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The Illinois State Archives include a state wide family history database including vital records database, Illinois State Marriage Index from 1763-1900, the Illinois State Death Index, before 1916, and Illinois State Death Index from 1916-1950.
Each family history life archive takes the place of the traditional family Group Sheet and is a very simple way to keep track of family members and family groups. Take the information that you receive on each ancestor or family member and and make a Family Group and family history entry on each person in your family. Start with yourself, then your parents and their children, your grandparents and their children. As you work back further in time you may contact relatives or other researchers to gather more family history content . Ask them to contribute to your family history research by sending them a family tree or family history archive invite and add any family material they have through arcalife collaborative tools
Learning about birth records as part of your family history knowledge is important they are referred to as primary sources records because they are usually verified and completed at the time of the birth by someone who was there. This gives them a reduced likelihood of being incorrect or fraudulent and they are therefore considered reliable sources of family history.
Graveyards and cemeteries are a prime place to dig up more information. Visit the cemetery that you know your ancestors are buried in and look for other family members. It’s a good idea to take a record of the info from the tombstones. Taking a note of wider information that isn’t directly related to your blood line may still be useful later if you hit a family history dead-end, giving you another avenue of family history research. You may not get to visit this cemetery frequently or more than once so it pays to have it recorded. You could use a digital camera to save time recording family history information from the headstones.
