Please forgive the subject question re where to do genealogical research in Madison Co. I just learned about this list and this is my 3rd day as a subscriber. I'm hoping someone has saved the answers to my "newbie" question and will forward them to the list again. >From the excellent Madison Co. web page at (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmadiso/index.htm) I learned about the Madison Co. Genealogy Soc. (http://ns.plantnet.com/~mcgs/) and the Edwardsville Public Library at 112 S. Kansas, in Edwardsville. I have two days this coming Fri. & Sat. (Oct. 2 & 3) that I'll be able to visit this area. I know it is presumptuous to assume I'll find everything interesting in two days but some of you may be able to suggest where to concentrate my too short time. What information sources would there be in Alton? Would I be more likely to find records of interest in St. Louis? There are two families of interest to me that lived in Madison Co. One was the family of Samuel E. MCGREGORY who apparently moved to Alton (from MA) sometime after the 1850 census. He is listed in a Madison Co. history as a County Surveyor in 1857. The only Alton city directory I've found is for 1858 and he is the Alton City Engineer. Where would other Alton City Directories be located? His name appears in an advertisement in the Weekly Madison Press of 15 Sept. 1858. Where are microfilms of this paper so I can make a copy? He and his family are listed in the 1860 census, in Alton, but with a number of name errors. Sometime in the 1850's he apparently married a Matilda BUSCH. Where would I locate a marriage record for them? Matilda (Busch) MCGREGORY apparently died 4Apr1861. Where would I locate her death certificate and her cemetery listing? On 7Aug1862 Samuel MCGREGORY joined the 97th Illinois Infantry Regiment. I have all his military and pension papers. After the war he lived and worked in St. Louis. I believe his 1st wife Matilda was a daughter of Henry & Elizabeth BUSCH. Henry, a female his age, and three young females appear in the 1840 census in "Marine Settlement." How may I locate the property on which he farmed? I have checked the online Illinois land ownership records and the Henry Busches listed are all in other counties. In the 1850 census however, only Elizabeth and children appear. How and where could I learn what happened to Henry and when? Where can I locate the death and cemetery records for Henry and Elizabeth BUSCH? I would be very please to receive any suggestions and thoughts you have on how I can maximize my minimum about of time in Madison Co. Don Wester in MN