I'm back from Illinois with some good news! After the holidays are over, I will be adding the following information to the GenWeb site about some wonderful news..but wanted to give you a heads up in case you are going "home" for the holidays and want to check this out...and possibly do some genealogy research. 44 microfilm reels containing various county records are now part of the records of the Helen Mathes Library in Effingham. The reels were prepared from 205 decaying books of records rescued from the Effingham County Courthouse basement. Records include criminal files, probate records, chancery cases, coroner's inquests, jail registers, county board minutes, tax ledgers and even records from the old Poor Farm Cemetery. These records date from 1833 to 1973. Jane Schuette (the circuit clerk) deserves a big pat on the back for arranging for the preservation of our county history. The old books were falling apart, musty and full of mold and mildew (I know, I did some research in them several years ago) and were stored in the damp, dungeon-type-rock basement of the Court House. They were turned over to the State Archives. Archivists fumigated the books and did the microfilming. But...the completed reels were the wrong size for the microfilm machines in the Circuit Clerk's Office, so the Clerk contacted the library..the reels were a perfect fit for the library's machines. Just keeping you up to date on things in Effingham County....happy hunting!!!! Linda Lambert

I've recently published three books of Effingham County history -- written _as it happened_ in 1884-1886. The books are based on two continuous years of issues of the Effingham Volksblatt, a German-language newspaper which served the Effingham area for four decades. A bound volume of Volksblatt issues, from mid-June 1884 to mid-June 1886, is housed at the Monastery Museum in Teutopolis. Some four years ago, I photographed all the local content in these issues five column-inches at a time, and I'm just now getting around to translating and publishing it. The books contain the original German articles side-by-side with my English translation. These are the earliest known issues of the Volksblatt still in existence -- and they are NOT available on microfilm. Each book includes a surname index. There's news of many Effingham-area families, with a concentration on those of German descent. The books published so far cover news of Effingham, Teutopolis, and Sigel. I'm planning further titles with news of the county and towns like Altamont, Dieterich, Montrose, etc. for 2005. The current titles may be seen at Lange's News & Books on Jefferson Street in Effingham or ordered by mail from http://www.brumleve.org. The book of Effingham News is a particularly enjoyable read, with many stories followed over weeks or months. There's a terrific description of the 1885 4th of July parade, tours of the Vandalia Roundhouse and Effingham Foundry, crime, accidents, celebrations, births, deaths, marriages, travel and transportation -- everything you'd expect in a newspaper and more. Reading the books straight from start to finish really evokes the time period our ancestors lived in and helps us understand what life was like for them. And, of course, discovery of tidbits on particular ancestors is a great deal of fun! I've also submitted two articles to the Effingham County Genealogical and Historical Society quarterly for publication in coming months. Each contains excerpts from the books. One article is on the benefits of newspaper research and includes translations of a sampling of obituaries, and the other covers the "Mysterious Disappearance of the Mormann Sisters." Dorothy Brumleve mailto:brumleve@insightbb.com http://www.brumleve.org

Super news Linda. Thanks for letting us know. We just had a visit from Sandy and Jerry Kreke. They flew out for their son's graduation from the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in San Diego. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Years. Terry Linda Lambert <ktlkate@extremezone.com> wrote: I'm back from Illinois with some good news! After the holidays are over, I will be adding the following information to the GenWeb site about some wonderful news..but wanted to give you a heads up in case you are going "home" for the holidays and want to check this out...and possibly do some genealogy research. 44 microfilm reels containing various county records are now part of the records of the Helen Mathes Library in Effingham. The reels were prepared from 205 decaying books of records rescued from the Effingham County Courthouse basement. Records include criminal files, probate records, chancery cases, coroner's inquests, jail registers, county board minutes, tax ledgers and even records from the old Poor Farm Cemetery. These records date from 1833 to 1973. Jane Schuette (the circuit clerk) deserves a big pat on the back for arranging for the preservation of our county history. The old books were falling apart, musty and full of mold and mildew (I know, I did some research in them several years ago) and were stored in the damp, dungeon-type-rock basement of the Court House. They were turned over to the State Archives. Archivists fumigated the books and did the microfilming. But...the completed reels were the wrong size for the microfilm machines in the Circuit Clerk's Office, so the Clerk contacted the library..the reels were a perfect fit for the library's machines. Just keeping you up to date on things in Effingham County....happy hunting!!!! Linda Lambert ==== ILEFFING Mailing List ==== If you want to subscribe to this list or unsubscribe from it, send e-mail to ILEFFING-L-request@rootsweb.com or (for the digest list) ILEFFING-D-request@rootsweb.com and put the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the message body.