Glenview Public Library Genealogy

Transcribe Historic Documents

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:15:00 +0000

Participate in the National Archives (NARA) Transcription Pilot Project! Contributing transcriptions will make historical documents more accessible to the public.
The Transcription Pilot features over 300 documents ranging from the late 18th century through the 20th century including letters to a Civil War spy, various acts and laws, presidential records, suffrage petitions, indictments, and fugitive slave case files.

Documenta are categorized as beginner, intermediate, or advanced and by status of transcription – “Not Yet Started,” “Partially Transcribed,” and “Completed.”

There is a "Transcription Tips" page, an FAQ, and a "Policy" page.

Visit the NARAtions Blog for more news from The National Archives.

Forgotten Patriots

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:53:00 +0000

The Glenview Library owns Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, by Eric G. Grundset. -- 2nd ed. -- National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, c2008. R929.373 GRU GENEALOGY

This 854 page DAR book is now free online in PDF format with a 79 page supplement for 2008-2012 covering additions, corrections, and much more bibliographic information.

The 2008 publication identifies over 6,600 names of African American and American Indians who contributed to American Independence. The Supplement includes an additional three years of research revealing additional names of African American and American Indians who contributed to the Revolution.

Chapters discuss the Northern states, the South, miscellaneous naval and military records, foreign allies, and the West Indies.

Appendices include a map of the enslaved population; 1790 Census documenting the color of participants in the American Revolution ; names as clues to finding forgotten patriots ; and the numbers of minority participants in the Revolution.

About Polish Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Church institutions were the source of Polish archival materials from the late 12th century.

A subsequent repository was the Crown Archives, from the mid-14th century.

Later, various archives were formed from collections of judicial, district, municipal, and family records. Prussian archives had branches in Poznan and Gdansk. Russian archives had ten branches in Poland, although some were transferred to St. Petersburg. the Galician Archives were mainly in Lwow and Krakow.

Poland GenWeb has good information about obtaining Polish records.

JewishGen also has extensive information about vital records in Poland.

1940 Glenview Census Maps

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:07:00 +0000

Steve Morse's website helps you identify an enumeration district (E.D.) where your ancestors lived. This will enable you to browse the E.D. in search of people you cannot find by searching the census on Ancestry or Heritage Quest.

Steve's website lets you view 1940 enumeration district maps in one step.

Here is an old map of Glenview. Click on the map to enlarge it.

JGSI January Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois (JGSI) will meet on Sunday, January 29 at Temple Beth Israel (3601 W. Dempster Street in Skokie).

The Temple will open at 12:30 and JGSI members will be available to help answer genealogical questions, help with Internet searches or for those interested in using library resources.

2:00 Program: JGSI member Skip Bieber will speak on Ancestry.com.

JGSI has recently added many wonderful new books and maps to the library.

Finding Your Roots

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:29:00 +0000

PBS will air a new genealogy-related television miniseries by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Finding Your Roots premieres Sunday, March 25 at 8:00 p.m.

The show will focus on 2 high profile individuals each week, starting with Kevin Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick.

Others in this program will include Tyra Banks, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdahl, Geoffrey Canada, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick, Jr., Robert Downey, Jr., Sanjay Gupta, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadir, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rich Warren.

"Who Do You Think You Are?" Season 3

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Season 3 of Who Do You Think You Are? will start Friday, February 3 on NBC.

Celebrities participating include Jerome Bettis, Paula Dean, Edie Falco, Helen Hunt, Rashida Jones, Rob Lowe, Reba McEntire, Martin Sheen, Jason Sudeikis, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood and Rita Wilson.

Meet Jane Marmet, Our New Genealogy Volunteer

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:42:00 +0000

The Glenview Public Library is pleased to announce that Jane Marmet will be volunteering in the Genealogy & Local History Room on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself to Jane, or call the Genealogy Room at (847) 729-7500 x2709.

Jane has lived in Glenview since 1974, and raised three children here. She has a great interest in history as well as genealogy.

Polish Genealogy Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:11:00 +0000

If you are researching ancestors from Poland, consider attending the Annual Conference of the Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA). This year the Conference will be held in conjunction with the United Polish Genealogical Societies Conference on April 20-23, 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Barbara Berska, Deputy Director of the State Archives of Poland.

New Genealogy Research Tool at Lincoln Library

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:59:00 +0000

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has an online index of issues of the Illinois State Journal and its predecessors. It covers the first issue of the Sangamon Journal from 1831 through 1847; the Illinois Journal from 1847 – 1855; and the Illinois State Journal from 1855 – 1860. People, places and things mentioned here are listed alphabetically and chronologically. Local historians and genealogists will be able to search the it online before visiting the library to examine the newspaper issues on microfilm.
The Presidential Library has 5,226 newspaper titles, including the Illinois State Journal and its predecessors, on more than 100,000 reels of microfilm. It is the world’s largest source of Illinois newspapers on microfilm, and all of those are available on interlibrary loan at no charge through local public and educational libraries.

Marriage Certificate Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:33:00 +0000

What do you do if you are unable to find a marriage document on Ancestry Library Edition or Family Search?

Try obtaining the marriage license from the county clerk's website. (For Cook County, this would be Cook County Genealogy.) Do not stop with using the index; you may have to purchase a digitized copy of the original document. The cost is small compared to its genealogical value, because there will be a date and an address for where the marriage took place.

Research this address. It may turn out to be for an organization such as a church which is not included in microfilmed holdings in the catalog of the Family History Center.

Contact the organization and ask how to obtain a copy of a record for a marriage that took place there.

The procedure may vary. But usually they will provide the necessary documents in exchange for a small fee.

This copy may turn out to be a gold mine of information including names of parents of bride and groom, location of birth and / or baptism of bride and groom, names of witnesses, etc. Sometimes names will be written in an unfamiliar spelling, which may turn out to be significant for your research.

Try this approach if you are stuck, it may provide you with many new leads.

Courthouse Research For Family Historians

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:16:00 +0000

The Glenview Public Library owns this valuiable book. You can use it in the Genealogy room:

Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures by Christine Rose
R929.1 ROS GENEALOGY

This is a step by step handbook for researching court records. Rose brings her experience in researching at over 500 courthouses to bear in one complete guidebook of instructions. This book will prepare you to visit a courthouse in person as well as accessing court records from a distance.
It examines different record types and the information each contains, and explains unfamiliar terminology. Step by step the reader is instructed in the process of preparing, accessing, reading, and understanding courthouse records.

The book covers: how to prepare for a visit to a courthouse...how to know in which county the records you need are located; for which years; and whether the county still exists...when it is open....what to bring...how to read old handwriting...the importance of faithfully transcribing what you see...should you bring your laptop computer...understanding different indexing systems, and how to use them...what was considered legal age in different times and places...which courthouses burned and what to do about it...other records on the shelves...land ownership...state-land and federal-land...surveying...deeds...types of documents...terminology...property records...plat books and maps...powers of attorney...mortgage books...photocopying...estates...probates...wills...primogeniture...intestate division...in-laws...bonds...petitions...accounts of sale...renunciation...administrations--guardianship...next friend...entails...kinds of courts...legal system...civil records...indebtedness...judgments...changes of name...tax records...road records and commissioners...coroner's records...voter registration...naturalization...divorces...criminal matters...gaols...bail bonds...juries...vital records...Delayed or Corrected Birth Records...documents that can substitute for missing documents...customs...Marriages Banns, Bonds, certificates, registers, contracts...Deaths...The Internet, Microfilm, and Libraries...Unusual Sites...Strategies that Work...and much more.

Newberry Library

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:53:00 +0000

Visit the new, re-designed website of The Newberry Library....and explore their genealogy resources.

GFT: January 3, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:13:00 +0000

There will be a GFT (Genealogy First Tuesday) on January 3, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in the Genealogy Room of the Glenview Public Library.

Keep your genealogical new year's resolutions! Start working on your family tree, or pick up where you left off. The Library can provide genealogical guidance, assistance, and resources.

Genealogy First Tuesday is designed to introduce genealogy enthusiasts, at any level of experience, to materials and techniques for discovering their family history. Meetings allow participants to explore topics and tools in genealogy, including books, library databases, and websites. Share tips and tricks with others in a relaxed environment. Registration appreciated at the Reference Services Desk, 847-729-7500 x 7700, or glenviewpl.org/registration.htm.

GFT is open to everyone. A Glenview Library card is not required.

There is no assigned topic for GFTs. If you want to suggest one, please contact Deena (847) 901-5948 or dbutta@glenviewpl.org.

Looking forward to seeing you on January 3!

New Illinois Data on FamilySearch

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:18:00 +0000

New Illinois collections have been uploaded to the FamilySearch website.

If you have Maywood ancestors, you may enjoy browsing through the Maywood Herald Obituary Card Index, 1885-2002. This is a surname card index created by the Maywood Public Library from the Maywood Herald Newspaper.

And, there is a collection of Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1970, that was created by courts in various Illinois counties, which you can also browse through

State Censuses

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

State censuses are invaluable to genealogists because they fill in gaps left by missing federal censuses. For example, 12 states conducted censuses between 1885 and 1895, any one of which can substitute for that state's missing 1890 federal census. State censuses tend to be opened to the public faster than federal ones; some state censuses taken as recently as 1945 are already available. Many state censuses contain information not found in federal censuses because the census takers asked different questions. For all of these reasons, state censuses can give you a more complete picture of your ancestors and solve genealogical problems. To find out what state censuses exist, what kinds of information they contain, and where they can be found, read State Census Records, by Ann Lainhart, the definitive guide to this major, though vastly under-used, genealogical resource.

The Glenview Library owns State Census Records by Ann Lainhart, find it at 929.373 LAI

(THANK YOU! to Clearfield Publishing for use of this book review.)

Organizing and Writing Your Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Steve Szabados will present “Organizing and Writing Your Family History” at the next meeting of the Northwest Suburban Council of Genealogists. The meeting will be held on Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 10:00 am at The Arlington Heights Senior Center, 1801 W Central Rd., Arlington Heights, IL

A Copy of Family Tree Maker 2012 will be raffled off.

Arrive at 9:30 AM, prior to the presentation, for casual discussion or to exchange information with others who enjoy genealogy.

The presentation discusses a process and format that helps make research efforts more efficient and makes the results easier to read, digest, and share. Your information will “come alive” for everyone. Please note that this presentation is not a "How-To" on publishing a book or organizing your file cabinet. It instead will discuss how to organize the information extracted from your documents and family oral history.

Steve Szabados is a retired project manager with a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA who started researching his ancestors in 2004. He has given numerous presentations to groups in Illinois and Wisconsin and wants to share his passion for Family History. He is a member of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, Illinois State Genealogical Society and also a genealogy volunteer at the Arlington Heights Library. His roots are Polish and Hungarian plus he has also had success researching Slovenian and Bohemian records.

GFT @ GPL, December 6

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

There will be a Genealogy First Tuesday (GFT) at the Glenview Public Library on Tuesday, December 6, between 6:00 and 8:30 p.m. in the Genealogy Room.

GFT is an informal session where you can explore genealogy and try out new resources or strategies, or get guidance with specific research problems.

Registration is encouraged but not required. To register call the Reference Desk, (847) 729-7500 x2700.

General Land Office Records

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:24:00 +0000

The records of the General Land Office (GLO) document the first or initial transfer of public land from the United States to private ownership. The Official Land Records Site has a databases for researching your ancestors who might have been homesteaders.

The site provides live access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present. They also have images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810.

Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:19:00 +0000

Thank you to Genealogical Publishing Company Genealogy Pointers e-newsletter 11-29-11 for use of the following review:

The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy / by Val D. Greenwood. -- 3rd ed. -- Genealogical Pub. Co., c2000.

"Wills, and probate records in general, may be the most valuable of all genealogical sources. Val Greenwood's highly respected textbook, The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy goes over these in detail.
Wills are fabulous for establishing relationships, and they can help fix the time period an ancestor lived if no other records survived. They can also provide clues to an ancestor's former places of residence, help to distinguish among persons having a common name, alert the researcher to the existence of other kinds of records, establish when a death occurred, and lead the genealogist to elusive information about an ancestor in the records of the executor or sureties to the will.

If you are new to will records, confused about the legal terminology found in wills, or just don't know where to look for probate records, let Val Greenwood come to your rescue. The author of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, who is an attorney as well as a genealogist, has written two excellent chapters about wills and probate records that should answer all your questions. For example, you will learn what characterizes the various kinds of wills (conjoint, holographic, nuncupative, and unsolemn, etc.), the legal requirements of probate, the proceedings of contested wills, and much more. If you don't know a legator from a legatee or a testator from a testatrix, Greenwood's 12-page glossary of legal terminology is all you'll ever need. And, if you want to know where each of the 50 states maintains its probate records, there's a handy state-by-state table specifying which courts have custody.
Written in a style that is clear and easy to follow, filled with examples from actual records, The Researcher's Guide should be your place of first resort for understanding wills and probate.

The Glenview Public Library owns a copy of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood. See it at 929.1 GRE.

World Memory Project

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:32:00 +0000

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Ancestry.com are collaborating to make information about victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution available online through the World Memory Project.

The Museum owns millions of historical documents containing details about survivors and victims. By using Ancestry.com technology, the World Memory Project collection can be searched online for free.

The World Memory Project was launched in May 2011, and since then thousands of contributors around the world have indexed hundreds of thousands of records. You can contribute to this effort by volunteering to become an indexer.

To search other Ancestry collections at no cost, visit Ancestry Library Edition on the Glenview Public Library website.

Finding Your World War I Ancestor

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:28:00 +0000

THANK YOU to Genealogical Publishing Company for the use of the article below.

The Glenview Public Library owns a copy of The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers by Christina K. Schaefer, c1998 Genealogical Pub. Co.
R929.3 SCH GENEALOGY

Below are some insights into how this book can help you research your WWI ancestors:

"Finding Your World War I Ancestor

Suppose family legend has it that your great-grandfather served in the Polish army during World War I. If his service records have survived, you assume you will be able to find them without any trouble. In reality, however, it is not quite that simple.
Between October 1914 and September 1917, for example, some Polish combatants served in the Russian Army. Why? Because, prior to the Russian Revolution, Poland existed as the Duchy of Warsaw within the Russian Empire. Following the establishment of a provisional Polish government in September 1917, the Poles serving for Russia were regrouped into a new Polish army. Or, your ancestor could have been a member of the insurrectionary "Polish Legion" established in Vienna to serve the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Still other Poles served with the German army in Upper Silesia and East Prussia as the Polnische Wermacht, or with a Polish army on the side of France. In short, great-grandfather's service records could conceivably be in Russia, Germany, France, or Hungary, as well as in Poland.
The dispersion of Polish military service records for "The Great War" was not altogether unusual. Following the armistice, the victorious powers carved up the defeated nations and/or their territories. For example, if your Alsace-Lorraine ancestor fought for Germany, his records would have come under French jurisdiction after the Treaty of Versailles. For its part, Denmark acquired Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein from Germany. Similarly, the nations of Finland and Lithuania achieved their independence at the Soviet Union's (Russia's) expense.
Clearly, anyone on the trail of a World War I service record is more likely to be successful if she/he is equipped with a roadmap to the records of that tragic conflict. And roadmap, indeed, is exactly what genealogist Christina K. Schaefer has created in her guidebook The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers.
Organized by country, The Great War provides at-a-glance information on the existence of records and how they can be accessed. Each chapter begins with an outline history of a given country's involvement in the conflict as it impacts on the records. The author then lists all extant record groups for that nation's army and navy. So, for example, we are provided with a list of every German army regiment, followed by another list of the capital ships and U-boats that served the Kaiser. The lengthy U.S. chapter lists the national repositories and then record holdings state by state. Each chapter concludes with a breakdown of that nation's military archives and its holdings and a bibliography of suggested further reading.
For researchers who can profit from a brushing-up on their World War I history, Mrs. Schaefer begins the book with a detailed timeline of events from 1914 to 1918. The volume concludes with a number of very useful features: (1) records pertaining to the aftermath of the war (e.g., service records of the Red Cross); (2) a table of the political changes ushered in by the war; and (3) a list of World War I sources available on the Internet at the time of the book's original publication in 1998. "

New Adoption Law

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:41:00 +0000

A law signed May 10, 2010 allows adopted adults born in Illinois before January 1, 1946 to request non-certified copies of their Original Birth Certificate (OBC), listing the names of their birth parents.

If you are an adopted person born after January 1, 1946, you can now (as of November 15, 2011) request your OBC .

Learn about the new adoption law and how to obtain a non-certified copy of the original birth certificate.

1940 Census: 133 Days And Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:08:00 +0000

Family Search has a web page devoted to the 1940 Census. They will start publishing it for free on April 2, 2012, the day the census is released by The National Archives.
FamilySearch will also provide digital images to tens of thousands of volunteers to start transcribing the records so they become searchable.
Complete publication of the index will depend on how many volunteers can help.

You can help Family Search index the 1940 Census to make it searchable sooner.

Bridgett Schneider and RAOGK

noreply@blogger.com (Deena Butta) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:47:00 +0000

Dick Eastman's Genealogy Blog carried sad news today about the death of genealogist Bridgett Schneider, the creator of Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK).

This extremely valuable website, which is run by a system of volunteers, helped me immensely in retrieving priceless information I could not have obtained any other way. The last time I planned to demonstrate RAOGK in a class, I was disappointed to discover it was missing.

RAOGK might return some day. In the meantime, some people are helping individuals through the RAOGK Facebook page. But Bridgett Schneider will be greatly missed.