If you don't find what you're looking for below, try Google. And if you discover a great site that I haven't linked to, please let me know!
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BOOKS
Learn More About Your Chicago Ancestors: A Beginners Guide To
y History In The City Of Chicago (Paperback) by Grace Dumelle
(This award-winning book is a must-read if you're working on Chicago genealogy; link will take you to a book description at Amazon.com)
Chicago and Cook County: A Guide to Research (Paperback) by Loretto Dennis Szucs
(link will take you to a book description at Amazon.com)
Early Chicago (online)
(The website version of one of my favorite Chicago history books; a must-visit if you are researching individuals who arrived before 1835)
Reminiscences of Chicago During the Civil War by Mabel MacIlvaine (GoogleBooks)
Chicago Antiquities: Comprising Original Items and Relations, Letters by Henry Higgins Hurlbut (Google Books)
The
Book of Chicagoans edited by John W. Leonard, 1905. (GoogleBooks)
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CEMETERIES
Graveyards of Chicago
(list of Cook County cemeteries with contact information; click on "info/ph" after reaching the page)
Bohemian National Cemetery Burials, 1888-1892
(index at the Chicago Genealogical Society web site)
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, Schaumburg, Illinois
(online transcription)
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CENSUS RECORDS
A Look at Cook
Archdiocese of Chicago Archives and Records Center
Chicago City Directories, 1844 and 1855/56 Cook County, Illinois GenWeb
Cook County Assessor's Office Property Search
WWW-VL: History: USA: Chicago Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Chicagoland Arlington Heights Memorial Library
David Rumsey Map Collection
RootsWeb Mailing List for Cook County, Illinois
Chronology of Chicago Newspapers Chicago Genealogical Society
DuPage County Clerk's Office St. Joseph, Michigan Marriage Index, 1889-1925
Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
Cook County Assessor's Office Property Search
FamilyWeSearch.com Ellen: Oak Park, Forest Park & River Forest RAOGK
(maps and boundary descriptions for wards, townships, and enumeration districts, 1870-1930)
1909 Street Re-numbering Guide for Chicago
Chicago Street Name Changes
Converting 1920 Chicago Census EDs to 1930 Census Eds
(online conversion tool)
IL State Archives Research Series Pamphlet No. 5: State Census Records
(1840, 1855, and 1865 returns exist for Cook County)
Census Tools
(electronic spreadsheets for archiving federal, state and international census data)
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CHURCH RECORDS
Newberry Library's Guide to Chicago Church and Synagogue Records
Chicago Catholic Churches from POINTers in Person (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together)
(list of parishes with links to the online Family History Library Catalog entries)
Guide to Lutheran Church Records
First St. Paul's Lutheran Church Records
(online surname index)
Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America
(page lists holdings for Chicago congregations)
Marriage Index for Polish Parishes through 1915
St. Michael's Catholic Church Baptisms, 1870-1871
[Top]DIRECTORIES
(at CousinConnect.com; other Illinois cities also available)
Polk's Directory 1928/29 (by street address)
(PDF version at Chicago History Museum website; loads slowly)
Chicago City Directory and Business Advertiser
, Fergus, May 1856 Supplement
(at Google Books; searchable by address)
Chicago City Directory and Business Advertiser
, Fergus, May 1856 Supplement
(at Google Books; searchable by address)
The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year-Book, 1905
(p. 446-454 "Old Residents of Chicago" arranged by year of arrival; at Google Books; searchable by address)
[Top]GENERAL GENEALOGY SITES
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites: Illinois
Family History Library Catalog
(try searching "cook" or "chicago" or the name of another Cook County township)
[Top]GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
(search by address to view photos of Welcomes/lots)
Cook County Clerk's Office
(information on requesting birth, marriage, and death records)
Cook County Circuit Court Archives
(information on requesting probate, divorce, and naturalization records)
NARA's Great Lakes Region (Chicago)
Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at Northeastern Illinois University
(search the database for "cook" records)
Alien Registration Records, 1940-1944
(link provides information about these records; use Form G-639 "Freedom of Information Act Request Form" to request information about your ancestor)
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HISTORY
(worth surfing; links to lots of interesting information)
The Illinois History Resource Page
Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930
(interactive database from Northwestern University; can be searched by victim name and many other fields)
[Top]JEWISH GENEALOGY
(excellent resource for anyone doing family history research in Cook County; a not-to-be-missed website)
[Top]LIBRARIES & SOCIETIES
(large genealogy and local history collection in both print and microforms)
Chicago History Museum
Chicago Collections at Chicago Public Library
(summary of resources available through the Chicago Public Library)
Newberry Library
[Top]MAPS
(historical maps for Illinois and other states)
Federal Township Plats of Illinois, 1804-1891
(online images)
Historical Aerial Photography for Cook County, Illinois
(online images)
UIC ImageMaps
(images of Chicago fire insurance maps)
Map of Chicago Neighborhoods
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MESSAGE BOARDS AND MAILING LISTS
RootsWeb Message Boards for Cook County, Illinois
[Top]NEWSPAPERS AND OBITUARIES
(on the Harold Washington Library website)
ChicagoIrishGenealogy.com
(fee-based access
to databases with 17,000+ Irish names (some with biographical information such as occupation, address, age) gleaned primarily from Chicago newspaper research; click on "products" and then "research report" for additional information about what's included)
Dziennik Chicagoski Death Notices, 1890-1929
Dziennik Chicagoski Death Notices, 1930-1971
Highland Park Obituary Index, 1874-2004
Illinois Newspaper Project
(online database of Illinois newspapers; if you find a title of interest, you may be able to borrow it on microfilm through your local library's inter-library loan department)
Oak Lawn Public Library Local History Page
(includes obituary index for a number of southern Cook County newspapers, 1985-2002)
Chicago Tribune Historical Archives at NewsBank.com
(powerful resource for locating modern and historical obituaries from the Chicago area; access to this database may be available through your local public library; in Cook County, for example, it can be searched by remote access through the Arlington Heights Public Library website using an Arlington Heights library card number or a non-resident login which can be obtained in person at the library)
Wilmette Life Index
(includes full-text obituaries 1923-1929; obituary index 1951, 1978-present; news 1991-2004)
"Database of Advertisements for Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot."
[Top]ORGANIZATIONS
Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois
Illinois State Genealogical Society
Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois
Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA)
South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society
[Top]OTHER ILLINOIS COUNTIES
(how to request vital records)
DuPage County Genealogical Society
(lots of online indexes)
Kankakee County Death Index, 1877-1916
Lake County Genealogical Society
McHenry County Genealogical Society
(online indexes to vital records from McHenry County's early newspapers and more; click on the "indices" link on the left-hand side of the page)
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OTHER STATES
(In the 1890s, numerous Chicago couples took a steamer across the lake and married in St. Joseph; if you don't find a marriage in Cook County, try this index; For more information, see "St. Joe is Weary of Love," Chicago Daily Tribune, August 26, 1900. Other "marriage resorts" mentioned in the article include Waukegan and Michigan City.)
Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941
(Ancestry.com database, includes Lake County, 1837-1920, a good place to look for "Chicago" marriages)
Michigan Department of Community Health Death Index
(covers 1867-1897)
Minnesota Death Index
(covers 1906-1996)
Missouri State Archives Online Resources and Databases
(index to pre-1909 births and deaths; St. Louis probate record index with entries linked to documents in PDF format)
Wisconsin Historical Society's Wisconsin Name Index
("Search through more than 100,000 obituaries, personal sketches, and other short biographies of Wisconsin people")
[Top]PHOTOGRAPHS
(View 2484 Ilinois photographs, 1939-1953)
Illinois GenWeb Photographers Index
[Top]PROPERTY
(View recent photographs of Cook County properties)
[Top]RESEARCHERS & GENEALOGICAL SPEAKERS
Kathy offers reasonably-priced
research help in the St. Louis area and also "rescues" family photos, yearbooks,
and books of interest to family researchers. I received received a prompt,
helpful reply when I contacted her about my own research.
Ellen's "Oak Park, Illinois Name Index" includes names found in the Oak Park Oak flake3 newspaper and Oak Park directories. She provides Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness for the Oak Park area.
Mike Karsen: Family Historian & Genealogy Speaker
Mike's programs include "Write Your Family History NOW!" and "Resources for Jewish Genealogy in Chicagoland." A member of the National Genealogical Society (NGS) and the Genealogical Speakers Guild, he lectures regularly at local, national, and international conferences.
Molly Kennedy: Illinois Genealogical Research
Molly is a genealogical researcher who has access to records in Springfield—death certificates from 1916-1983, obituaries, land records, census returns, military records and more. She's located some records for my own research and I highly recommend her services.
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