As can be expected, even in this day of electronic information — or, perhaps, especially in this day — keeping track of records is a continuous and vital part of keeping any business operating, and that includes the business that is Barton County.
Occasionally, the constant work also includes some family drama, though, according to information from Records Department Manager Amy Miller.
She noted that in August, the county Records Department was contacted for information on a family that lived in this region some time ago.
“A woman from Oklahoma requested information on her great-grandfather and great-grandmother who lived near the Russell-Barton county line.”
The request for information goes to show some of the depth of information that the Records Department staff is able to maintain and access, Miller added. “Department staff found cemetery information about the great-grandmother. She died at the age of 34 and is buried at the Fairview Cemetery.  An infant daughter is also buried at the cemetery.”
In the part of August that Miller was reporting on, the department had 234 visitors call, write, e-mail or walk in from Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Colorado, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Illinois.
Not all of the work is as in-depth as that done for the family from Oklahoma, but it’s all important, Miller stressed.
Other recent projects included:
• There were 361 requests for birth records, death and cemetery records, probates, marriage licenses, divorces, census records, criminal, civil, limited, traffic, and small claims.
• Department personnel updated the records of burials, quit claims, lot deeds and markers for Hillcrest and Golden Belt memorial parks for the month of July.
• Oil companies continue to request information from Probates. 
• Created log sheets from the microfilmed mechanic lien documents for 1990-1991, and entered them into the Barton County computer system. There were 347 case files that contained 2,501 documents.
• Completed entering storage locations numbers, department, and case descriptions for Barton County Treasurer’s books and Barton County District Court files that were assigned by Underground Vaults and Storage, Hutchinson. Work began on the year 2000 Limited Actions cases, by creating log sheets and filming case files.