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Women's History Month- Links to Help Find your Illinois Ancestors!


March is Women's History Month, and a great opportunity to celebrate your female ancestors! Women can be difficult to locate in genealogy records, but the below links may help you learn more about the ladies in your family with an Illinois connection!

  • CyberDriveIllinois online databases- The Illinois State Archives maintains many invaluable databases online through the Secretary of State's website, several of which may list your ancestor! Be sure to check out the Statewide Death Indexes and the Statewide Marriage Index. Additional records featuring your women ancestors may be found at one of the Illinois Regional Archives Depositories, or IRADS- you can review their holdings online. Research requests are being taken by mail or telephone. Want to learn more about the Illinois State Archives? Be sure to check out the FREE webinar from Dr. Dave Joens, Director of the State Archives, "Finding Ancestors in the Land of Lincoln-" available to members AND non-members on the ISGS home page!

  • For ISGS members- Be sure to check out these webinars from our archive! To access, sign in under the "Members Only" section and click "Webinars."
    • "Desperately Seeking Susan: Finding Female Ancestors," presented by Amy Johnson Crow, CG (March 2012)
    • "Finding your Femme Fatales: Exploring the Dark Side of Female Ancestors," presented by Lisa Alzo (March 2015)
    • "Nurses, Matrons, Laundresses & Cooks: Documenting Women in the Civil War," presented by Angela Y. Walton Raji (March 2017)




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