Illinois opens up birth records to adoptees

Paula Stuart-Warren  Adoption, Vital records  1 Comment

Tonight the Chicago Tribune is reporting something that made me smile. Governor Pat Quinn plans to sign into law a measure allowing adoptees to access their original birth records. The signing is planned for Friday, May 21, 2010.

According to the article “The legislation allows anyone adopted before 1946 to get their full birth certificate information by filing a written request with the state adoption registry. Those born after Jan. 1, 1946, could learn the same information if they are over 21 and at least one birth parent has not requested anonymity.”

This will also be helpful to many Minnesota adoptees whose births took place in Illinois, especially in the Chicago area.

Click here for the full story. The cost is $15.00. Click here for a link to the Vital Records section of the Illinois Department of Health.

Liquor store

Paula Stuart-Warren  Organizing  3 Comments

Every genealogist should visit the liquor store!

Yes, you read that correctly. At least this applies to most of the genealogists I know. None of us has unlimited genealogy funds. But we love maps and large charts and need a way to store them. Oh, a map cabinet would be perfect but even used ones are costly. The solution is to go the liquor store or the liquor area of your grocery store. I said go, not drink. Though some genealogy brick walls might have us thinking about that drink!

The boxes that wine and liquor are delivered in, make a great place to store oversize items. The dividers that separate the bottles leave enough space to place a rolled up map or chart. Make a simple table in your computer and type the contents of each divider as illustrated below. Tape it to the side of the box so that you know what is in each divider. I do have more than one rolled item in each divider.

You can also purchase archival quality map tubes, flat bloxes, and other storage options from places such as Hollinger Metal Edge and Light Impressions .

Limited access to microfilms at Minnesota Historical Society May 29 – June 21

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota Historical Society  Leave a comment

The Hubbs Microfilm Room which is part of the research library at the Minnesota Historical Society will be closed from May 29 – June 21, 2010. New carpeting is being installed during this three week period. Some items such as newspapers from around the state will not be available for research.

For a list of what will be available for research (on a limited number of film readers) click here. 

Illinois state level vital records ordering delay (temporary)

Paula Stuart-Warren  Illinois, Vital records  Leave a comment

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s Division of Vital Records is moving to new offices. The office will be closed from May 27 -31 and will reopen on June 1, 2010. Because of this move, rush service and some other customer requests for birth and death records might be delayed.

Click here to read the article in the online edition of the Springfield, Illinois State Journal Register.

Don’t forget about the FGS Genealogy Conference this August!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS  Leave a comment

Did you attend the NGS Conference in Salt Lake City earlier this month or wish you had after hearing about the great lectures, special events, luncheons, and Exhibit Hall? There’s another chance to attend a large genealogy event that will revitalize your research, teach you new techniques, tell about the growing software applications, surround you with folks willing to talk family history, have three days of an Exhibit Hall filled with a plethora of goodies, and give you tickets for fantastic door prize drawings (anyone need a free week in Salt Lake City?)? This year’s FGS Conference is in beautiful and bustling Knoxville, Tennessee in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Maybe you would like to learn from some of the top speakers in the field of genealogy, sit with them at a luncheon, hear from the software developers first-hand, spend an evening at the Museum of Appalachia, visit with experts who can help you on your way to solving genealogical dilemmas, learn about ways to help your genealogical society grow, and most of all revel in four days of excitement.

Don’t forget to register for the 2010 FGS Conference by June 1st. If you register on or before that date, you will save a whopping $50.00 off the full registration price for the conference. It’s easy to register online or to print out the registration form and mail it in.

It’s easy to register for the luncheons and special events at the same time — but if you need to add others after you register, that is easy to do. When you register online you receive a PIN that will allow you to go back in and add another luncheon or two or register for one of the special evening events.

Leaving the excitement and education of the NGS Conference and the friendliness and helpfulness of fellow genealogists was tough — except that I knew the feeling would be repeated in August in Knoxville.

Check out these links for more info:

Yes, I have been “missing” on my blog

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

Three weeks ago I left to do a two day seminar in Norfolk, Nebraska where I was treated royally by the folks from the Nebraska State Genealogical Society and the Madison County Genealogical Society. It was a packed house and an attentive group. The two days ended with a trip to a cemetery for a grave witching demonstration.

Then I was off to Salt Lake City for the National Genealogical Society Conference and some meetings. It was a wonderful four days. At the opening session on Wednesday I presented a tribute to Marsha Hoffman Rising, an amazing woman, friend, and genealogist extraordinaire. That was a difficult experience and I hope I did her justice. The tribute plus some additional words will be in the National Genealogical Society’s NewsMagazine later this year. After the conference ended I spent a week researching at the Family History Library for clients. Lest you think it was all work the time I was gone, I did have a lot of time with good friends in the genealogical community. A conference is like a family reunion and even better are the new family members you meet.

One of the conference week highlights was the “Celebration of Family History” held at the Conference Center of the LDS Church. A special performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was so neat, followed by a wonderful presentation by a high ranking official of that church and then the evening became even better (if possible) with a talk by noted author David McCullough. I did not want the evening to end.

On the Friday of the conference week, Ancestry.com held a group viewing of the final episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, complete with refreshments. What a neat experience to be with a big room full of fellow genealogists watching this show.

I now have time off from conferences and seminars until mid-August for the Federation of Genealogical Societies four day conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. So I have lots of time for blogging, spending time with my grandchildren, preparing lectures for FGS, and maybe even dusting and vacuuming. A big maybe on the latter.

Family in southwestern Kansas?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Archives, Libraries  Leave a comment

The April 17th issue of the Pittsburg, Kansas Morning Sun has an article that is one of my favorite types. It tells about an old record book being turned over to an institution for preservation. In this case, it’s a 1923 jail register for Crawford County, Kansas that has been sent to the Special Collections Department of the Axe Library at Pittsburgh State University.

Alas, my own Kansas connections were not in that part of Kansas. The preservation of this volume is a reminder to continually check online catalogs and finding aids for repositories of historical materials. A book of records, a set of old letters, or some loose papers found in the back of a filing cabinet may get turned over to a library, historical society, or archive. A collection that was previously not catalogued or not fully described may now be. 

Virgnia: Black or Indian?

Paula Stuart-Warren  African American, American Indian, Black Americans, Virginia  1 Comment

Some Virginia researchers may already be aware of this, but for others this information may explain some difficulties as you research vital records of Native Americans and African Americans in that state.

Walter Ashby Plecker was the first head of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics and served from 1912-1946. He did some beneficial things such as “great strides in educating midwives, inventing a home incubator, and prescribing home remedies for infants. His efforts are credited with an almost 50 percent decline in birthing deaths for black mothers.”

Unfortunately, he also believed that American Indians and African Americans had no separate ethnic identity and set about to reclassify Indians as colored. He actually changed the designation on some vital records from Indian to black. He also decided that anyone with even a little bit of black ancestry would not be allowed to pass as white and brought about changes on their vital records based on information that he said his office had gathered.You can read more about Walter Plecker at the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Memory project. That page lists some article for further reading. Also check out this link for a disturbing 1942 letter from Plecker to local vital records registrars.

Thanks to Brenda Hudson of Florida for telling me about this during last week’s NGS Conference. It does affect some researchers trying to do a good job of researching and documenting their forebears.

Some websites and blogs you might want to check

Paula Stuart-Warren  Blogs, Websites  3 Comments