but the indexes stop in 1857.

Limestone County has digitized all known marriage and court records. This collection is available at the Limestone County Archives and has a master index. A search of this index returned no results for Darthula Langford or Thomas Ross.

Microfilm

There are a number of marriage records for Lauderdale County on microfilm. These marriage records have been digitized. Unfortunately the digitized versions are not available to view anywhere. Family Search filmed Lauderdale County court records in the 1990s and they have since been digitized.

The microfilms can still be viewed, but only in person in three locations. There are copies of the films at the Family Search library in Salt Lake City (call ahead first to make sure the films are accessible), Florence Public Library, and the Florence County Courthouse. The only way to view the films is to visit one of these locations in person or hire a genealogist to do it for you.

One of the films, Marriage records v. 2-3 1838-1857, 1859-1872, covers the time period in question. Notably, the year 1858 is missing, or at least not mentioned in the title.

Family Search has a program where a volunteer will do free lookups for specific records. Unfortunately, these films are excluded due to copyright restrictions. The volunteer was willing to do a transcription if I could give them a specific image. I was not able to request a specific image on the film without seeing the film, or at least the index. The filmed index is also restricted.

Asking for help

Since I do not live within a reasonable distance to where the microfilms are located, I asked a volunteer with the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) to do a a lookup for me. If you ask a volunteer, it is best to restrict your request to a specific film and specific query. By respecting the volunteer’s time, you are more likely to get a response. Do not forget to send a thank you reply!

A volunteer in Salt Lake City graciously looked up the requested film and carefully scanned the index for a marriage between Darthula Langford and Thomas Ross. Unfortunately, they did not find any record of a marriage.

Conclusion

The microfilm in question is notably missing the year 1858. Could a marriage have occurred in that year? The absence of a record does not mean the marriage never happened. On the other hand, it can’t be proven either.

There may be other ways to establish a relationship. Lauderdale County court records need to be reviewed to look for more about the Langford family. The court records are equally inaccessible and will have to wait for a trip to one of the three locations for viewing.

DNA is also possibility. While it will not prove a marriage, it could establish a connection to descendants suggesting that Darthula Ross is actually Darthula Langford.

Reclaim the Records

The inaccessibility of the Lauderdale County land, court and vital records is a source of frustration. The record custodian placed the most stringent of restrictions on the films due to privacy reasons. The reasoning does not make sense because the information in the films are of historic, deceased people.

It is my understanding that government cannot assert copyright on public records, though they can restrict access due to privacy concerns. In other words, government records are supposed to be in the public domain. Family Search will abide by the record custodians request even when they do not have a legal obligation to do so. These records could easily be made available for viewing on Family Search if the record custodian grants a release. The records have already been filmed and digitized, so there would be no cost to essentially flip the switch for accessibility.

The Reclaim the Records organization has been doing great work in helping to make historic records available to the public. Their recent focus has been in gaining access to records in New York and a few other states. They prefer to work on access to records that have been severally restricted and/or prohibitively expensive to access. Some local governments use record access as a way to generate funds. They have produced some really good case law in regards to accessibility of public records.

In any event, Alabama is not currently an area of focus. You can, however, file a case with the organization to be considered for a future action. I have filed one for Lauderdale County, but it will help if others also submit similar cases.

Until then, the record custodian is the Probate Judge. The current judge most likely has no idea that the previous judge had restricted access to the records. I have written to the judge with no response.