X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 19:31:47 EST From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Research tips >Is the Praire Farmers Magazine only for Greene County. If not, can it be >searched online. If not, who do I contact for a quick look up or to buy the >magazine? >Thank You. >Avie in New Mexico ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Responding to your query, I did an online search for Prairie Farmer which was not successful. I asked a farmer friend if the magazine is still published. She told me it was, and gave me a phone number for their office in Decatur, IL. I called and asked about a website. The lady said they hoped to have one up and running some time in February 2001. After I explained that I wanted to know about directories which were published in the teens, she said 1) they were out of print, 2) they would probably never be put on line at the Prairie Farmer site, 3) but they did have a few copies on hand. I asked for a list and she said she would go and look at what they had and call me back. Here are the ones they have on hand for counties in Illinois: Saline, Gallatin, Tazewell, Warren, Henderson, Livingston, Christian, Ford, and Fulton. NOTE: THEY ARE NOT FOR SALE! I did, however find the following individual directories (there may be others) on line: Prairie Farmer's Directory of LaSalle County Illinois 1917 very informative, including the year individual became resident of county. http://www.rootsweb.com/~illasall/farmdir/ * * * * * * * Monroe County, Illinois 1918 Prairie Farmer's Directory The "Prairie Farmer's Reliable Directory of Farmers and Breeders - Monroe Counties, Illinois", is a directory of mostly rural Monroe County in 1918. It contains a wealth of information. It is however very labor intensive to transcribe the full amount of information, and will take some time to get online. I will be adding partial's as I get them completed, this will be done alphabetically (sorry for you T, U, V & W's, etc.) so check back monthly and see what is new. Regards Joe Lorenz http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmonroe/farmind.htm * * * * * * * * Prairie Farmer's Directory of Brown and Schuyler Counties Illinois Prairie Farmer Publishing Company, 1918 Complete Directory of the Farmers of Brown and Schuyler Counties, with valuable information about each farm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilschuyl/PrairieDirectory/PrairieFD.html * * * * * * * * * As this search was taking too much time I decided to try and shorten the process by looking at the site for the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. First I went to their search function, http://catalog.acpl.lib.in.us/uhtbin/cgisirsi/ww6M5uUe0O/0/49 By entering the key word as "Prairie Farmer's" I did a "quick search" and the result was that 46 records were found. I would suggest that you follow this route to determine which Prairie Farmer directories are available. When you find one that interests you, click on "view" (to the left of the title) and you will find the complete bibliographic information. Using this information you can go to your local public library and have them request the title through interlibrary loan. [NOTE: I am sure that the loan will NOT come from the Allen County Public Library, as they do not loan their genealogical materials.] * * * * * * * * This is one of the items from the ACPL search: 977.301 G83P Prairie farmer's reliable directory of farmers and breeders, Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois. (At least now you know that one was published for Greene County.) * * * * * * * * Of course you may also use this search method for other books and materials you would like to borrow and use, or to determine if there are any books available for the area or topic of your interest. However, you may not always be successful in your request for the items, as many libraries do not loan materials from their genealogical collection. Hope that this information will prove helpful and that you find what you are looking for. Jane Kuck Researching in Greene Co: DODGSON, BROWN, WELLS

I have found the Prairie Farmer Directories from the early 1900's at many local libraries, especially those with genealogy sections. In IL, one can usually borrow them be interlibrary loan from any library in the state. Also, the LDS family history centers have many on microfilm, which you can rent and view at your local branch. You can first check to see if they have the counties you are interested in on film, but using their catalog search at http://www.familysearch.org Juli Claussen