Topic Focus: Illinois and Chicago Lectures

If you have ancestors with connections to Chicago or Illinois, the NGS conference will provide many opportunities to develop new research strategies.
Read About Chicago and Illinois Lectures

On Wednesday, an entire track will be devoted to Illinois research. First, learn about Chicago Genealogy 101 from Grace Dumelle, author of Finding Your Chicago Ancestors. Grace will address some of the challenges of Chicago research, and also provide details about some of Chicago’s more unique resources. Alternately, in the Records Track, Peter W. Bunce of the National Archives will speak about Prairies to Skyscrapers: A Genealogical & Historical Perspective of Illinois Through Federal Records. Learn about the federal sources from the Director of the NARA Great Lakes Region. After lunch, another expert on Chicago research, Tony Burroughs, will present Don’t Get Burned: Getting Around the Chicago Fire of 1871. Hear Tony’s advice on how to get around this potential brick wall. At the same time, the GENTECH Track will feature The Illinois Digital Archives by Andrew Bullen. Learn about the primary source material and historic publications available on this website. Later, in the afternoon, Jack Simpson of the Newberry Library will speak about The History of Genealogy at the Newberry Library. Learn about the library’s history, and its significant genealogical collection.

On Thursday, there will be several talks of interest to those with Midwestern ancestors. Among these is Michael John Neill’s presentation, Outside of Cook: Illinois Courthouses. Michael, an expert on Illinois research, will discuss the wealth of information that can be found in court records.

On Friday, Jeanne Larzalere Bloom and Debbie Mieszala will present An Option in Post-Adoption in Illinois. This talk will explain the options available for searches by adopted persons, adoptive parents, birth parents, and surrendered persons under current Illinois law.

There will be talks of interest to Chicago researchers on Saturday, too. In the morning, Grace Dumelle will discuss Tips & Tricks for Cook County Vital Records. Learn how to be successful in this vital area of research. Later in the day, Loretto Dennis Szucs, author of Chicago & Cook County: A Guide to Research, will present Chicago and Cook County Research on the Internet. Learn about the newest online sources for Chicago area research. Finally, Tony Burroughs’ talk, Researching Pullman Porters: Railroad Records for African Americans will explain how to use records found in Chicago to research Pullman employees throughout the United States.

Whether your ancestors stayed in Chicago for several generations, or only passed through, this conference will provide you with new tools and strategies for researching their lives.