Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

At this morning's Annual Virutal Meeting, ISGS was proud to announce our 2020 Honors & Awards Winners. Congratulations to all of our winners; your contributions to Illinois genealogy are greatly appreciated! COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS Tara Cajacob, Genealogy & Local History Specialist, was nominated by Kristen McCallum from the Algonquin Area Public Library for her work developing weekly Zoom meetings where librarians and genealogists across Illinois came together to discuss a different topic within genealogy each week. Tara created these events to serve the genealogy community while the Governor’s Stay at Home order was issued due to COVID-19. Tara was hosting the Zoom chats from the beginning of April and was still hosting the events at the time of her nomination. Attendance ranged from 19 to 79 people.  The Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society was nominated by Susan Rynerson of the same society for their services and contributions to genealogy. They are

All of our ISGS Virtual Fall Conference Attendees are automatically entered to one one of our Exciting Door Prizes! Prizes include memberships, gift certificates, and more! The door prize winners will be announced during the Conference on Saturday! Our generous prize donors include: American Ancestors Ancestry AncestorStuff.com ArkivDigital CAGGNI Chicago Genealogical Society Family ChartMasters Fold3 MemoryWeb Newspapers.com THANK YOU to our donors! Watch for our Winners' List on Saturday! © 2020, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

Have you heard of Try-It! Illinois? It's a statewide database trial that runs from October 1-November 30, 2020, sponsored by Secretary of State Jesse White and the Illinois State Library. Try-It! Illinois offers library users in Illinois the opportunity to survey and evaluate a wide variety of electronic resources. Thanks to the partnerships between the Illinois State Library and the participating electronic resource vendors, there is NO CHARGE for accessing these databases! Try-It! Illinois offers a wide variety of databases for you to try- and many of them relate to genealogy and historical research! This year's offerings include: Access World News Research Collection  African American Newspapers: The 19th Century America and World War I: American Military Camp Newspapers GenealogyBank America's Obituaries and Death Notices- NewsBank Civil War Collections- and several other databases from Accessible Archives, Inc. Historical Chicago Tribune

Saturday, October 17, 1 pm (DCGS and Wheaton Public Library Class, Webinar) Using Newspapers to Fill the Gaps in a Family Story by Maureen Brady Local newspapers provided our ancestors with “all the news that’s fit to print”. This presentation will review the major websites offering access to historical newspapers and search strategies for finding those nuggets of information that can break down brick walls or add color to our ancestors’ lives. See "Events" at https://DCGS.org/ for registration information. Wednesday, Oct 21, 2020, 7 pm (DCGS Program, Webinar) The War of 1812 - Researching 'Second Revolution' Ancestors by Debra Dudek Discover the stories and service of the military men of America's 'Second Revolution'. Reaching beyond federal pension records, this lecture examines a range of resources spanning military registers, navy accounts, and prisoner of war records. See "Events" at https://DCGS.org/ for registration information. The Sw

REGISTRATION CLOSES OCTOBER 17TH Don't miss this GREAT and AFFORDABLE learning opportunity! Registrants will have access to recordings of ALL lectures for 60 days after the conference! All Registrants will be automatically entered to win one of our fabulous Door Prizes! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! © 2020, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

ISGS is excited to present LaDonna Garner as one of our Fall Virtual Conference speakers! 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 communities and cemetery preservation. Her current project regards the recording and mapping of minority communities in S.E. Missouri. Garner is passionately merging genealogy and historic preservation for a greater understanding of people, places, and cultural heritage. LaDonna will be presenting two lectures at our conference, one following our PAST theme, and the other following our PRESENT theme! Unique Issues for Researching: African American Genealogy Basics African Americans have helped shape America into what it is today yet the search to prove their existence is often taxing. Setting a strong foundation in research methodology will move family research from meager results to uncovering the past. Inheriting Grandma Viole

ISGS is thrilled to have Lauren Peightel as one of our Fall Virtual Conference speakers! Lauren Peightel is the Manager of Genealogy and Cultural Programs with the Indiana Historical Society and co-chair of their Midwestern Roots Family History Conference, where her goal is to inspire the researcher to understand how their story fits into a larger historical context and why that history matters to today. Peightel comes to the Midwest with over ten years of experience as a research librarian and time in academic and national museum archives with a master’s degree in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University. Passionate about storytelling, Peightel has been in love with history since a young girl playing with her American Girl dolls and family vacations to historic sites. Lauren will be presenting TWO exciting lectures that will follow our FUTURE theme: Global Thinking with Local Impact The future of history research is changing. Young historians are trying to better understand how w

ISGS Webinar hosted by the Fox Valley Genealogical Society! Join us on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:00 PM Central for another free webinar – "Reconstructing Susan's Family". This webinar will be hosted by the Fox Valley Genealogical Society and their guest speaker, Anita Boyd, will show how exploring her husband's pre-Civil War FAN Club led to a family for Susan and some of the documents found in three languages. Click HERE to register! After you register, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Conference on Illinois History, hosted by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum- A Great Opportunity for Teachers and historians alike! The Conference on Illinois History will take place virtually from October 5 – October 9, 2020. There will be no charge to attend. Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, the Director of the Illinois State Museum, and Kristin Hoganson, Stanley S. Stroup Professor of United States History at the Univ