Yes, I do want some help with online genealogy sites!

Wow! I bet you thought I was never coming back. Here I am!

First, I want to mention that May 2015 was the 1-year anniversary of the Searching Genealogy...In Iroquois County, Illinois blog. I hope you have gained some knowledge about your genealogy search and how we can help you. My goal in Year 2 is to try to post more frequently, maybe twice a month. You will have to visit often to check up on me. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think or how I can help.

Are you getting your money's worth from your online genealogy searches? Should you really spend that money to subscribe to one of the premium subscription sites?

I hope you already know this, but just in case: Iroquois County Genealogical Society is having another  ONE-ON-ONE WEEK at the ICGS archives in the Old Courthouse Museum, 103 West Cherry Street, Watseka, IL. During the week of June 22-26, 2015, volunteers are ready to help you gain some insight and experience in your online quest.

Bring your research questions and your curiosity. We'll sit down with you to see what we can all learn.

There are many FREE sites and FREE resources on subscription sites. The FamilySearch web site is completely free, including all searches and building your family tree. There are also a lot of free resources on Ancestry.com, Accessible-Archives and FindMyPast.

Ancestry.com

If you already subscribe to a premium site, bring your log in information and we can work from information you already have found.


A variety of premium sites can be explored:
Ancestry.com,
Fold3.com,
NewspaperArchive.com,
FindMyPast.com,
Genealogy.com, LivesOfTheFirstWorldWar.org,
Accessible-Archives.com, and
a German immigration database site.

If you are interested in membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, we can help you get started with the application process.

FindMyPast

Fold3

This is a FREE service to help you in your family history journey. All we ask is that you call the ICGS office at 815-432-3730 or email us at iroqgene@yahoo.com to register.






We are offering sessions in two-hour blocks of time (you may extend, if needed). Monday, June 22 through Friday, June 26, 2015, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. See you soon!!

Accessible Archives

Great sites to learn about using the FREE FamilySearch.org!

We are three days into our free ONE-ON-ONE training sessions at Iroquois County Genealogical Society. (Still going through Saturday, March 14, 2015) I have had a great time. It's amazing how much you can learn just helping someone else learn. Love it and always will.

Sometimes you get a good start with those local resources found at your genealogical society archives or your state archives. Sometimes you get a good start by using online research sites. (Most of us probably do both of those things.)

One excellent online family research site is the FREE, and always will be FREE, FamilySearch.org site of the LDS church. You do not need to be a member of the church to take advantage of the "largest genealogy organization in the world."

All that, and they have some of the best online training resources ever. If you cannot make it to ICGS for our ONE-ON-ONE training sessions, you can find help in the following.

1 - FamilySearch.org Training Center

FamilySearch.org - always FREE. You can link to the Learning Center for "hundreds of online genealogy courses to help you discover your family history." Search for specific topics or choose a lesson by place, skill level, subject, format and subject language.

https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html

Here's an example: Beginning training on Family Trees in FamilySearch.org

Free Training Videos

The View This Lesson link takes you to the FamilySearch Family Tree Curriculum page, where you can choose Levels One, Two or Three or training in the Android or iOS apps. Incredible resource, and this is only ONE topic. Some lessons have pdf handouts, videos and actual practice activities and worksheets. It's as though you are sitting in a classroom with a skilled instructor. You cannot help but learn.

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/en/FamilyTreeCurriculum/index.html

2 - FamilySearch Research Wiki - new look, same great info

You may have been on the FamilySearch Wiki pages previously. The initial steps to get there have changed a bit, but the good stuff is still there.

From the FamilySearch home page, hover the cursor over SEARCH and choose Wiki.






This opens the new-look Family History Research Wiki. Remember, the concept of a "wiki" is collaboration, so on the right side of the window, you see links about how to add to the collaboration and creation of content pages. You are probably not there for that purpose right now, so don't click on those links.

You are here to learn more about searching your family history.

Family History Research Wiki

You need to use the clickable map or the search box to the left of the map to get to the research guides and information.

Just for fun, click North America on the map. There is the page you may be familiar with. Now choose United States, either by clicking the link or the next map. If that is not enough info to keep you happy and busy for a while, you already must know more than most of us.

We still have openings for participants in our free ONE-ON-ONE training sessions. Call and make an appointment. (815-432-3730)

We are here to help!

One-On-One Training is Here! March 9-14, 2015

Have you ever wondered, do you really want to spend your hard-earned money on a premium online site to continue your family history search? Maybe you have a personal account on one of those sites, but you don't really know how to use it very well. Are there some free sites that may help you in your journey?

ancestry.com

Iroquois County Genealogical Society volunteers are ready to help you gain some insight and experience in your online quest. Next week, March 9-14, 2015, we are having ONE-ON-ONE WEEK at the ICGS archives in the Old Courthouse Museum, 103 West Cherry Street, Watseka, IL. Bring your research questions and your curiosity. We'll sit down with you to see what we can all learn. If you already subscribe to a premium site, bring your login information and we can work from information you already have found. Either way, we are waiting to help.

www.fold3.com

A variety of premium sites can be explored: Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, NewspaperArchive.com, FindMyPast.com, Genealogy.com, LivesOfTheFirstWorldWar.org, Accessible-Archives.com, a German immigration database site and Daughters of the American Revolution. We can also help with the free FamilySearch.org web site. (Oh, and we will have a sale on our print books for participants.)

www.accessible-archives.com/

findmypast.com

This is a free service to help you in your family history journey. All we ask is that you call the ICGS office at 815-432-3730 or email us at iroqgene@yahoo.com to register. We are offering these in two-hour blocks of time (you may extend, if needed).

March 9-14, 2015
Monday through Saturday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

See you soon!!

Iroquois County Genealogy Society Archives - Getting Started

What can you expect if you visit The Iroquois County Genealogical Society Archives in the Iroquois County Museum, the old Iroquois County Courthouse in Watseka, Illinois? Here is a brief overview of our collections.

The Society’s collections include over 70,000 obituaries from area newspapers of the 1800’s to present day, inventories of every cemetery in Iroquois County and coroners' files and burial permits. 

Do you need a census replacement for the 1890 U.S. census? Don't we all? We have tax records from the 1860’s to the 1950’s and books of early land and property records. We have microfilm rolls of Probate and Estate records and court cases of Iroquois County, Illinois.

Marriage applications, family histories, maps, atlases, plat books, biographical indexes and newspaper clippings of business and social events can be found here. Baptism, marriage and death records from French and German churches in our collections have been translated.

We have a collection of German OSB books from towns of Ostfriesland, Germany, and Iroquois County area one-room school records and high school yearbooks.

You can find the 1880 Iroquois County History and the 1950 pictorial book of Iroquois County farms. We have information on neighboring counties as well. Our collection includes a library of genealogy books for beginners or experienced genealogists.

We have microfilmed copies of area newspapers and four microfilm readers with printers. As an affiliate library of Family Search, you can order films from the LDS Library in Salt Lake City and read them in our Archives library.

Come in early and stay late. Once you get started, you may wish we were here more than just Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Welcome!!

P.S. Many thanks to Mary for her help in summarizing our many holdings!