Helen Sclair 1930-2009

Helen Sclair, known as The Cemetery Lady, was a local genealogy celebrity who had lived at Bohemian National Cemetery since 2001. Her cremated remains will rest under a granite stone bearing the inscription, The Cemetery Lady, An Advocate for the Dead.

Mrs. Sclair, 78, died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday, Dec. 16, in the Harmony Healthcare and Rehab Center in Chicago, where she had been recovering from surgery.

She did a presentation at the Glenview Public Library about local cemeteries on October 28, 2008.

Tax Lists

The Library owns two wonderful books that can help you advance your genealogical research by using tax lists.

The Sleuth Book For Genealogists : strategies for more successful family history research, by Emily Anne Croom, 929.1072 CRO. There is also a Reference copy at R929.1072 CRO GENEALOGY.

It is brimming with wonderful checklists, case studies, and novel approaches for using any number of genealogical source records.

The following brief excerpt from a review of this wonderful book is about tax records:

"Strategies for Using Tax Records, by Emily Anne Croom
...A number of states and towns have preserved tax records that date to their early years; others have not been so diligent. Nevertheless, the genealogist needs to use them whenever they exist... The surviving records are usually found in county courthouses or in state archives. Many have been microfilmed and are available from the Family History Library...Tax records are kin to land records because residents paid taxes on land they owned, as well as on slaves, horses, cattle, oxen, personal property, and luxury items... In some cases, specific items were taxed in a given year, such as certain items of furniture, mirrors, and window curtains in Virginia in 1815..."

The other book is The Beginner's Guide to Using Tax Lists, by Cornelius Carroll. 929.1 CAR

"This is a primer for making the best genealogical use of tax lists... [The author] differentiates between tax lists, quit rents, tithables, militia lists, censuses, and similar records and the laws that applied to them. Then, by focusing on the tax lists of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, he demonstrates how tax lists can be used for determining parentage, birth and death dates, indentured servitude, slavery, manumission, and racial status. In conjunction with other records, tax lists can be used to help determine the parentage of a female, the date of a marriage, migration routes, and the accuracy of family traditions..."

Countdown to April 2, 2012

The National Archives website contains information about the release of the 1940 Census on April 2, 2012.

Information includes a countdown clock that counts the days, hours, minutes, and seconds; general information; how to start your 1940 census research; indexes and other finding aids; videos; articles; and links to online data.

NSGS Meeting: January 9, 2010

The North Suburban Genealogical Society invites you to its January meeting.

A genealogical question and answer period will be followed by readings of your favorite letters of sentimental value. You are invited to bring letters that are your favorites and listen to others read theirs.

When: January 9, 2010;
1 p.m.: Problem Solving,
2 p.m.: Program on Love Letters
Where: Glenview Library 1930 Glenview Rd., Glenview 60025

Contact: Jim Boyle 847 401 2579
Open to anyone interested in genealogical research. Free Admission

Giving Is Better

At this special time of remembering others in a spirit of generosity, give something back to the genealogical community.

There are numerous free online genealogical web sites that have helped all of us advance our family history research.

Here are some ideas for how to give others a boost up their family tree:

--become a volunteer for the FamilySearch indexing project

--adopt a state or county, do lookups, or help with other projects at U.S. Genweb and World Genweb

--do a Random Act of Genealogical Kindness for others

Where would these wonderful free websites be without the generosity of genealogical volunteers? This holiday season, pay it forward: give something back to them.

For more ideas, visit About Genealogy.

JGSI January Meeting

Sunday January 31, 2009 Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois will present Genealogical Resources at the National Archives and Records Administration - Great Lakes Region, Chicago lead by Barry Finkel at 2:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster, Skokie, IL.

Learn which records are available at this NARA facility that can help you in your genealogical research.

The JGSI meeting facilities will open at 12:30 p.m. to accommodate members/guests who want to use our library materials, get help with genealogy Web sites on the Internet or ask genealogical related questions before the main program begins. For additional information please phone (312) 666-0100.

Do You Know Illinois?

In the 1930's Edward Hughes was Secretary of State and State Librarian of Illinois, and he composed a column which ran in many newspapers entitled "Do You Know Illinois?"

The columns were short Q & A pieces dealing with Illinois facts and history, and contain nearly 5,000 factual trivia and obscure facts about Illinois. They are now digitized and part of the Illinois Digital Archives.

Click each page in the left column to view more than 500 pages of this column. At the very end is an index.

National Archives Chicago: Updates

Visit the National Archives at Chicago's Facebook Page.

For event updates, highlights from their holdings, and rapid news stories, become a fan on Facebook. They are listed under National Archives at Chicago. Ensure you never miss out.

Highlights so far include shopping in 1945, winter fun in U.S. Forest Service photographs, and a few draft cards of people you may recognize:

In addition to the National Archives at Chicago's regular hours of 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM, Monday through Friday, the Regional Archives in Chicago is also open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM. Upcoming Seconnd Saturday research hours are December 12 and January 9.Researchers interested in using original historical records or microfilm held by the Regional Archives are encouraged to contact a reference archivist ahead of time by phone (773-948-9001) or email chicago.archives@nara.gov.

The National Archives at Chicago Will Be Closed Friday, December 25, and Friday, January 1.

State Census Records

The Glenview Public Library owns the following book, published by Clearfield:

State census records by Ann S. Lainhart

929.373 LAI

R929.373 LAI GENEALOGY

Ann Lainhart's inventory of state census records is the first comprehensive list of state census records ever published. State by state, year by year, often county by county and district by district, she shows the researcher what is available in state census records, when it is available, and what one might expect to find in the way of data.

Read a fuller review.

American population before the Federal census of 1790

Below is a review of a wonderful book about the U.S. Census, published by Clearfield, which is owned by the Glenview Public Library.

American population before the Federal census of 1790 by Evarts Boutell Greene.
R304.6 GRE GENEALOGY

Few books published over 70 years ago are just as useful to the genealogist today as they were in 1932. Evarts B. Greene and Virginia D. Harrington's publication is one such book. The recipients of a social science research grant, Columbia University scholars Greene and Harrington set about to compile a list of every 17th- and 18th-century list (or statistical reference thereto) concerning the American population before the U.S. census of 1790. Consulting both primary and secondary sources, the end result of their labors was a comprehensive survey, arranged by colony, state, or territory--and chronologically thereunder--of population lists for all units of American government in existence as of 1790.

The lists themselves range from poll lists, tax lists, taxables, militia lists, and censuses; the book's geographical coverage extends to Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, the Illinois Territory, and the Northern and Southern Departments of the Western Indians.

Read a fuller review.

Map guide to the U.S. federal censuses, 1790-1920

Soon it will be census time again.

Here is a Clearfield review of a great book about the U.S. Census that is owned by the Glenview Public Library. You can see it at R911.73 THO GENEALOGY

Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by William Thorndale and William dollarhide.

Genealogical research in U.S. censuses begins with identifying correct county jurisdictions to assist in this identification, the map Guide shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals. Accompanying each map are explanations of boundary changes, notes about the census, tocality finding keys. In addition, there are inset maps which clarify territorial lines, a state-by-state bibliography of sources, an appendix outlining pitfalls in mapping county boundaries. Finally, there is an index which lists all present day counties, plus nearly all defunct counties or counties later renamed-the most complete list of American counties ever published.

Here is a fuller review at the publisher's web site.

British Genealogy Book

Dick Eastman's Genealogy Blog contains a book review about Ancestral Trails, a book owned by the Glenview Public Library and available for checkout at call number 929.1 HER and in the Reference Room at R929.1 HER GENEALOGY.

Here is an excerpt from dick's review:

"Ancestral Trails is an 896-page, 6-inch-by-9-inch paperback...jam-packed with genealogical research guidance. It also has many black-and-white images to illustrate the information presented within the text.

...The book gives background information about past generations by describing virtually every class of record in every repository and library in Britain. In order to find the correct repositories, you often have to first understand why a particular record would be found there. Herber does this well, describing historical settings and the purpose of each repository...

"Ancestral Trails provides detailed explanations of census records, parish registers, marriage records, wills and much...the new appendix on 'Web sites for family historians.' Herber lists the names and URLs (addresses) of several hundred web sites that can be useful for British genealogy research although he does not describe any of them in detail."