New Genealogy Room Hours

The Genealogy & Local History Room is now open on Tuesday evenings! Our volunteer, Karen, will be in the room every other Tuesday from 7:00-8:30 PM. For the summer, the room will be open the evenings of June 30, July 14, July 28, August 11 and August 25.

Caribbean-American Heritage Month

This June marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of National Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

There are plenty of great resources online to help you find your ancestors in the Caribbean. Here a few:

Caribbean Genealogy Research
Includes lists of country-specific resources, records depositories, and a surname index.

Caribbean Family History
Databases of burials, religious records, and slave compensations primarily for Barbados.

Cuban Genealogy Center
Links for Cuban genealogy records.

Genealogy of Jamaica
Information and online resources for Jamaican genealogy.

Puerto Rican Hispanic Genealogical Society
Articles and resources for research in Puerto Rico.

You can also search FamilySearch's collections for the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica. Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands.

Genealogy with Kids

Looking for a good summer activity that will introduce your kids or grandkids to genealogy? Janice Nickerson has great ideas for games that will get children involved with their family history. She lists ideas for quizzes and family trivia, family photo jigsaw puzzles and a scavenger hunt!

European Genealogy Resources

The hardest part of researching European ancestors is actually finding European records online! Here's a list of some online resources that can help you get started.

And don't forget to visit Cyndi'sList, RootsWeb, and WorldGenWeb to find more great European genealogy websites.

The Unforgettable Story of Unbroken with Byron Kinney

The story of the best-selling book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand about the life of Louis Zamperini, WWII P.O.W. survivor, is a riveting story of survival, suffering, salvation and forgiveness.

On Saturday, June 13 at 1 PM, WWII Air Force B-29 pilot, Byron Kinney, will share his personal connection to this fascinating story via his mission to Japan that was instrumental in saving 700 starving POWs, including Zamperini. Mr. Kinney will also speak about the continuing story of their relationship especially during the past 25 years.

In partnership with the North Suburban Genealogical Society.

Register for the program online or call the Reference Desk at 847-729-7500 x7700.