It’s a mystery how and when the Kings County Surrogate’s Court lost its earliest records of guardianships in Brooklyn. Perhaps they were stolen a century ago. But last week, they came home.
The record books, Brooklyn’s “Bonds of Guardianship, Vol. 1 through 4,” date back to 1830 and record the details of guardianships through 1852. The historic volumes were found last year at a used bookstore in Philadelphia by professional genealogist Sandra Hewlett.
After realizing these books were public records that were supposed to be retained by the government, Hewlett boarded a northbound train from Philadelphia to Penn Station on Friday, and then took the subway down to Brooklyn, carrying with her the four, three-inch thick books in a wheeled suitcase. Thanks to Hewlett's actions, all genealogists will soon be able to obtain information from these historical records.
You can read more in an article by Samuel Newhouse in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle at http://goo.gl/Bw9Pd.
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