Central Illinois research as it happens

Editors tend to resist publishing articles that provide a "research travelogue" -- "first I looked here, and then that led me to..." but for those of us still struggling to figure out how to do good research, a travelogue or two is most welcome. National Genealogical Society president Jan Alpert provides one involving the Neill families, possibly related, of Peoria and Schuyler counties, Illinois in the January issue of UpFront with NGS. There's no magical revelation or clear conclusion, but I find it interesting to see how someone else goes about a project starting with a clue or two from a Civil War pension file.

NGS in Peoria

The November 1 issue of the National Genealogical Society's email newsletter, UpFront with NGS, has a nice Midwestern-centric story by NGS president Jan Alpert, "How Two Planned Family History Projects Brought an Unanticipated Surprise." It seems that her parents met at an Illinois River picnic sponsored by the Bradley University music club . . . (Has "how-your-parents-and-grandparents-met" been a genealogy blogger carnival topic yet?)

Picturing southwest Michigan

National Genealogical Society president Jan Alpert writes in the NGS newsletter "UpFront with NGS" about picking up a pictorial history of Van Buren County, Michigan, to walk the streets of a town she's never been in search of the grandmother she never knew. Grandma's name isn't in the index, but she finds her anyway.