More Midwesterners in NYGBR

For those who enjoy national-level publications -- but enjoy them even more when they contain Midwesterners! -- the October issue of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (vol. 142, no. 4) includes the second and final installment of Dawne Slater-Putt's "John and Elizabeth (Halbert) Blair of Ontario and Yates Counties, New York." Descendants of theirs are identified in Michigan (Lapeer and Wayne counties), Ohio (Williams, Portage, and Summit counties), and Illinois (Henry County) -- as well as in the California Gold Rush.

Methodology Monday with the ISGSQ

The Fall issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly seems especially puzzle-oriented. I'll get to the feature stories tomorrow; here are the puzzles:

* "Illinois Connections of Richard Milhous Nixon" poses the puzzle that one source gives the final resting place of Revolutionary War veteran George Nixon Sr. as Glenwood Cemetery, Coal Valley, Rock Island County, Illinois. Another places him in Glenwood Cemetery, Colona, Henry County, Illinois. What is not mentioned but makes the puzzle more piquant is that these two places are only about seven miles apart. Are they really two different places? Being as it's fall, it might be more fun to solve this by going outdoors rather than googling.

* An 1817 grant of land to War of 1812 veteran John Adams was found in Henry County deed records. Adams' ownership predated the existence of both the state and the county, but evidently it was in either his or a subsequent owner's interest to record the fact at a later time. Whether Adams has any interested descendants has not been determined...yet.

* Editor Oriene Morrow Springstroh presents her research exercise in identifying the author of an interesting Civil War soldier's letter from Texas. The author has no living descendants, so the letter's ultimate destination remains undetermined.

* Finally, a straightforward transcription from a late 19th-century "mug book" biography of John S. Sloan, born and married in McLean County, Illinois, but written up later in life in Hamilton County, Iowa. If Sloan himself were your ancestor, you'd be unlikely to miss this. But if you were stuck on his brother Richard or sister Kate (Sloan) Holland, it might take an effort to think of seeking their information in their brother John's life story.

Illinois Spring 2009 Quarterly

Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly 41(1), Spring 2009

Margaret J. Collins and Daniel W. Dixon, "The Inventive McWorters of New Philadelphia, Illinois: Patents as a Genealogical Resource" -- some amazing drawings from Pike County African-American inventors of a century ago, plus a wakeup call about the existence of the Illinois State Library's Patent and Trademark Depository Library.

Mary Manning, "The Robert R. McCormick Research Center: Military Records and More," located at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, DuPage County.

Ann Wells, "Military Monument in Union Cemetery," Crystal Lake, Lake County.

Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, "Military Separation Papers as Record Source" -- although no longer a public record.

"Faces from the Past -- Identifying Photos with Marge Rice." A gallery of identified but as yet unclaimed images, 1895-1910.

Oriene Morrow Springstroh, "Aurora Historical Society: An Overview of Its Genealogical Resource Holdings."

Kristy Lawrence Gravlin, contr., "Family Bible Collection" -- Chapman, Crampton, Jones, Butler, Moulton, Ordway, and associates.

Oriene Morrow Springstroh, "Confessions of a Grateful Genealogist" -- including details of an 1855 Henry County estate sale.

"New Genealogical Publications at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library for 9 August-15 November 2008"

"Illinois Newspapers Available on Interlibrary Loan"

Illinois summer quarterly

The summer issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly would be thin indeed without three very different contributions from DuPage County genealogist Oriene Morrow Springstroh. (ISGSQ has a new editorial team that's looking for contributions and feedback.)

But before we get to that, I've been delinquent in mentioning ISGS's 40th anniversary conference 18 October 2008 in Elgin (PDF) which among other things will include Beau Sharbrough on Footnote.com, Loretto Szucs on the "surprising benefits" of urban research, Susan Anderson of FamilySearch on their multiple new projects, and D. Joshua Taylor of NEHGS on technology and colonial sources.

ISGSQ Summer Issue 2008:

"Isaac Morrow -- A Civil War Soldier from Henry County, Illinois," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh. A well-documented tale, warts and all.

"Faces from the Past: Identifying Photos with Marge Rice," reprinted from Dead Fred.

"1925-1925 City Directory of Westmont, DuPage County, Illinois," extracted by Oriene Morrow Springstroh. This is not the DuPage County we know today: "Andy did what many new arrivals to town did. He put up a tent for his family, then built a shack to shelter them over the winter until he could build a real home."

"'Mike's Index' Continues to Gain Respect from Researchers," reprinted from ISGS's online March-April newsletter (PDF). A supplement and companion to PERSI covering 243 periodicals. (The selection of periodicals indexed is impressive but unfortunately omits what may be the best local Illinois quarterly, from downstate St. Clair County.)

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basir -- regular column, expert counsel on photo preservation and restoration.

"Confessions of a Lazy Genealogist," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh, with an example of "mining for ancestors": "While you reacquaint yourself with your documents, notice whether other names are mentioned besides those of your people," and make them known. Her example is ideal: a Civil War pension file.