March GFT

The "Genealogy First Tuesday" (GFT) for March will take place on Tuesday, March 6, between 2:00 and 4:30 in the Genealogy Room.

If you want to use the resources in our Genealogy Room...or if you would like some guidance or new ideas for solving genealogical problems...or if you enjoy chatting with others working on their family trees...GFT is for you!

Registration is encouraged but not required.  To register, please call the Reference Desk at (847) 729-7500 x7700.  If you have questions, or if there is a topic in genealogy you would like to know more about, call Deena at (847) 729-7500 x2712.

Tuesdays With Jane

Tuesday is the best day for using our Genealogy Room.


Jane Marmet is there every Tuesday from 10:00 to 3:00 to help you with our Lundberg books and magazines, the Local History Collection, or other materials that must be used in that room.


Jane can be reached at (847) 729-7500 x2709.

Get Ready For the 1940 Census

April 2, 2012 will be here soon!

Stephen Morse's website has some great finding aids for determining the enumeration district (ED)
number(s) you will need to know in order to find your people in the 1940 census, including ideas for finding addresses if you don't know them. Since there is no indexing, you MUST know the ED numbers.

In this video interview, Dr. Morse talks about the 1940 census, and emphasizes the importance of "doing your homework" in advance.  His Tutorial Quiz was developed to help you determine what you need to find out in order to access the 1940 US census when it becomes available on April 2.

Dr. Morse has also written a great article about searching without a name index.

Tracing Your Italian Immigrant Family

"Tracing Your Italian Immigrant Family:" Saturday, March 3, 10 a.m., at the Mount Prospect Library, 10 S. Emerson St., Mount Prospect IL  60056.

 Dan Niemiec, Italian genealogy correspondent for Fra Noi (Chicagoland's Italian American Voice) will share websites and techniques for unearthing information about your ancestors, either from Italy or other countries.

Please sign up on the internet at http://www.mppl.org/, at the Library, or by calling 847/ 253-5675  (TDD 847 / 590-3797.

Standard Finder

Family Search Labs Standard Finder is a standardized location database that provides access to standardized information for names, locations, and dates, and is designed to to help you determine exact spellings

Results will include place name variants, place type, place time period, standard text, culture, iso-code, geo-code (latitude and longitude) and an identification number for the place name.

Standard Finder can be of assistance in determining proper spellings of locations, checking if locations exist as well as determining alternate name spellings/variants to expand research.

It is fascinating to click on a result, and view the ancestral place on a map along with physical features and other nearby places.

Saving the SSDI

The SSDI has been removed from from Rootsweb due to sensitivities around the information in it, but is still accessible to search on Ancestry.com and Ancestry Library Edition.

Four bills pending in the US Congress would remove the SSDI Death Master File from public access on the premise that it facilitates identity fraud on tax returns. However, the public access to the SSDI
stems from a 1980 court ruling that it prevents identity fraud.

The core problem is that the IRS does not use this resource to screen fraudulent claims, as well as other processing errors within the SSA.

The Records Preservation and Access Committee has created a Call to Action Kit.

Please consider signing the petition to help stop identity fraud, and save public access to the SSDI.

This affects everyone not just genealogists.

Irish Genealogical Research Society

The Irish Genealogical Research Society has launched a monthly e-bulletin containing news about resources and developments in Irish genealogy.
Although the new e-bulletin is intended to be exclusive to the Society's membership, the first edition only is being made available on a limited wider scale until the end of February. Request a copy by sending an email to IGRSOC2011@hotmail.co.uk with 'IGRS Bulletin 1/12' in the subject line.

Member benefits include a newsletter, an annual scholarly journal, and free access to a large collection of Irish genealogy material.  The Society's website also offers a changing online programme of member-only access to a selection of manuscript materials.
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CAGG-NI Meetings

CAGG-NI (Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois) is a group of amateur genealogists who are committed to using technology and the internet more effectively in support of their family history research activities.
CAGG-NI meets at 10:30am on the third Saturday of every month except December usually at the Schaumburg Township District Library. Monthly meeting topics cover a broad range of subjects of interest in supporting genealogical activities including software, tools, techniques and methodologies. Additionally, monthly newsletters, support for both computer and genealogy issues and Internet surname exposure are among the benefits of membership.

March 17: "What's New In Technology" by Ed Rosenthal

April 21: at 10 a.m.: "Setting Up Your Family History Website"; at 12 noon: CAGG-NI's "Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group"; at 2:00 p.m.: Craig Pfannkushe on the Chicago and NW Railroad.

For questions about the group, contact president@caggni.org.

NWSCG: March Meeting

Walter Marzinke will present “A Brief History of Germany, Poland and Russia” at the next meeting of the Northwest Suburban Council of Genealogists (NWSCG). The meeting will be held on Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 10:00 am at The Arlington Heights Senior Center, 1801 W Central Rd., Arlington Heights, IL.

At 9:30 am, prior to the presentation, there will be casual discussion and exchange of information with others who enjoy genealogy.

Walter is going to provide a short background on German immigration to Poland and Russia starting with Catherine the Great. His presentation will focus on the last 150 years from about 1850 to the fall of Communism. He calls this "The 150 YEARS THAT EUROPE WENT CRAZY."Walter highlights his presentation with pictures of his travels and experiences as he attempted to connect his family genealogy by revisiting the places of his ancestors.

Walter Marzinke describes himself as an amateur European history buff. He is a naturalized American; born in Poland during World War II, to German parents who had been resettled from Russia. Today this area would be known as Ukraine. Walter’s family immigrated to Canada in 1950 and eventually Walter moved to the United States. He has made numerous trips to Germany, Ukraine, and Poland. Walter is a member of and active in numerous German, Russian and Polish Genealogy Groups. Besides English he is fluent in German since this was the language used in his parents’ home during his childhood years.

NWSCG P O Box 148, Mt Prospect, IL 60056

PGSA Conference 2012

This year's Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA) Annual Conference will take place in conjunction with the United Polish Genealogical Societies biennial conference  in Salt Lake City, UT, 20-23 April 2012.  The theme is "Polish Identity."

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Barbara Berska, Deputy General Director of State Archives in Poland.
Noted Polish genealogist Tomasz Nitsch will be a featured speaker along with Steve Morse, who will introduce his One-Stem Webpage for the 1940 U.S. Census.

The conference center is next door to the Family History Library (FHL). This world renowned genealogy library holds international books, maps, microfilm, and digital databases. There willbe time to research in the library as well as to attend classes with noted Polish genealogists and leaders in the field.
Among the topics presented to help beginners as well as advanced genealogists will be:
--Useful FamilySearch Databases
--Records in the 3 partitions - Austria, Germany and Russia
--Genealogy Societies in Poland Today
--Finding your Ancestral Village in American Records
--Family Photos: Repair, Preserve, and Share
--Using Social Media in Research
--Archives in Poland

You can register online.

NGS Family History Conference

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) Family History Conference for 2012 will take place in Cincinnati, Ohio 9-12 May 2012.  This year's theme is "The Ohio River: Gateway to the Western Frontier."  The program includes numerous presentations by well known speakers that cover skillbuilding for professional certification, methodology and research, military records, photos, ethnic research, migration, writing, and technology.  The focus will be on genealogical resources in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

You can register online.

OPA: Online Public Access

Online Public Access (OPA) allows you to search multiple National Archives resources at once.

For example, see what they have on the subject of the Tuskegee Airmen....or start a new search.

If you are not finding what you need, Ask an Archivist.

Search the word "Glenview" to see a variety of historical documents about Glenview owned by the National Archives.

Social Security Death Index

You may know that the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a treasure house for genealogists.  The SSDI is created from information in the Social Security Death Master File (DMF).

Legislation is pending that would remove access to the DMF completely, and could affect access of genealogists to the SSDI.

The SSDI has been removed from Rootsweb but is still largely available on Ancestry and GenealogyBank.

Here is an informative article explaining what is happening and what you can do.

Be sure to read background provided by the Records Preservation and Access Committee, 

Social Security Applications can still be ordered using this form.