The Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society is our wonderful local co-host for the 2017 Fall Conference! Our two societies are working together to bring genealogists and family historians the best ISGS conference yet, and in the meantime we’ve gotten the chance to connect. Linda Polich, Local Marketing Chair, wears many hats within the Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society. We chatted with her about the ISGS 2017 Fall Conference and the Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society.
Illinois State Genealogical Society: Tell us about the history of the Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society.
Linda Polich: The Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society is a non-profit organization, founded in 1972 by 110 charter members. We have monthly meetings with genealogical programs, which are open to the public. Membership is open to anyone interested in genealogical research. Our Society is a member of FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies), and in September 2001, we co-sponsored the national FGS Conference in Davenport, Iowa, with the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society. Our Society is also a member of the National Genealogical Society, and the Illinois State Genealogical Society.
Our library collection, including hundreds of books, publications, and documents, is housed at the Rock Island County Historical Society Library.
Historical Note of Interest: We changed our name in 2005 from Blackhawk Genealogical Society to Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society to better reflect who we are to genealogists around the country. Many organizations and businesses are named Blackhawk in Rock Island County since this area between the Rock River and the Mississippi River was the summer home of the Sauk Indian Nation and the great warrior Blackhawk. So in 1972, when our Society was formed, Blackhawk was a natural name to be chosen for a Rock Island County organization. We got many questions about Blackhawk the warrior, or the Blackhawk War of 1832 from people thinking that we were an Indian Society; however, we got very few genealogical queries about our area of focus. Thus the name change!
ISGS: The ISGS conference will be many people's first time in Moline, Illinois - can you give us some history about Moline and the Quad Cities?
LP: Moline is one of the agricultural capitals of the world, and is the home of the John Deere World Headquarters. As such, there are many historical John Deere locations in the Quad-Cities area, including the John Deere Pavilion, and the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman Home. Many Belgian immigrants first settled in Moline. The Center for Belgian Culture has a museum with several artifacts depicting Belgians who settled in this area. Other museum offerings in the Quad-Cities include: Rock Island Arsenal Museum, John Hauberg Indian Museum at Blackhawk State Park, and Buffalo Bill Museum across the river in LeClaire, Iowa. And a small trivia fact: This is the only area where the Mississippi River runs east and west!
ISGS: What local attractions should conference attendees make time to visit?
LP: Our area is fortunate to have several genealogical and historical resources available, including: Rock Island County Historical Society Library, German American Heritage Center, Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, and the Davenport Iowa Family History Library. Other local "must-see" attractions include: John Deere Pavilion and Lagomarcino's (one of my personal favorites - over 100 year-old family owned restaurant with homemade ice cream and chocolates!).
ISGS: What special accomplishments does your society have?
LP: Our Society website is constantly being updated, and we recently added a Members Only section. And you can now join our Society online through our website. We have read many cemeteries in Rock Island County, and are currently updating the readings of many of those cemeteries. We also have birth, marriage and death record indexes available to help with your research. We have offered Genealogy Skillbuilding Workshops for 15 years, and continue to fill the classroom each year. We publish a quarterly four times per year (two double-size issues are mailed to members in the Spring and Fall; two newsletters are emailed to members in the Summer and Winter). Each year we co-sponsor the Quad-Cities Genealogical Conference with the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society. This conference, 43 years strong, hosts a well-known speaker, and has a full range of vendors available for our shopping pleasure! In 2017, our speaker was Lisa Louise Cooke, and we surpassed attendance records with 267 conference attendees!
ISGS: What special projects are your society working on?
LP: Just like other Genealogical Societies, we are always working towards goals, including increasing our membership. The recent addition of the Members Only section to our website will help to attract new members. We have a collection of funeral memorial cards in our library collection. One of our board members visits local funeral homes on a regular basis to pick up copies of cards, which are then indexed in a spreadsheet. This index is available on our website. We also have an obituary index collected daily by another board member. This index, too, is on our website.
We have expanded our Education Calendar to include Lunch and Learn programs for members only. Members bring a sack lunch and we discuss a pre-selected topic each time we meet. In 2018, we have five Lunch and Learn programs scheduled for our members, with discussion topics such as: Organizing Your Genealogy, Tracing Your Female Ancestors, and Researching the British Isles. These programs have been very well-received and attended by our members. In the next couple of years, we want to expand our Education even further, to include the youth of the Quad-Cities.
ISGS: It's your society's 45th anniversary this year! How are you celebrating?
We are very proud of our Society and its 45-year history! We are celebrating at our General Meetings with a display set up, and will have a larger celebration as part of our Annual Dinner in November.
Linda Polich: The Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society is a non-profit organization, founded in 1972 by 110 charter members. We have monthly meetings with genealogical programs, which are open to the public. Membership is open to anyone interested in genealogical research. Our Society is a member of FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies), and in September 2001, we co-sponsored the national FGS Conference in Davenport, Iowa, with the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society. Our Society is also a member of the National Genealogical Society, and the Illinois State Genealogical Society.
Our library collection, including hundreds of books, publications, and documents, is housed at the Rock Island County Historical Society Library.
Historical Note of Interest: We changed our name in 2005 from Blackhawk Genealogical Society to Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society to better reflect who we are to genealogists around the country. Many organizations and businesses are named Blackhawk in Rock Island County since this area between the Rock River and the Mississippi River was the summer home of the Sauk Indian Nation and the great warrior Blackhawk. So in 1972, when our Society was formed, Blackhawk was a natural name to be chosen for a Rock Island County organization. We got many questions about Blackhawk the warrior, or the Blackhawk War of 1832 from people thinking that we were an Indian Society; however, we got very few genealogical queries about our area of focus. Thus the name change!
ISGS: The ISGS conference will be many people's first time in Moline, Illinois - can you give us some history about Moline and the Quad Cities?
LP: Moline is one of the agricultural capitals of the world, and is the home of the John Deere World Headquarters. As such, there are many historical John Deere locations in the Quad-Cities area, including the John Deere Pavilion, and the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman Home. Many Belgian immigrants first settled in Moline. The Center for Belgian Culture has a museum with several artifacts depicting Belgians who settled in this area. Other museum offerings in the Quad-Cities include: Rock Island Arsenal Museum, John Hauberg Indian Museum at Blackhawk State Park, and Buffalo Bill Museum across the river in LeClaire, Iowa. And a small trivia fact: This is the only area where the Mississippi River runs east and west!
ISGS: What local attractions should conference attendees make time to visit?
LP: Our area is fortunate to have several genealogical and historical resources available, including: Rock Island County Historical Society Library, German American Heritage Center, Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, and the Davenport Iowa Family History Library. Other local "must-see" attractions include: John Deere Pavilion and Lagomarcino's (one of my personal favorites - over 100 year-old family owned restaurant with homemade ice cream and chocolates!).
ISGS: What special accomplishments does your society have?
LP: Our Society website is constantly being updated, and we recently added a Members Only section. And you can now join our Society online through our website. We have read many cemeteries in Rock Island County, and are currently updating the readings of many of those cemeteries. We also have birth, marriage and death record indexes available to help with your research. We have offered Genealogy Skillbuilding Workshops for 15 years, and continue to fill the classroom each year. We publish a quarterly four times per year (two double-size issues are mailed to members in the Spring and Fall; two newsletters are emailed to members in the Summer and Winter). Each year we co-sponsor the Quad-Cities Genealogical Conference with the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society. This conference, 43 years strong, hosts a well-known speaker, and has a full range of vendors available for our shopping pleasure! In 2017, our speaker was Lisa Louise Cooke, and we surpassed attendance records with 267 conference attendees!
ISGS: What special projects are your society working on?
LP: Just like other Genealogical Societies, we are always working towards goals, including increasing our membership. The recent addition of the Members Only section to our website will help to attract new members. We have a collection of funeral memorial cards in our library collection. One of our board members visits local funeral homes on a regular basis to pick up copies of cards, which are then indexed in a spreadsheet. This index is available on our website. We also have an obituary index collected daily by another board member. This index, too, is on our website.
We have expanded our Education Calendar to include Lunch and Learn programs for members only. Members bring a sack lunch and we discuss a pre-selected topic each time we meet. In 2018, we have five Lunch and Learn programs scheduled for our members, with discussion topics such as: Organizing Your Genealogy, Tracing Your Female Ancestors, and Researching the British Isles. These programs have been very well-received and attended by our members. In the next couple of years, we want to expand our Education even further, to include the youth of the Quad-Cities.
ISGS: It's your society's 45th anniversary this year! How are you celebrating?
We are very proud of our Society and its 45-year history! We are celebrating at our General Meetings with a display set up, and will have a larger celebration as part of our Annual Dinner in November.
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Register for the Illinois State Genealogical Society 2017 Annual Fall Conference. To learn more about the Rock Island County Illinois Genealogical Society and the fantastic work they do, visit their website.
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