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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.
Courts and legal offices can be a rich source of family history information. Some court houses have legal documents going back many years, for example probate which includes information about estates,wills, intestate papers. Additional more detailed family history records could include marriage papers, court proceedings indenture, voting records. All of these additional sources can be useful additional family history sources to add to your armory.
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.
