Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

The ISGS 2021 Annual Membership Meeting was held on Sunday October 17th. At the meeting, we confirmed the votes for the 2021 Officer Nominees- a total of 121 votes were validated, and all nominees were elected! Members- the 2021 Annual Report and a recording of yesterday's Annual Meeting are available for you on the ISGS Members Only homepage. Here are bios for our incoming officers! ISGS PRESIDENT   Vicki Dixon Mattson, Waukegan, IL  Vicki is retired from the school transportation industry after forty-five years as a driver, manager and instructor. She is an active member of ISGS, her local genealogy society (as committee member, Board member, President, and FGS delegate), as well as the Little Fort DAR Chapter. Vicki serves on the board of the Waukegan Historical Society and volunteers as a docent for the annual Oakwood Cemetery Walk and Tour of Homes. She belongs to many genealogical and family societies both locally and in southern states. Vicki has been researching her family

There's only TWO DAYS left to register for the ISGS Fall Virtual Conference- don't miss your opportunity to hear lectures from our well-known speakers, submit questions for our speaker panel Q&A, attend our live events, and more! Plus, attendees have the chance to win fantastic door prizes from our generous supporters, including: Ancestry Newspapers.com Fold3 ArkivDigital CAGGNI MemoryWeb FamilyTree DNA The Chicago History Museum Legacy Family Tree Plus, ISGS will be giving away memberships AND other surprises! CLICK HERE for the ISGS Conference Page and register today! © 2021, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

CAGGNI will hold their next Zoom meeting on Saturday, October 16th at 10:30am. Michelle Wilson and Rommy Lopat will present, "Settling Northern Illinois: Richmond's Pioneer William A. McConnell." William McConnell was Richmond's first settler when he arrived in 1837. This is the story of how northern Illinois developed and how we researched McConnell's life to create the 200 page coffee-table-style book "Montelona Farm" about McConnell, Richmond, and the settlement of northern Illinois. CLICK HERE to register! The Peoria County Genealogical Society will hold their next meeting both in-person and through a virtual livestream, on Thursday, October 14th at 6:00pm. The program is "Meet the Society Board" to learn what they do. Attendees will also have a chance to comment, share and suggest ideas to help the Society! CLICK HERE to register for the livestream. The in-person meeting will be held at the Peoria Public Library's North Branch, 3001

There is still time to register for the ISGS Fall Conference- Registration closes Friday October 15th at 5:00pm! CLICK HERE for the ISGS Conference Page! Our Conference attendees will have the opportunity to attend a NEW feature this year- our live "Spark Sessions" series! Each talk will focus on a different Illinois research resource, including the IRADs and ISGS resources, and will be led by experts who are experienced in using those resources! Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions- so make sure you bring your notebook! Spark Sessions Schedule and Topics Tuesday October 19th, 7:00 pm - IRAD's at NIU and NEIU Thursday Occtober 21st, 1:00 pm - IRADs at ISU and UIS Saturday October 23rd, 1:00 pm - ISGS Microfilm Collection Tuesday October 26th, 7:00 pm - IRADs at WIU, EIU and SIU Thursday October 28th, 7:00 pm - Ordering Death Certificates from ISGS Get Ready for the Spark Sessions with these links! CLICK HERE to learn more about the IRAD system CLICK HERE

ISGS is proud to announce that we have been awarded part of the $1.4 million in new COVID-19 Emergency Relief & Recovery Grants distributed by Illinois Humanities! The grants support public humanities organizations in Illinois communities, and   ISGS is one of 254 Illinois organizations to receive this fantastic opportunity . We can't wait to put these funds to good use to support the Society and our members! Click HERE to see a complete list of Humanities Grant recipients, and click HERE to learn more about the Grants. The Illinois State Archives was recently featured in a Chicago Tribune series about the Great Chicago Fire! Archives Director Dave Joens and Archives Conservator Alex Dixon presented the early Chicago city documents kept in the Archives' special collections. There is hope that recent developments in infrared photography will help the Archivists decipher the damaged documents. Hopefully the information on these valuable documents will be recovered someda

We are excited to announce that THREE additional speakers have been added to our Fall Conference lineup! Meghan Harmon, Rochelle Joseph, and Debra Dudek all have fun and informative lectures to educate you about unique Illinois research resources! Meghan Harmon is the Reference Librarian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and assists researchers in the library’s Reading Room. She holds a Master of Arts in English, a Master of Library and Information Science, and a Certificate in Rare Books and Special Collections from the University of Illinois. Before coming to the Presidential Library, Meghan served as the Local History and Genealogy Reference Librarian at the Chatham Area Public Library in Chatham, Illinois. Fall Conference On-Demand Webinar with Meghan Harmon: Researching at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library   Meghan’s talk will include a history of the library, an overview of the collections, electronic resources available, and how to best prepare for your res