At 10:29 PM 1/19/2000 EST, you wrote: >Many thanks to all who explained IRAD to me. Not having done much genealogy >in Illinois, I had never heard of it. Will make use of it in the future. >Hugo Schroeder > > Hugo....and all...... The Illinois Regional Archives Depository documents over 200 years of Illinois Local Government records, including (depending on the county) births, deaths, marriages, divorces, residences, real property, personal property, estates, school attendance, court action, paupers, professions and naturalization. To find out which records are available for your particular county, you can request the listings. The lists are sorted by county, office and title. They request that you limit requests to 5 counties at a time. County listings can be obtained from: Information Services/IRAD; Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL 62756 (Telephone 217-785-1266). I personally have done research at the IRAD in Charleston....they are WONDERFUL! Linda (listmom)