GOPHER RECORDS

After trying to get a document we needed from the National Archives in DC for almost two years, Gopher came to our rescue and we had a certified copy of it in our hands in four days. Although a bit out of their usual area (soldiers), Bob answered my desperate message via Facebook Messenger looking for someone who could help us acquire a certified copy of a 1912 ship’s manifest that originally brought our relatives to the USA. Back in 2020, we’d gone through the usual process of finding the document on Ancestry.com and had submitted payment and forms with the specific location, but after six months delay, finally got an answer back that the archives was “unable to locate the file”. We’d given up hope of getting the record completely for a while, but then decided to try again. We explored the idea of flying from our home in Colorado and going in person to search for the record in their research room. After reading their website info., we sent numerous e-mail requests to the archives requesting preliminary information on how to schedule, and procedures involved in obtaining a certified copy in person. All for not. Not a single response was answered. The document we needed was being used for a Certificate of Nationality in a foreign nation, and had to be a certified copy or the original, then had to be apostilled for use in a foreign country. With the pandemic, and closed government institutions, each step was taking months to complete. We were on a strict timeline before our case would be closed and we would have to start our three-quarters complete application process over again from scratch. I had contacted numerous services who would happily help with the apostille process for high fees (something we could do by mail ourselves), but no one who could gain entry to request and pick up the document for us. Then came Bob 🙂 Bob kindly answered me back right away, and said, “No problem! I can do that on Friday. Send me the document’s location”. He even went the extra mile for us and agreed to express mail the document from the post office. He was kind, clear, and professional and helped us immensely. We were so grateful he did this for us in our hour of need, we wanted to pay him extra for his time, but he told us to “just pay the favor forward” . Thank you, Bob, and Gopher! We wish you every success in business endeavors and we are proud to pass on your contact to anyone doing archives research on military history. It’s so nice to meet a kind soul! All the best 🙂