Montgomery County Illinois on line in a big way

The Historical Society of Montgomery County's digital archive holds tons of information that would be even better with a bit more context:

* searchable index of 27,044 death certificates 1877-1950, with a link to the form for requesting actual copies from the County Clerk/Recorder.

* searchable index of 6,946 first land purchases, mid-1800s; helpful information on how to read these descriptions is at the Illinois State Archives' web site, from which at least some of the information appears to come.

* vintage photos, biographies, and historical tidbits for 17 towns from Butler to Witt.

* searchable list of 10,214 veterans with DD 214 discharge forms registered with the county clerk/recorder, going back to World War I.

* searchable index of 22,737 obituaries 1980-2008 from two local newspapers, as scrapbooked by society members.

* names and detailed location information for 125 cemeteries.

And that's just on the research tab! If you don't lose track of the time perusing this site, your ancestors sadly must not have passed this way.

Hat tip to Cyndi's List What's New.

Illinois' fall quarterly

I'm looking forward to catching up with this issue, which arrived during my hiatus. A lot of material here, including some from my home county!

Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly 40(3), Fall 2008

"Personal Journals, Diaries, and Old Letters in Genealogical Research," by Bryan L. Mulcahy

"Confessions of a Puzzled Genealogist," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh

"Joseph Bigham, Jr. -- His Remembrances of the Bigham Family History," tr. Phyllis J. (Bigham) Bauer. (Montgomery County) "As soon as I could make letters I had to jot down on paper fathers accounts as he could neither Read or write."

"Richard F. Sutton's Story: A Revolutionary War Soldier -- Part 2," by Raleigh Sutton

"Faces from the Past -- Identifying Photos with Marge Rice"

"Sarah S. (Miner) Boyd," by Mark A. Miner (Fulton County)

"West Aurora [Kane County] School District finds lists of earlier graduates...," from the Aurora Beacon News

"Gravestone Recording: How to Conduct a Project -- how to Use the Data," by John E. Sterling

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basier

"1864 Award Winners at the Kendall County, Illinois Fair" [just in case you missed it the first time]

Illinois Harvest in southwestern Illinois

Recently digitized local histories by Illinois Harvest in Bond and Montgomery counties:

Perrin, William Henry. History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois. Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882.

Traylor, Jacob L. Past and Present of Montgomery County, Illinois. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1904.

The Centennial History of Litchfield, Illinois. Litchfield: ?, ~1953.

Centennial History of Nokomis, Illinois, 1856-1956. Nokomis: Free Press-Progress Printers, 1956.

Irving Centennial, 1863-1963, Irving: ?, 1963.

Carson, Will C. Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois. Effingham: LeCrone Press, 1905.

Witt Centennial. Witt: Witt Centennial Committee, 1968.