One of the necessary items of citing genealogical sources is what copy of a document was actually used.
The image shown here is a handwritten copy of the Declaration of Intent for Rolf Habben, made out in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1886. This image was made from a photocopy of the copy which was contained in the homestead file.
Rolf Habben had a handwritten copy of his declaration of intention.
At one point in time, Hancock County had the originals of these declarations of intent.
There was the "real deal" at the county courthouse, the copy Habben had, and the copy made from Habben's copy that was included as a part of his homestead file.
Then there is the photocopy I have (of the copy in the homestead file).
Then there's this image I made to post on the website.
Then there's the PDF file I made that contained a high quality scan of the entire homestead file (one of the documents in that file was the declaration of intent).
Which copy of a record do you have?
This copy was discussed in this week's edition of "Casefile Clues."
