Genealogy

The Midwest Genealogy Center had its grand opening on June 21st.  Located in Independence, Missouri, the Center has more than 60,000 genealogy and local history reference books, newspapers, census materials, Civil War records, and many genealogy and history databases.

For more information, their website is http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/mgc.htm

The Cook County Clerk's Office new website has an index to 6 million of the 8 million birth, death and marriage records for the county.  Free registration is required and copies are $15 plus $1.75 credit card processing fee.

Access the site at http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/.

The McHenry County IL GenWeb site has moved to www.genwebsite.org/mchenry/.  The content has been re-organized into folders for easy access.  Genealogists and researchers will find surname lists, county histories, cemetery information and more.

Cook County is again delaying the production of its online records until July 8, 2008.  The records, which were to be made available on June 2nd, are being digitized and computer equipment is being upgraded to meet the expected demand.

Got a questions about where grandpa is buried in Barrington?  Are you wondering if Lipofsky's is still around?  Are you trying to find an ancestor's home?  Fellow researchers (and the library) are assisting genealogists and local history researchers with questions related to the Barrington area.  If you need assistance with your Barrington research, consider signing up for this email listserv or subscribe to their rss feed.

To subscribe send and email with the word "subscribe" to il-barrington-l-request@rootsweb.com (mail mode) or il-barrington-d-request@rootsweb.com (digest mode).

Planning a reunion? Looking for former classmates? Wondering what school your grandfather might have attended? A new website, http://www.cpsalumni.org/ can help. cpsalumni.org has information on every school that existed in the Chicago Public School system, and plans to register alumni and display historical photos and stories about each school.

Cook County is delaying the production of its online records until Summer, 2008.  The records, which were to be made available beginning in January, are being digitized and computer equipment is being upgraded to meet the expected demand.

The Barrington Area Library is collecting materials for its Local History Room.  In order to preserve the history of Barrington, the library is looking for the following:

• Photographs
• Meeting minutes
• Newsletters
• Telephone directories
• Club and school directories
• Yearbooks
• Scrapbooks

We would be happy to archive these materials at the Library or copy/scan them and return them to you.  If you have materials you would like to share, please email kmills@barringtonarealibrary.org.

Blake, Paul.  Discover Your Roots:  Dig Up Your Family History and Other Buried Treasures.  Penguin, 2007.

Thanks to a grant from the Illinois State Library, the Barrington Area Library is pleased to announce that the tax rolls of Cuba Township for the years 1885-1899 are now available online.  Genealogists and local history researchers can find names, legal descriptions of the land, its assessed and equalized value, and what taxes were owed and paid.

The records are full-text searchable, and there is also a master index of names.  They are available at http://cdm.digitalpast.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/barringt004.