For those in the region, if you get an opportunity to visit the State Historical Society in Madison, it really is worth the visit. It's probably one of the best genealogy repositories in the Midwest and really is not all that far for folks in northern Illinois. In addition to Wisconsin vital records and newspapers, it has all census records for the U.S. and a pretty good collection of genealogical resources for counties and families across the Nation. I like to use the indexes on Ancestry or the UW-Library On-line Catalog to locate what I need prior to making the trip. This maximizes my time on site. The library catalog can be searched at http://madcat.library.wisc.edu/ Try the keyword search for some of your target counties; you may discover a source you didn't know was out there. It works best when using "AND" between words (Jo AND Daviess AND County) I am also a bit lucky since Madison is on the way to Galena. Chris Straight Fairchild, WI