Have an account? Login
In your search for the family history, ‘cast your net wide’. Local newspaper offices or libraries can give you or get you copies of obituary notices which can give you multiple family history search leads. Obituary notices contain lots of useful information. If you are in any doubt, take a look at the Obits section of your local paper. In the older obituaries, longer write-ups are given on family members when they died telling about not only the person but about their life and in some cases about when their family line settled in a certain area of the country. Or you can Search the Obituary Collections at arcalife.com along side of more than a billion other family history records.
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.
An important part of family history research is organization. As you progress with building your family history you can find yourself with so much paperwork that you are lost. For each person make a life archive entry, in the family history comments for each life archive make a note of where you obtained your information and Research. Add outstanding questions you might have on this person along with a checklist. Remember to document everything you find on your about family history as you go. arcalife is a great tool to help you keep your family history organized.
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.
