For Jay Osman: I have a 1994 "Illinois State Library Special Report Series - Newspapers in the Historical Library" (this library is in Springfield, IL). For Fairbury there is no listing for Fairbury News, but there are for the Blade = Livingston County Blade = Independent Blade = Blade; Bugle Horn (one issue 1871); Fair-Dealer (one issue 1895); Independent; Journal; Livingston Citizen; and Local Record. For Ottawa, IL, there is an extensive listing of surviving issues of the Free Trader, beginning in 1840, up to 1927 or so, but not a solid run. For more information, you might write to them: Illinois State Historical Library, Newspaper Microfilm Section, Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL 62701. Telephone in 1994 was 217-785-7941. In years past, they had a pretty strict policy for mail requests for obit searches, and I believe they limited their requests to only IL residents. I do not know if they have e-mail. Linda K.