Two Centuries of US Immigration

Here's an interactive map highlighting two centuries of immigration to the US. It's interesting to watch the changing patterns of immigration from Western Europe to Eastern Europe to eventually the Americas and Asia. You can find more graphs and visualization of US immigration here.

Understanding the history of immigration to the US is an important part of researching your immigrant ancestors. Knowing immigration patterns can help you determine when and perhaps why your ancestor emigrated to America. 

Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy

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.

Oldest Book in Lundberg Collection

This Army Register from 1815 is the oldest material in our collection. It is on the shelf with other army rregisters in the Lundberg Collection in the library's Genealogy & Local History Room..

This 14 page pamphlet listing names, rank, date of appointment, brevet and former commissions, and remarks for general staff, corps of engineers regiment of light artillery, corps of artillery, and first through eighth regiments infantry.

A photocopy was made by Mrs. Lundberg years ago. The original booklet is in an archival sleeve to keep it safe. Mrs. Lundberg attached a note that says, "Please do not remove these originals - use duplicates found xeroxed, same folder."

FamilySearch Wiki

Do you remember the printed handouts you used to get at the Family History Center that contained state research outlines?

The FamilySearch Wiki has replaced them with the United States Research Wiki Page.

It separates the information into topics for ease of use and printing. Web links make it quick and easy to move from topic to topic.

Scroll down to the map of the U.S. and click on a state you want to explore. Here is the page for Illinois.

More research topics are along the left.

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries provides interactive maps of all states, for the benefit of researchers in the areas of history, demography, economics, genealogy, geography, law, and politics.

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.

Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army

New genealogy book at the Glenview Public Library:

Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 by Francis B. Heitman.

This 2-volume set contains names of presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries of war, showing their date and place of birth and death, and period of service. General officers and volunteers are arranged by grade and rank, with period of service. There is a chrtonological roster of chiefs, names of officers who have received awards, and tables showing promotions. There are also detailed listings for officers showinig awards, dates, etc., including those who joined the army of the CSA. Other lists cover statistics about various wars; alphabetical and chronological lists of wars and engagements; lists of places such as cemeteries, forts, reservations, camps, etc.;' and tables showing changes in strength and organization.

American Memory and Genealogy

You can find genealogy information in The American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress.

To see if information about your ancestors is included anywhere in American Memory, enter your family name in the search box at the top of each American Memory page. Serious genealogical researchers will also want to consult the bibliographies, research guides, and Web links available online from the Library's Local History and Genealogy Reading Room.

To find American Memory collections specifically devoted to city, state, or regional subjects, you can browse the collections in a variety of ways. To find information about a specific place, enter the name in the search box at the top of any American Memory page. Also check the home pages of each of the books and other printed texts, American Memory collections of books and other printed texts, so that wherever possible you can search the full text of their documents.

For example, you will find 48 items about Glenview in the American Memory collection.

Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army

New genealogy book at the Glenview Public Library:

Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army, from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 / by Francis B. Heitman.
R355.3 HEI GENEALOGY v. 1 and 2

This is a complete list of commissioned officers of the U.S. from the organization of the Army, September 29, 1789, to the year of the list's original publication in 1903, giving the officers' full names and showing their services. The heart of the work, Part II, an alphabetical listing of the officers, runs to some 60,000 entries. Each entry contains a brief paragraph on the officer giving his state or country where born, state from which originally appointed, date of induction, rank, date of discharge, promotions, medals, battles participated in, and, in about a fifth of the entries, date of death after leaving the Army.