Hi Kim, I'm sure you've noticed the shape of Ford County, so there ARE several other counties that bear looking at, most notably Iroquois, Livingston and McLean, but also Champaign and Vermilion. However, a birth in Paxton would be in Ford County for sure. HOWEVER, in that time frame virtually all births would have taken place at home unless there was a medical problem. I don't know when the old Ford County Hospital in Paxton was opened. But it seems that a hospital birth would have been recorded. There also is the "problem" of the doctors making house calls. If a doctor was asked to come and he was from another county, he might have recorded the birth in HIS home county. I have one of those in my family. The birth is recorded in Iroquois County as having taken place in Ford County. Since these people lived in Iroquois County, I can only guess that they were taken unawares while visiting relatives in Ford County. There is, of course, the problem of births not being recorded at all. Have you any idea of a church affiliation? If the family has a Norwegian or Swedish background, contact Pontoppidan Lutheran Church or First Lutheran Church in Paxton for baptismal record (I have no idea if someone can help you or not, but they might suggest someone with time to look at the records). There are many other churches with which I'm not familiar in terms of how long they have been in existence. There is also the problem of births being recorded in the county but NOT in the state. This happened with my dad and he didn't discover it until he was in his 50s and tried to get a passport. So just because IRAD has no record does NOT mean the birth wasn't recorded. It may well be recorded at the county courthouse in Paxton but the data never given to the state. Have you any other place names than Paxton -- even a township? I hope I've given you a few things to help you past the wall. Pretty much the same things apply to death records. Though not at the state, they may well be at the county. Kim Christensen wrote: > I'm feeling stuck. I am looking for birth information on my grandmother > (Mabel Florence Troughton Boyer). She was born in 1894 in Paxton (I thought), but her birth was not in Ford County's records or in IRAD's records for Ford county. I know that in 1894 it was optional to record someone's birth. Is there another way to get this birth information? > If she was actually born in another county, do I need to search county by county or is there a way to do it on a state level? > > I am running into the same problem with JW Troughton. I think he died in Ford County between 1893 and 1897. His death was not listed in IRAD's records for Ford County. Do I need to search county by county or is there a way to do this search on a state level. (I don't know the exact date of death...) > ANY help would be appreciated. > Kim in OP,KS > mailto:christk@maplewoods.cc.mo.us > > ==== ILFORD Mailing List ==== > *********************************************** > Ford-Iroquois-Kankakee Genealogical Mailing List > http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilkankak/ilford.html > *********************************************** -- Loretta Iroquois County ILGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~iliroquo/ Ford County ILGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilford/ Iroquois County Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilicgs/