Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

The November/December issue of the ISGS Newsletter is now available for EVERYONE to read and enjoy!  This issue is jam-packed with great information, including: The "President's Letter" from our new ISGS President, Dawson Ballard Photos from our 2019 Fall Conference in Naperville Details on two great NEW Member Benefits Our Events Calendar, featuring holiday events in Illinois and the Midwest Information on how to use and add names to the ISGS Surname Index Updates on the next State Archives Indexing project, and how YOU can help! Current and past ISGS newsletters are always available for members AND non-members on the ISGS Website, under "Newsletters." Happy Reading! © 2019, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

The ISGS Education Committee is excited to present our newest ISGS Member benefit- the Good To Know  educational series! Good To Know  is a series of presentations designed to assist genealogists using archives, libraries, and other research facilities in Illinois. Each video starts with a short audio introduction, leaving you with the flexibility to view the remainder of the presentation at your own pace. The Good to Know videos can be found on the ISGS website under the "Members Only" tab. Once you log in as a member, you will see the "Good to Know Videos" option in the Members Only menu. The first two "Good to Know" videos available are "Introduction to IRAD @ NIU," and "Introduction to IRAD @ WIU." The Education Committee plans to create videos for all 7 IRAD regions in Illinois, the Illinois State Archives, and more! The videos will prepare you for visiting the research facilities in person- including important informat...

Check out these FREE resources to focus on your military ancestors this Veteran's Day Weekend! Find My Past    is granting free access through November 11th. Find My Past is the leading website for British and Irish family history research. Take advantage of free access to their entire collection of military and civilian records, including more than 85 million military records covering the Armed Forces of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.  Fold3  is offering free access to their Native American Records through November 15th. Explore Native American records never before seen on the internet, including Ratified Indian Treaties, Indian Census Rolls, Eastern Cherokee Applications, and photos. Over 1.5 million images are available for the first time! Ancestry  is also featuring free access to their U.S. military records collections through November 17th. Ancestry's U.S. military records cover all 50 states and ne...

Have you heard of Try-It! Illinois? It's a statewide database trial that runs from October 1-November 30, 2019, 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- and several ot...

The ISGS Fall Conference is almost here, and we are excited for a weekend full of learning, networking, and fun! Don't forget to purchase extra tickets for our exciting selection of Raffle and Door Prizes! Some Door Prize highlights include: o    DNA Kits from Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Family Tree  DNA o    Tons of books, including Illinois histories, indexes, and lots of research guides o    Unique items including a cemetery preservation guide and tombstone cleaning kit, a do-it-yourself vintage shadowbox kit, and an assortment of unique research tools and gadgets donated by Thomas MacEntee, founder of High-Definition Genealogy and one of our featured speakers! o    Membership certificates for societies, museums, and websites including Ancestry, Newspapers.com, and more! Our BIG Raffle Prizes include donations from Ancestry, MyHeritage, ThomasMacEntee, and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)! We'll...

Don't miss Lake County's Annual Conference next week, October 19th! This year's theme is "The Web & DNA: Modern Techniques to Complement Traditional Research." Featured presenters will be Tony Burroughs, FUGA, and David Stumpf, MD, Ph.D. An award winning internationally known genealogist, speaker author, and teacher, Tony Burroughs has appeared as a guest genealogy expert on over twenty-five national and international television broadcasts, including CBS Sunday morning, CBS News, ABC World News Tonight, BET Nightly News, National Public Radio (NPR) and many local broadcasts. Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Dr. Stumpf combines his medical and genealogical knowledge to specialize in Genetic Genealogy, Adoptee Research, and Medical Genealogy.  He is a genealogy software developer, and writes a genealogy blog. The Lake County Conference will be held at the University Center of Lake County, 1200 University Cente...

The Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society will present their 37th Annual Family History Conference, "Following Ancestral Footsteps: From the Grave to DNA," Friday and Saturday, October 11-12th!  The Conference will be held in Chicago at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5200 S. University Ave.  This year's keynote speaker is Bernice Alexander Bennett, Family Historian, Author and DNA Expert! Bernice is the producer-host of the popular "Research at the National Archives and Beyond" BlogTalk Radio program. She is the first recipient of the Ida B. Wells Service Award given by the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passages for her dedication to broadcast stories about enslaved and indentured ancestors of African descent. Bennett is also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Genealogical Society and also a founding Coordinator and faculty member of the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute. In a...