Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

                         Join us on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8:00 PM Central for another FREE ISGS webinar – "Writing Your Family History: Mechanics and Flourishes". Our guest speaker, Stephen Szabados will show you how to move beyond your beginning outline. You'll learn how to work with a larger document and add the flourish, like photos and maps, to enrich your family's history. Click HERE for the Webinar Registration Link! After you register, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. © 2020, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

A special  SNEAK PEEK  just for our ISGS Blog readers... Here is your first look at just a few of our 2020 Fall Conference Speakers! Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 24th- Registration will be opening SOON! ISGS Fall Conference Featured Speakers will include: Lisa Louise Cooke  "Genealogy and the Future of Technology" Lisa Louise Cooke is the producer and host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast and the weekly YouTube show Elevenses with Lisa (both available at her website www.GenealogyGems.com. ) She’s the author of five books including The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox 3rd Edition, and a podcast producer and instructor and columnist for Family Tree Magazine. LaDonna Garner "Inheriting Grandma Violet's Genealogy" "Unique Issues for Researching: African-American  Genealogy Basics" LaDonna Garner, M.A., is a historic consultant and professional genealogist in Southeast Missouri. She has earned an M.A. in Historic Preservation and focuses on forgotten

The Campaign County Genealogical Society (CCGS ) was established in 1969. Their mission is: To promote genealogical and historical research To aid in the publication and preservation of genealogical and historical records and manuscripts To provide programs designed to assist both beginning and advanced genealogists. Although CCGS' Research Nights are currently suspended due to COVID, the Champaign County Historical Archives, located on the second floor of the Urbana Free Library, is open and researchers can request 1-hour appointments. Learn more on the CCGS home page. Benefits of joining CCGS include: 4 issues per year of the Champaign County Genealogical Society Quarterly , plus access to all back issues from 1979! Access to tombstone transcriptions  from over 30 Champaign County cemeteries! Access to Champaign County birth and death indexes,  covering 1878 to 1918! Access to the member surname database Monthly meetings on a variety of genealogy topics! A great opportunity to m

The Bureau County Genealogical Society was founded in 1990, and their library is located at 629 S. Main St, in Princeton, Illinois.  The Bureau County Genealogical Society's library is currently closed due to COVID-19, but research inquiries can be sent via email- bureaucounty@gmail.com - or by phone (815) 879-3133. Information on their collections can be found on their website , and follow them on Facebook!  Some of their resources for Bureau County include: Cemeteries Maps Newspapers Histories/Biographies Church and Bible Records Do you have a Bureau County ancestor? If your ancestor is listed in the Bureau County Master Cemetery Index, society volunteers can tell your the cemetery they are buried in for FREE! They can also use the cemetery records to determine burials that do not have gravestones. Learn more about  research requests on the Bureau County website.   Membership in the Bureau County Genealogical Society includes several benefits: Six newsletters per year- samples c

The Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois (CAGGNI) traces its origins to the Northern Illinois PAF Users Group (NIPAFUG). NIPAFUG was part of an early 1990s LDS campaign to provide support for their software package, Personal Ancestral File (PAF). Each Family History Center assisted in the creation of a user support group. Invitations went out to hundreds of registered PAF owners in the Chicago area, and approximately 250 people attended the initial planning meeting. It was from these attendees that NIPAFUG was formed. As the membership became more diverse, it became apparent that there was interest in other software packages. Meeting topics began to change to encompass these new interests although the organization’s name remained unchanged. In 1998, realizing that more people might find the group if its name reflected the software neutral nature of its new broader focus, the name was changed to Computer-Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois (CAGGNI). CAGGNI