Bookends Friday: letters from St. Clair County, Illinois

From the September issue of the St. Clair County (Illinois) Genealogical Society Newsletter, two new books by Stephen W. Reiss. I have not seen these but how could anyone with southwestern Illinois connections go far wrong?

It Takes a Matriarch: 780 Family Letters from 1852 to 1888 Including Civil War, Farming in Illinois, Life in St. Louis, Life in Sacramento, Life in the Theater, Wagon Making in Davenport, and the Lost Family Fortune -- letters to Margaret Basler Reiss Ebert.

Quilter, Granger, Grandma, Matriarch: Life on the Reiss Family Farm 1949-1953 St,. Clair County, Illinois -- diaries of Catherine "Katie" Reiss.

More information at the publisher's web site.

Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society!

Thanks to the St. Clair County (IL) Genealogical Society Quarterly for this alert:

Approximately 30 volunes of Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society are available online at The Internet Archive (www.archive.org). Among the published articles are transcriptions of pioneer letters [and] historical essays on a variety of subjects.

I own a few of these volumes -- collections of papers from ISHS annual meetings early in the 20th century -- and they can have cool old stuff. Trouble is they weren't well indexed before.

The new (volume 32, number 2) issue of this quarterly includes 1888 death register extracts, 1825 plats of Illinois City and Belleville, 1858 Belleville tax list, and part of a 1913 marriage index.

St. Clair County (Illinois) Quarterly

As is often the case in local publications, most of the space in the first 2009 issue of the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly is filled with valuable record transcriptions that don't make terribly good reading: "Extracts from Death Register book II 10 July 1886-31 December 1887," "Marriage Index 1912," and "Funeral Card Collection Additions."

But this issue of the quarterly also has some connected text. Society newsletter editor Tom Pearson wrote one-page digests of two recent programs at the society's monthly meetings. In February, Lillian E. Nolan, Headquarters Air Mobility Command Historian at Scott Air Force Base, noted among other things that base newspapers are an often-overlooked source of information on rank and file personnel, and bound volumes of past issues are kept in the Historian's office for those who call with questions. The March speaker, Gerald Perschbacher ("Researching Your Roots in Germany") recommended books by Dan C. Heinemeier, including A Social History of Hesse: Roman Times to 1900.

Digital records from Northern Illinois University

It turns out we're not quite done with the final 2008 issue of the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly. Writing on paper but in a bloggy spirit, editor Diane Walsh calls attention to the Northern Illinois University Libraries' Illinois Historical Digitization Projects online, which if you drill down a bit contains loads of searchable source material, from Civil War letters to one man's account of what it cost him to track the fellow who stole his horse. You can search transcriptions of original sources within any of the four historical periods covered, or search 'em all using the fifth link down on the main page. It's always been a peeve of mine that the Illinois historical journals aren't well indexed over time; this collection includes a number of articles from earlier issues including many transcribed and annotated letters. (And if you have DeKalb County research targets, scroll down a bit for more possibilities.) You can get lost in this site; don't foget to leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you!

Walsh also mentions a new article in volume 4, number 1, of the online journal, Annals of Genealogical Research: "Rauschkolb: Finding the Belleville Roots," by Carol Tuck. The publication is not peer-reviewed but the editor does insist on documentation. (The archives contain an article I wrote four years ago on a Wisconsin relative. Now I know how much better I could have done it!)

St. Clair County Illinois Quarterly #4 of 2008

Like most ambitious state and regional publications, the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly welcomes actual articles, but still subsists largely on a diet of transcribed records. Why not write up your southwestern Illinois ancestors for them?

In issue #4 of 2008:

"Extracts from Death Register Book II, 2 January 1886 - 6 July 1886, tr. Melinda Cahill and Diane Walsh

"Marriage Index 1911," tr. Judy Phelps

"Document Conservation," an information-packed one-page summary of a recent society meeting where former Belleville Public Library archivist Patricia Hamilton spoke.

"Military Discharges 'L'," tr. Art Rubeck and Sheila Kronenberger

"Plan, Analyze, Begin Again: A Davis Family Example," by Diane Walsh. At the Salt Lake Institute last month I complained a bit about the lack of information about how to do research planning beyond the stage of brainstorming and list-making; this article is the beginning of an answer, as the quarterly editor takes us through an actual research situation and shows how to respond to new information, when to focus on the task at hand and when to draw back and make a note of an alternative path to perhaps be followed later.

SCCGSQ, southwestern Illinois' voice

The third 2008 issue of the St. Clair County Genealogy Society Quarterly cements its standing as one of the meatiest local genealogy publication I've seen around the Midwest:

"Preston Women in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Illinois," by Thomas W. Davis.

"Extracts from Death Register Book II, 12 November 1884-24 December 1885," by Melinda Cahill, Diane Walsh, and Linda Osterdock.

"Marriage Index 1910," Paul Mueller.

"Eisenhauer-Mauer [Maurer] Letters," by Robert Donnell and Recs Jenkins.

"Old Age Pension for 127 Local Residents approved for Payment," 1936, by Nancy Giles.

"Ray Family Bible"

"Belleville Saengerbund and Library Society," by Linda Osterdock.

"Shiloh Valley Township Cemeteries ALERT," which is a warning that the society's publication of that name doesn't seem to square with the relevant parish records now being transcribed from the Holy Childhood Catholic death register.

Expected and Unexpected Resources from SW Illinois

The first 2008 issue of the St. Clair County (Illinois) Genealogical Society Quarterly has enough material to make some state publications jealous. Contents include:

the second of two parts of a county marriage index for 1908 (alphabetical by bridal surname, from Lizzie Crowder to Helena Zubrawski).

"E. St. Louis Gazette: Some Vital Stats, 1866, Tidbits 1872."

"Extracts from Death Register Book 1, 8 March 1882-28 April 1883," by Melinda Cahill and Diane Walsh

"Biography of James Bissell 'J.B.' Davis," by Thomas W. Davis, Jr.

"Belleville Public Library Website Adds Features," including a glimpse of a genealogical source I'd never dreamed of: an archival document in German, listing books checked out, the individual patrons' names, and the due dates, 1863-1866. What was your ancestor reading?

Announcement of a new SCCGS project and a first installment of its index: a Funeral Card Collection.

St. Clair County, Illinois -- where you hope your ancestors lived

One of the most active local societies in Illinois, with a sizeable web presence, is in the southwest, right across the river from St. Louis: St. Clair County. I'm a member, so don't take my word for it -- check out their stuff.

They've just announced a new free newspaper database: "Vital Statistics Extracted from the Belleville (Ill.) Daily Advocate, 1927-1954," the gift of Nancy Giles. For those of us who have ancestors after the 1930 census (!) and who are twentieth-century impaired, this is a wonderful thing. My own Flint and Thrall lines converged in St. Clair, so it's already done my database some good and I look forward to zeroing in on the original articles the next time I'm over that way.