Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

This week's Follow Friday resource is a new blog - Chicago History - which contains great photo and articles about Chicago. © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Congratulations to ISGS board member and fellow genealogy blogger Julie Tarr on the second anniversary of her blog, GenBlog . If you haven't yet paid a visit, stop by and check out not only the Illinois genealogy resources listed at her site, but her general posts on family history. © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Wondering how you can lend ISGS in publicizing upcoming events such as our Fall 2010 Conference - You Have Family, You Have History - in Peoria? If you frequently send emails, did you realize you can utilize valuable space at the bottom of your email messages to help get the word out? In the image above, I've added a brief note about the conference at the bottom of my email messages, just above my signature.  Here is the text with the link: Join us! Peoria, IL October 23, 2010 for the Annual Fall Conference "You Have Family - You Have History" co-hosted by the Peoria Genealogical Society! http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilsgs/fallconf/2010regfinal.pdf To learn how you can automatically have a message appear at the bottom of each email you send, see this free  cheat sheet entitled Guide To Email Signatures (opens in PDF format) which explains the method for each of the popular email applications including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and more. © 2010, copyri...

A recent story on the CNN website suggests that a member of the ill-fated Donner Party carried several documents related to Abraham Lincoln on their journey.  It appears that muster rolls from the 1832 Black Hawk War - portions with Lincoln's handwriting - were transported to California by James Reed and were considered family heirlooms. Talk about serendipity - who would have ever considered such a connection between this group of pioneers and a US President?  It just goes to show you that there are connections and genealogical information to be found in a variety of places and sources. See the full story here and play the video below for more information on this fascinating story. © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Did you know that the National Archives - Regional Archives in Chicago is open the 2nd Saturday of each month? The hours are 8:00 am to 4:15 pm for the following dates in 2010: Saturday, August 14, 2010 Saturday, September 11, 2010 Saturday, October 9, 2010 Saturday, November 13, 2010 Saturday, December 11, 2010 This is in addition to the Archives' regular hours of 8:00 am to 4:15 pm, Monday through Friday.  The archives are located at 7358 South Pulaski Road in Chicago. Click  here  for detailed directions when making your trip. If you are  interested in working original records or microfilm held by the Regional Archives, you are encouraged to contact a reference archivist ahead of time by phone at +1 (773) 948-9001 or email at chicago.archives@nara.gov . Also, if you are a Facebook user, make sure you visit the National Archives Chicago page and click the Like button at the top to add their announcements to your News Feed. * * * Thanks to the Glenvie...

Great news for fans of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield, IL! The ALPLM now has its own blog entitled From Out of the Top Hat . As stated on the About page: A cartoon shows Abraham Lincoln looking askance at a book with the caption: “My God, another book.” The reference assumes the reader knows that there are quite a few Lincoln books, roughly 17,000 titles to date. The same exasperation might be expressed as: “My God, another Lincoln blog.” There are quite a number of blogs, active and inactive, regarding Lincoln and the Civil War. Why is another needed? The simple answer is that whereas most blogs are the creation and expressions of individual opinion, this blog is institutionally based and serves a broad purpose. By tapping into the collections of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the blog hopes to tease out meanings about Lincoln, his times, and his legacy. The bloggers for this site are Dr. James M. Cornelius,...

The village of Chatham in Sangamon County, IL is providing a cemetery database on its website which will allow genealogy researchers to locate grave site information for the Chatham Memorial Cemetery and the Chatham Community Cemetery. Read this recent article in the State-Journal Register describing the project.  You can access the Cemetery Search page here . Via State Journal-Register © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

The Book Fair is Coming! Come browse through more than 120,000 used books in 70 categories. Lots of history and genealogy materials to aid in your research. Or pick up some light reading to help while away the hot summer days. The book fair will be open: Thursday, July 29; Friday, July 30 Noon - 8:00 p.m. Saturday, July 31; Sunday, August 1 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Afraid you'll miss the really good books? There should be plenty, but you can make sure by becoming a Newberry Associate and attending the preview night on Wednesday, July 28th. Read more details about the Book Fair and check out the links to the Book Fair Blog and podcast! © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

The Bloomingdale Public Library in Bloomingdale, IL announces an exciting event: Beginning Genealogy for Kids (Ages 8-14) Wednesday, Aug. 11, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Registration is required and begins on August 2 for Bloomingdale Residents. Registration for non-residents will begin on August 4.  Become a sleuth! Investigate your family's history! Learn the basics of tracing your family tree and start investigating who you really are. Contact the Bloomingdale Public Library for more information and for registration. © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

While this is not an Illinois-only genealogy resource, it is home-grown.  The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries was created by and is maintained by the Newberry Library in Chicago.  The following announcement about the completion of the project has been released by the Newberry Library: The Newberry Library is pleased to announce the completion and release of its Digital Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, a dataset that covers every day-to-day change in the size, shape, location, name, organization, and attachment of each U.S. county and state from the creation of the first county in 1634 through 2000. Nearly every aspect of American life can be described, analyzed, and illuminated through data gathered and organized by county or available in county records, and knowing how and when boundaries changed is often the key to finding and understanding great quantities of historical data. For example, a farm may have been in one family for many generations, but over ...

Funny how something wonderful can sit right in front of your eyes and you don't see it until someone takes the time to point it out to you.  Such is the case with the Elgin Genealogical Society blog. The EGS blog not only has been highlighting activities of its society for the past 18 months, but it is also a "community blog," meaning there are several authors who post articles and make contributions.  This tells me that they are a pretty tech savvy group if they can round up eight folks who feel comfortable enough blogging! Not only does the EGS blog point out some valuable resources and post meeting announcements, but it also includes members stories which are interesting to read.  Check out their list of Internet genealogy sites with an emphasis on Illinois genealogy. * * * Thanks to ISGS Board member Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog for point this great genealogy blog out to me!  If you have an Illinois-related genealogy blog or resource that you want to se...

[This post has been submitted for the Carnival of Genealogical Societies , 3rd Edition at the California Genealogical Society and Library blog, California Ancestors .] The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) provides several unique offerings and services to the genealogy community.  These programs along with a dedicated group of board members and volunteers, makes for a dynamic group of genealogists committed to helping others locate their Prairie State ancestors. 1916 - 1947 Death Certificate Project : In 2002, the Illinois State Archives launched a searchable index of of Illinois death certificates from 1916 - 1950 .  In addition, free  uncertified copies were provided upon request.  Well, as you can imagine, the response who overwhelming - so much so that the program was discontinued within six months.  While the certificates are still accessible by visiting the  archives, ISGS stepped in to make it easier to obtain these certificates through...

Thanks to Harold Henderson of the Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog site for his comments about the latest issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly and more specifically, the "Grandmothers of Aurora" article by Michael R. Fitchel. Harold has come across a book similar to Reminiscences Prepared From Written and Verbal Recitals of the Personal Experience of "The Grandmothers" of Aurora in Early Pioneer Life in Illinois upon which the article was based.  The book he located is entitled Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve also produced during the same time period in the 1890s. As he states in his blog post, Harold wonders if there are any similar publications from the time period which used reminisces and first-hand accounts from pioneer women in Illinois and other states.  If you know of any, we'd love to know and let Midwestern Microhistory know as well! © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Take a closer look at all the Chicago and Cook County resources on this great genealogy blog - Chicago Family History ! © 2010, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society