Cape Girardeau County Archive Center

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner pulls a box of paper certificates dating back to June 1881, before the issuing of official marriage licenses, while at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center on Thursday, March 8, 2018, in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archive director Steve Pledger looks down a row of archived court documents Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

A portrait of former Common Pleas Court judge Oscar Knehans hangs on a shelf of archived court records Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Documents written by Louis Lorimier are handled by assistant archivist Lyle Johnston on Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Assistant archivist Lyle Johnston handles Louis Lorimier's 1795 account book on Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archive director Steve Pledger shows a 1799 letter sent by Josiah Lee to Louis Lorimier at Cape Girardeau County Archive Center on Thursday, March 8, 2018, in Jackson. In the letter, Lee requests to be allowed back into Spain after being removed from the country by Lorimier. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archived records stack to the ceiling Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

An archived ledger rests atop a stack of books Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Assistant archivist Lyle Johnston preserves documents Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archive director Steve Pledger enters the records room in the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center on Thursday, March 8, 2018, in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County school tax books rest on a shelf Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archive director Steve Pledger removes a set of archived Revolutionary War pension applications Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County probate indexes sit Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Archived state records from the 19th century rest on a shelf Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner pulls a box of paper certificates dating back to June 1881, before the issuing of official marriage licenses, while at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center on Thursday, March 8, 2018, in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

School records rest in folders on a shelf Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Court records rest on a shelf Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Renae Farris prepares materials from Greenville, Missouri, for digitization Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner opens an index of deeds Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner flips through the pages of an index Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Wrinkled pages stick up in an index of deeds Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner shows a high-definition digital microfiche reader and scanner Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner demonstrates how a high-resolution camera and lighted tripod is used to digitize documents in the Recorder's Office on Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds Andrew Blattner flips through the pages of an index Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

A row of shelved deed records sits Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)

Indexes of deeds rest on a shelf Thursday, March 8, 2018, in the Recorder's Office at the Cape County Administration Building in Jackson. (Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian)