Good planning can help us make the most of our time at the Maine State Archives, located in the cultural building in Augusta. What’s really handy is that the Maine State Library is in the same building, along with the museum.

Before you go, there are some things you can do to make sure you use well your time there with resources you don’t have at home. Make a list of the ancestors you want to research, with as much information on dates and places as you can compile.

Did any of your people die in recent decades? You might find the date in the 1960-1996 death-records index the archives maintains at www.state.me.us/sos/arc/. Use the dates to look up obituaries in newspapers you can find at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, for example.

The same Web site also offers marriage indexes for 1892-1966 and 1976-1996. I have checked a few other sites on the Internet, and those I have seen do not offer this kind of information on the Net.

Once you have marriage dates, you’re set to look up the marriage records themselves on microfilm at the archives, by surname and year, 1892-1907, 1908-1922, 1923-1936, or 1937-1955. Find a marriage record under the groom’s surname, and you should find the parents named for both the groom and bride.

If you were looking up my in-laws, Willard Saucier and Rose Anna Chamberland, married in 1943, you would look under the microfilm for Sauciers 1937-1955. Once you reached the Sauciers, you would find births for 1937, marriages for 1937, deaths for 1937, births for 1938, marriages for 1938 and so on.

Once in the marriages for 1943, you would find Willard alphabetically after George and Martin and Thomas, but before William. If two Willard Sauciers were married the same year, you would check the bride, if you know her name. Otherwise, check the parents, the groom’s age, occupation, anything that would help you confirm which one was yours.

More on the archives in a few weeks.

The archives is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday; the second Thursday of the month, it opens at 8:30 a.m. When the Legislature is in session, it’s a good idea to get there as close to 8 a.m. as possible so you can find parking.

he Maine State Library is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and Friday, and noon-5 p.m. Saturday. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the library is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m., giving you plenty of time to browse family histories and Maine Old Cemetery Association inscriptions, for example.

When using the archives, plan to put your bags and notebooks in a locker there. Take only a few charts and papers, and only a pencil, into the search room with you. If you don’t have a researcher’s card, Jeff Brown and the wonderful staffers there will provide one for you.

I hope you’ll set aside two important dates in the coming year – May 5 at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, and Sept. 29 at Skowhegan Area High School. The Maine Genealogical Society will hold its state meetings, each with a variety of interesting workshops, on those dates. We’ll share more information as it becomes available.

3060. HAYNES. Can anyone provide info to prove David Haynes, head of household in 1790, Harpswell, Cumberland County, 1-3-3-0-0, and who possibly is the same David Haynes who was in Bristol in 1798 Direct Tax, is not the David W. Haynes who lived in Dresden, with children born there 1793-1801? Ancestry of the David Haynes in Harpswell? Children? Buried where? Any help appreciated. Gloria Pickard, RR3 Box 130, Bangor 04401.

3061. HALL-CHOATE. Looking for info on ancestors Samuel Hall, 1797-1874, and second wife, Eliza Choate Hall, 1799-1887. Both are buried at Mt. Ephraim Cemetery in Brooklin. Samuel had first wife, Joanna (?). Joyce Bean, 403 Bunker Hill Road, Warren 04864-4332.

3062. JONES-GRINDLE-CLOSSON. Need death record for Albert W. Jones, b. about 1850, Brooksville, son of Isiah L. Jones and Abigail Grindle Jones. Albert md. Ella Closson, Jan. 13, 1871. They had a son, Dudley W. Jones, b. Oct. 9, 1873. Was he born in Brooksville-Sedgwick area or Clark Island-Rockland area? Ella md. 2nd, Jan. 27, 1898, William Blake, at Sedgwick. Were Albert and Ella divorced, and was he the Albert Jones who md. Florence E. Miller, June 13, 1889, in Rockland-Warren area? He worked as a quarryman in the Rockland area. Did he die there? If so, when? Any information appreciated. Edna Andrews, 3 Jones Point Road, Brooksville 04617.

3063. WHITNEY-CROCKER. Seek parents of Ephraim Whitney, b. about 1789, d. Feb. 4, 1828, at Machias. He is buried in the Getchell Cemetery at Marshfield. He md. Mary/Polly Crocker, June 20, 1813, at Machias. She was b. April 20, 1795, at Marshfield, the daughter of James and Rebecca (Berry) Crocker. Mary md. 2nd, Stephen Boynton. She d. Aug. 22, 1863, and is buried in the Boynton lot at the Court Street Cemetery, Machias. He is not the Ephraim Whitney who was the son of Joel Whitney of Jonesboro. Valdine C. Atwood, 2 Free St., Machias 04654; or e-mail valdine@juno.com.

Send queries with Maine connections to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangordailynews.net. Full name and address of sender is required even if e-mail is used.