Genealogy Research
Please visit our Historical Collection page for local databases and physical material information.
If you are one of our patrons, please feel free to take a look at the Inter-Library Loan page and consider ordering some amazing genealogical materials.
GENEALOGY RESEARCH DATABASES:
- Ancestry Library Edition – This is the worldwide edition of Ancestry.com (in library use only).
- HeritageQuest – This resource provides access to census, schedules, Freedman’s bank records and various other records. If accessing at home, the database may ask you to enter your library barcode to use it.
- A to Z Databases – A reference and marketing database including 30 million business profiles & 220 million residents. If accessing at home, the database may ask you to enter your library barcode to use it.
- Chicago Community Coverage Newspapers – Explore current and archived issues of newspapers including the Northwest Herald, Elgin Courier, Chicago Sun-Times, and more with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online!
- HeritageHub – Explore genealogical records from 1824 – today, including hard-to-find obituary content from the mid 1900’s, coverage from all 50 states, and original obituary images from historical newspapers. Access is available 24/7.
- Black Life in America – The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media, 1704 to today.
HAMPSHIRE REGISTER NEWSPAPER
The local newspaper ran from approximately 1884 through 2009 and has been digitized. It may be found here. For added fun, make sure you use these Boolean operators when searching the newspaper:
- AND—between two words includes both words
- NOT—removes the word after it from your results
- “Put parenthesis around all of your words” to find all of them.
- CTRL F on your keyboard brings up a search & highlight feature
KANE COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY RESEARCH
Resources
- Genealogy Trails has a page for the Kane County area which is always useful.
- Kane County Government has put together a section of their website that covers a brief overview of the history of the county from the time of territorial status through the present.
Groups
- Hampshire Historical Society is the historical preservation group that focuses not only on the Hampshire, IL area but also has preserved some wonderful artifacts and documents from some of the local areas.
- Gail Borden Public Library has an incredible genealogy collection while also serving as a FamilySearch microfilm site.
DEKALB COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY RESEARCH
Resources
- Sycamore True Republican Newspaper is a digitized newspaper that often covered news from our library district. This newspaper is conserved by the Joiner History Room which is a fantastic local resource and should be on every local genealogist's visit list.
- DeKalb County History Center is a coordinated group of dedicated volunteers and professionals that strive to bring history and genealogy resources to life.