Chicago and Cook County Resources Part 2

As I mentioned previously, our ancestors lives were more than birth, marriage, and death records. In this post I'll focus on school, employment, naturalization, divorce, probate and voting records, as well as current must-visit repositories in Chicago and Cook County.

One of the most exciting aspects of viewing ancestors' school records is the possibility of photographs. A number of volunteers on the Cook County GenWeb project offer yearbook lookups. Ancestry has a number of browse-able yearbooks too. Even grade school class photos offer wonderful clues about the ethnic makeup of a particular neighborhood.


Photo of Pullman workers courtesy
of  the Historic Pullman Foundation

Employment records may not contain individual photos, but they offer interesting insights into the lives of our ancestors. The Pullman Palace Car Company, located on Chicago's south side in the mid to late 1800s, employed hundreds of men. The Pullman Strike was reported in newspapers across the country, and photos exist of many of the strikers. Extant employee records are kept at Newberry Library. The South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society offers free lookups in its impressive Pullman Collection.

Of course Pullman was not the only company in Chicago, there were many large employers. The Union Stockyards and huge packing plants owned by Swift and Armour made Chicago the meat processing capital for many years. Employee records from these companies may no longer exist, but books like City of the Century by Donald L. Miller realistically portray our ancestors' working lives.

Chicago and Cook County courts were each responsible for naturalizations at different points in time. Options include the superior, circuit, criminal, and county courts among others. Keep in mind records created before the Chicago Fire in 1871 may no longer exist. The Family History Library has a good collection of microfilms related to Cook County (including Chicago) naturalizations. More information on naturalizations can be found on the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court web site. The Clerk also has divorce records from 1871 to 1986, law and chancery files 1871-1963, probate files from 1871 to 1975, and more.

Were your ancestors interested in politics? Look for them in the "Record and index of persons registered and of poll lists of voters, northern district of Illinois, city of Chicago, 1888, 1888-1890, 1892; town of Lake View, 1888; town of Hyde Park, 1888; town of Lake, 1888" available at the Family History Library and on Ancestry. These records may not take the place of the lost 1890 census, but they can provide helpful information about places of residence.

Planning a visit to the Windy City? Be sure to visit:

The Newberry Library is a prestigious looking building at 60 W Walton Street in Chicago (312.943.9090). With 1.5 million volumes and 75,000 maps, this five-story non-circulating research library set up in 1887 requires a day just to get your bearings.

The Illinois Regional Archives Depository for Chicago and Cook County is in the Ronald Williams Library at Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N St Louis Avenue in Chicago (773.442.4506) This location is one of seven IRAD locations in the state. IRAD at NEIU holds local government records such as birth, death, marriage records; naturalization records; coroner's inquest reports; and Chicago police homicide records.

The Wilmette Family History Center at 2727 Lake Avenue in Wilmette has one of the largest (if not THE largest) collections of extended loan microfilms of interest to the Chicago and Cook County researcher.

The Harold Washington Library Center and the Chicago Public Library at 400 S State Street in Chicago
(312.747.4875) is huge; roughly , 756,000 square feet and 10 levels. Among its more than 13 million pieces are innumerable rare manuscripts, books, art and sound archives. The Archival collections document the lives and activities of people and organizations in Chicago. Click here to appreciate the staggering size of the Library's Special Collections inventory.

In a city the size of Chicago, there are dozens of additional must-see sites. The four places listed above are great places to start and could provide enough resources to keep you busy for all of the (soon to be here) winter months. Need to connect with other Chicago researchers? Consider the Chicago Genealogy Society, the South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society, or even the Illinois State Genealogical Society.

Remember millions of our ancestors once called Chicago home. Those ancestors are being researched by many millions more of us. If you can't readily find a resource that will guide you to the answer you seek, all you have to do is ask!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Anda's Girl

October 2002

Family History Spreadsheets

To know me is to know my love of all things Excel. I can create a spreadsheet faster than you can say the word formula. I use Excel for everything at home and at work, and of course, in my family history research.

A color-coded spreadsheet is the easiest way for me to stay organized while I play genealogy. I keep one in the front of each surname folder to give me a hint where I left off help me track what I know and how I know it.

This spreadsheet provides a location for each family member at a given point in time, a list of sources I may want to check, and the places I need to record my newly-found data. It's my go-to checklist and I Excel at using it.

What's your favorite genealogy organizing tool?

Surname Saturday ~ October Anniversaries

Happy October anniversary to my niece Kathleen and her husband Richard!

October anniversaries that appear in my family tree include:

Clarke/Downey

My 3rd great-grandaunt Henrietta CLARKE has been instrumental in uncovering records about her brother Morgan CLARKE (my direct line ancestor) so I have a special affection for her. Henrietta married Thomas E DOWNEY in Washington County Maryland 20 Oct 1849.

Johanisson/Andreassdotter
My 3rd great-grandparents Peter Johan JOHANISSON and Johanna Kristina ANDREASDOTTER were married in Tånnö, Jönköping, Sweden on 16 Oct 1864. They had seven children. Four of the five who reached adulthood immigrated to the United States, including my 2nd great-grandmother Maria Fredrika PETERSDOTTER. A few years ago I had the great pleasure of meeting a descendant of the child who remained in Sweden.

Klarin/Larsson
My 2nd great-grandmother Bengta JONSSDOTTER was just 28 years old when she died in 1895, days after giving birth to her fourth child. Her husband Carl LARSSON KLARIN married Ida Maria LARSSON, also widowed, on 19 Oct 1897 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

Landstrom/Weig
The youngest of seven children who immigrated from Sweden to Chicago with my 3rd great-grandparents, my 2nd great-granduncle Axel Fabian LANDSTROM married Anna O WEIG 16 Oct 1907 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. A special affection for this collateral ancestor began after learning he moved his parents' graves to Rosehill Cemetery when he buried his young son there.

Lidstrom-Tolf
My 4th great grandparents Carl Jonas TOLF and Maja Lisa LIDSTROM were married 04 Oct 1817 presumably in Svenarum, Jönköping, Sweden. Presumably because my notes lack any details (ugh!), but both Carl and Maja were born and died there. Sadly Carl died at 38 leaving Maja with seven young children.

Mangels/Brenke
My paternal grandparents divorced and (Grandma) Frances Lois MANGELS went on to marry Robert Emmett BRENKE 19 Oct 1940 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

Samuelsdotter/Uhlitz
Swedish immigrant Ricka SAMUELSDOTTER married my 2nd great-granduncle Oskar Fredrik LANDSTROM in 1902. Theirs was a physically demanding life, he was a blacksmith and she was a laundress. Oskar died in 1913 and I wondered what became of Ricka. Then one day I stumbled upon a marriage certificate on FamilySearch. Ricka married German immigrant Otto George August UHLITZ 19 Oct 1916 in Chicago.

Do we share any ancestors? If you see any familiar names above, please email me at livinginthepastlane [at] yahoo [dot] com and let's compare notes!

Transcription Thursday ~ Marie Catherine Gury

Marie Catherine is one of at least eight children born to my 5th great-grandparents, Joseph François Gury and Barbe Richard. Below the image of her 1809 birth record is my attempt to transcribe and translate it.

I transcribed in green and translated in black. The words I couldn't quite figure out are red:

While I was working on this post, a kind gentleman from the Alsace-Lorraine list shared his thoughts:

"Today the 11th day of January, eighteen hundred and nine, at eight in the morning at the townhall of Altroff, in the arrondisement of Chateau Julline, in the department of Muerthe. Appeared before Peter Bocage, the Mayor and civil officer of the commune of Altroff,  Mr. Joseph Francois Gury, an artist residing in said Altroff, age forty-five years accompanied by Nicolas Geurolt, a farmer with forty eight years, and Peter Fuhrmann, a forty-two-year old teacher residing in the same commune. They presented us with a female child, born between midnight and one o'clock in the morning at the home of Pierre Gury and Barbe Richard, the thirty-one year old legitimately married wife of the declarant. They have given the child the first name of Marie Catherine

The last line is a little unclear but, it basically says that the record was read aloud to the Father and witnesses and that they have signed their names in agreement."

It was nice to see someone else felt the last line was unclear, I was stumped by that. Thanks also to Stephan for desciphering "teacher" as Pierre Fuhrmann's occupation.

That makes one record down, a hundred or so more to go!