Happy Family History Month! October is a perfect time to learn more about your family’s history! Families often have very rich histories that can help inform your own sense of self and give you a deeper claim to your identity. Maybe you are just getting started, or maybe you have been researching your genealogy for…
Have you been searching for an elusive Irish ancestor? Are you a bit of a cartophile (lover of maps)? Then, perhaps you would have luck finding them using the surname maps of Ireland. There are several versions, each based upon different records and genealogical data, so depending upon when your ancestor emigrated from Ireland, you…
Map of Lake County, Illinois, 1861, from Library of Congress Every genealogist, at some point or another, will need to use a map. A recent Legacy Family Tree webinar covered some online map websites with land ownership maps. The sites are worth knowing; put them in your genealogy tool box for future reference: Library of Congress has a Map Collection…
1816 Illinois county boundaries, from the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries 1829 Illinois county boundaries, from the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries We who live in the 21st century find it difficult to imagine that the counties we live in now have not always been in existence. For example, before Illinois became a state in…
