I will join in too! I'm searching for my father's family. James Louis FORD was born in Peru in 1908 to James H. FORD and Emma PINN. I sent for a birth certificate from the courthouse, but the information was 'sparse' at best. Just that he was born and his father was James H. Ford and his mother was Emma P. A lot of good that did. I found out my grandmother's maiden name from the copy of the Social Security application that I have. I do have a funeral card for his father that says James H. was born on 17-July-1871 and died on 5-Nov-1950. I am planning a trip to Illinois in the next couple of weeks and hope to get to Peru one of the days that I am up there. My grandparents are buried in unmarked graves at the Peru City Cemetery, per my Aunt. Does the cemetery have any records that would be helpful to me? Also, I take it that it would be better to go to the Gen. guild in Ottawa rather than the courthouse to see if I can find anything. Is this generally true? What can I expect to find at the Guild? I'm specifically looking for my Grandparents birth and marriage records, and any records of siblings. I am a rank novice at this and have never searched records before, would there be someone who could help answer questions? Somehow I think there will be a lot of them...... Martha (Ford) Murphy Campbell TX