This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Yg.2ADE/899.1 Message Board Post: The best source for newspapers of Carroll County (or all of Illinois) is the Illinois Historical Library in Springfield. They have microfilm of most of the newspapers of Illinois, and they are available for interlibrary loan and in most cases, to buy. I have both done reasearch there and bought a roll of microfilm from them (1860-1869 Mt Carroll -- just misses your dates). Probably the biggest newspaper at the time was the Savanna Times Journal, published in Savanna. There was also the Mt. Carroll Mirror Democrat (under several names). Other Carroll County Newspapers were in Chadwick, Lanark, Milledgville, Shannon, and Thompson, although I didn't check to see if issues were available for the 1870's from those papers. So it depends on where in Carroll County you ancestors lived. There is a searchable database of Illinois newspapers that gives the holdings of the Illinois Historical Library, but I don't have the URL handy. A quick search of "Illinois Newspapers" should find it. The library publishes a paperback book of its holdings, listing which issues of which newspapers it has. Copies of the Savanna Times Journal can also be found in the genealogy room of the Savanna library, if you are in the area. Be aware that if you don't have an exact date and want to look through all the newspapers from 1870 to 1879 searching for someone, you have a very tedious task ahead of you. Headlines were small or were not used at all, and obituaries can be found ANYWHERE in the paper. You might find one in the middle of an article on a new shipment of Michigan apples that has just come in! I just started browsing my 1860-1869 Mt. Carroll newspaper microfilm real and was able to get through about three issues an hour.