It looks like whoever does the McLean County government web site [NOT to be confused with the ILGenWeb site] could use some construction help. <g> Apparently you have to wade through and drill down rather than going directly to where you want to go. I guess it increases the number of hits. Ok, you need to go to: http://www.mclean.gov/ and up at the top click on Departments. On the pull down menu chose CIRCUIT CLERK. A page should come up with a picture of Sandra Parker. If it doesn't you have the wrong page. On the left side of the page under information the second choice is Immigration Records. Click on it and you are in. Sorry for the confusion. Complain to lee@mclean.gov <g> Cheryl Rothwell LoganCty@mindspring.com

Last week I told you about the 1880 census CDs from the LDS. There was some discussion from others about long backorders and so on. I ordered mine online on June 11 and they arrived today. I can't do lookups at the moment. Please don't ask. Maybe I will in the future but at the moment learning to be a widow takes almost the energy I have. Cheryl Rothwell LoganCty@mindspring.com

In response to an email I found the following resource -- McLean County immigration records: http://www.mclean.gov/departments/CircuitClerk/imgrecs/imgrecs.htm I don't have any ancestors who arrived that late so I can't check to see how good it is but if you do it looks like a good resource. Cheryl Rothwell LoganCty@mindspring.com

Thanks for letting us know Cheryl. This will be a wonderful resource!! Kathy G. Researching DORRELL, FURRER, HARRIS, MOORE ----- Original Message ----- From: Cheryl Rothwell Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 7:29 AM To: ILMASON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Newspapers Online From the current issue of Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter: - 20,000 Community Newspapers To Become Available Online The following is an excerpt from a press release by the National Newspaper Association: More than 20,000 community newspapers, some long out of print, have recorded American life since the 17th century, and two unique organizations have set the common goal of providing Internet access to this documentation of American heritage. The National Newspaper Association (NNA) and Cold North Wind Corporation signed a letter of intent today to create America's Chronicles(SM), an online search engine that accesses the digital archives of America's community newspapers, beginning with the archives of the 3600 NNA member newspapers. The project could eventually result in 500,000,000 pages of original, historical content dating back to the 1600s and will be available online at http://www.americaschronicles.com. The site will be launched at the NNA's 116th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Milwaukee, September 12-15, with access to the first of many digital archives. By working with community papers and the NNA, a not-for-profit trade association representing the grassroots of America's newspaper owners, publishers and editors, Cold North Wind will make digital access to this rich source of historical and genealogical content available for the first time. EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage, will provide data storage for the exceptionally large database required to create this digital archive. Cold North Wind partner microCreditCard, the Internet's leading credit card- based micro-payment facilitator and alternative billing provider, was chosen as the exclusive online payment service for its convenient digital content payment solutions. Although the terms of the agreement were not fully disclosed, the subscription revenue from the project will go to the NNA and participating newspapers. NNA and Cold North Wind are also exploring ways to make the service available as a resource at public institutions. The two groups are calling on corporations across the country to get involved in this groundbreaking program. "We are excited to breath life into hundreds of years of history that are currently buried in the archives of America's newspapers and libraries," said Diane Everson, publisher of The Edgerton Wisconsin Reporter, and president of NNA. "Our agreement with Cold North Wind will give readers everywhere access to historical events from the perspective of America's hometown newspapers. America's Chronicles(SM) will allow us to see how community, national, and international events changed the fabric of our ancestors' daily lives. Newspapers are truly the first draft of history." The full press release is available at: http://www.americaschronicles.com/home.asp ==== ILMASON Mailing List ==== Visit Mason County, ILGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmason/ ============================== Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 Source for Family History Online. Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB

I'm looking for information on my great-grandparents, John Platt and Mary Shoemaker. At some point they lived with another family, SCHOONOVER. I've seen John's last name misspelled as PLANT. John was from Ohio, Mary from Illinois. They were married in the early 1870's. I would like their information from the 1880 census if someone has access to it. The LDS Family History Center near me has been closed for over two months now because the lady who was in charge passed away and no one has wanted to reopen it, otherwise I would look it up myself. Thank you, Vickie Carter

Could anyone replying to this please reply to the list since I and probably others as well need this information. I am hoping to get to Mason County this fall. ILMASON-D-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > Subject: Research in Mason Co. Ill > Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 10:23:33 -0400 > From: "Carol Montrose" <cmontrose@beol.net> > To: <ILMASON-D@rootsweb.com> > > Can anyone advise me on research facilities and "tips" for research in Mason Co. Ill? > Like, where are the old newspapers, vital records (and the time frame they cover as well as if they are "open" or closed?, land records, estates/wills etc.) Hours, and days of operation, parking, availability of eating places, motels etc.? > > Thanks, > > Carol

Rootsweb is merging the GenConnect boards with some boards at Ancestry.com. Please note that these boards are NOT a part of USGenWeb or ILGenWeb although many pages link to them. The merged boards will have some great new features. They will also give wider circulation to queries, always helpful. However, nothing is perfect and there are some drawbacks you need to consider in advance. Wider circulation means more people will read it, more search engines will pick it up, etc. NEVER NEVER post your snail mail address, phone number or other personal details. More and more people are surfing genealogy sites and gathering information for identity theft and other criminal activities. While Rootsweb/Ancestry.com promises the boards cannot be crawled [yet!] to gather email addresses, if you post the personal information it is certainly available to everyone. If your bank, credit card company, etc. uses 'mother's maiden name' as the security word you need to get them to change it. If they won't you could have a problem since your mother's maiden name is pretty easy to determine these days. You might consider giving them your maternal grandmother's maiden instead or something of that nature. You need to plan that in advance so you remember of course. The new setup APPEARS to eliminate public responses so a poster may have to answer the same questions over and over in email. If this is so some might want to save the email and just keep forwarding the entire correspondence. Of course, that method will share email addresses with all, something that may or may not be desirable. Now might be a good time to get a Yahoo or Hotmail or Bigfoot or other free email address just for genealogy. Yahoo and Bigfoot addresses can be forwarded to your real email account. Hotmail cannot. I don't know about others. Here's what Rootsweb, owned by Ancestry.com, says about the new boards [not yet available but soon]: --- The new message boards database will be by far the largest collection of such messages on the Internet. In fact, the FamilyHistory and RootsWeb messages are extremely complimentary. The majority of the messages on FamilyHistory are surname-based, while RootsWeb's strength is in the locality and topic areas. Not only will the new combination enjoy a larger set of data, but users will have access to a much larger audience. --- The new message boards can now handle attachments to e-mail messages in the form of uploaded pictures (scanned documents, family photos, etc.) and GEDCOM files. --- Users will be able to view the e-mail address of message authors and be able to respond to them easily and privately. However, the message boards cannot be "crawled" by unscrupulous third parties to gather e-mail addresses for spam mailings. --- Search functionality will be improved compared to either the RootsWeb or FamilyHistory systems. Search hits will be ranked by relevance and wildcard searches are available. --- The hardware infrastructure supporting the new message boards is faster, can handle larger traffic loads, and is more stable. The new system is also less expensive over time and easier to maintain. Cheryl Rothwell LoganCty@mindspring.com

From the current issue of Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter: - 20,000 Community Newspapers To Become Available Online The following is an excerpt from a press release by the National Newspaper Association: More than 20,000 community newspapers, some long out of print, have recorded American life since the 17th century, and two unique organizations have set the common goal of providing Internet access to this documentation of American heritage. The National Newspaper Association (NNA) and Cold North Wind Corporation signed a letter of intent today to create America's Chronicles(SM), an online search engine that accesses the digital archives of America's community newspapers, beginning with the archives of the 3600 NNA member newspapers. The project could eventually result in 500,000,000 pages of original, historical content dating back to the 1600s and will be available online at http://www.americaschronicles.com. The site will be launched at the NNA's 116th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Milwaukee, September 12-15, with access to the first of many digital archives. By working with community papers and the NNA, a not-for-profit trade association representing the grassroots of America's newspaper owners, publishers and editors, Cold North Wind will make digital access to this rich source of historical and genealogical content available for the first time. EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage, will provide data storage for the exceptionally large database required to create this digital archive. Cold North Wind partner microCreditCard, the Internet's leading credit card- based micro-payment facilitator and alternative billing provider, was chosen as the exclusive online payment service for its convenient digital content payment solutions. Although the terms of the agreement were not fully disclosed, the subscription revenue from the project will go to the NNA and participating newspapers. NNA and Cold North Wind are also exploring ways to make the service available as a resource at public institutions. The two groups are calling on corporations across the country to get involved in this groundbreaking program. "We are excited to breath life into hundreds of years of history that are currently buried in the archives of America's newspapers and libraries," said Diane Everson, publisher of The Edgerton Wisconsin Reporter, and president of NNA. "Our agreement with Cold North Wind will give readers everywhere access to historical events from the perspective of America's hometown newspapers. America's Chronicles(SM) will allow us to see how community, national, and international events changed the fabric of our ancestors' daily lives. Newspapers are truly the first draft of history." The full press release is available at: http://www.americaschronicles.com/home.asp

Can anyone advise me on research facilities and "tips" for research in Mason Co. Ill? Like, where are the old newspapers, vital records (and the time frame they cover as well as if they are "open" or closed?, land records, estates/wills etc.) Hours, and days of operation, parking, availability of eating places, motels etc.? Thanks, Carol

Louisiana SCHOONOVER married Zephiniah KEITH (or REETH, or RATH -- some confusion in the marriage records) 17 Aug 1843 in Mason Co., IL. They may have subsequently lived in cass Co., IL. In 1870, Zed KEITH and his wife Louisiana are listed in the census for Richardson Co., NE living with their nine children and with Jacob SCHOONOVER, age 70 and born in PA. Who are the parents and siblings of Louisiana SCHOONOVER? Please contact Bob Schoonover at: rbobjim@aol.com

In a message dated 6/16/01 7:02:27 AM Central Daylight Time, ILMASON-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: << re. a letter other than "d" it had a file attached...the file name was: CPQStart.exe The message talked about my HP printer and updating some of the files... >> I checked at the Symantec site, but did not find this virus listed there. If anybody runs across its definition, please let us know. Thanks, Karen F. Montgomery

I received a message today and the subject line said: re. a letter other than "d" it had a file attached...the file name was: CPQStart.exe The message talked about my HP printer and updating some of the files... IT WAS A VIRUS Sent by someone who had RECEIVED The virus and didn't know it! DO NOT OPEN ANY E-MAIL W/FILE ATTACHMENTS from someone you don't know and be very careful with ones from people you do know. I sent a message back to the person before I tried to open the message she sent to me and she replied that she'd found out that her computer was infected... so PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

Posted on: Mason County, IL, Queries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason/10135 Surname: SPINNER, SCHOONOVER ------------------------- I don't recognize those SPINNER's. I do have: Hannah Spinner (27 Jul 1835 - 13 Feb 1913) married Philip Schoonover (7 Nov 1819 - 30 Nov 1892) on 12 Aug 1853 in Mason Co., IL. They had five children: Catherine, Susan E., James Samuel, George A. and Elenda A. Philip SCHOONOVER and Hannah SPINNER died in Mason Co. and are buried in the Bethel Cemetery, Saidora, Mason Co., IL. I would be very interested if you do see any connections to this info -- Bob Schoonover at: rbobjim@aol.com Afton MN

Mason County, IL, Queries A new message, "Spinner & Schoonover," was posted by Bob Schoonover on Thu, 14 Jun 2001 It is a response to "Spinner Genealogy," posted by LeAnn on Thu, 14 Jun 2001 Surname: SPINNER, SCHOONOVER This is an automatically-generated notice. If you'd like to be removed from the mailing list, please visit the Mason County, IL, Queries: <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason#Subscribe> If you wish to respond to this message, please post your response directly to the board. <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason>

Posted on: Mason County, IL, Queries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason/10134 Surname: SPINNER ------------------------- I am researching my family genealogy and would like any information you can give me on Sam Spinner or his wife Tempy Ann Spinner b. 04/13/1834 d. 02/09/1894. I am researching all/any relationships to Barnhardt Spinner and Mary Elizabeth (Goodwater) Spinner. There children were born in Ossian, Winneshiek Co., Iowa but could have moved into the Itawamba County area later in life. Barnhardt Spinner had a brother Peter Spinner. Both men came to the USA from Oberachern/Baden/Germany as young boys. Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated. LeAnn leannpatridge@hotmail.com

Mason County, IL, Queries A new message, "Spinner Genealogy," was posted by LeAnn on Thu, 14 Jun 2001 It is a response to "SCHOONOVERs in Mason Co., IL," posted by Bob Schoonover on Tue, 23 Jan 2001 Surname: SPINNER This is an automatically-generated notice. If you'd like to be removed from the mailing list, please visit the Mason County, IL, Queries: <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason#Subscribe> If you wish to respond to this message, please post your response directly to the board. <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason>

Posted on: Mason County, IL, Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Il/Mason/10133 Surname: WURTZBAUGH, WURTSBAUGH ------------------------- Hi Debby, Thanks for your reply. I just received my great-parents Susan Emmaline Wurtsbaugh and James Philip Sampson's marriage license, as well as the marriage license of Ella and Lucien. I have not yet connected these two, as the license for Ella did not have a copy of the return as my great-grandparent's license did. Susan and Ella appear to have been born a year apart, so it is very possible that they are sisters. I will hang on to your email address, and if I come up with any more info, I will drop you a line. By the way, do you have a copy of Ella and Lucien's marriage license? It seems that you do, but if not, I would be happy to share a copy of the one I received. Also, do you have a death record for Ella?

Mason County, IL, Queries A new message, "WURTZBAUGH," was posted by karyn crump on Thu, 14 Jun 2001 It is a response to "Re: Wurtzbaugh," posted by Debby Bliss on Thu, 07 Jun 2001 Surname: WURTZBAUGH, WURTSBAUGH This is an automatically-generated notice. If you'd like to be removed from the mailing list, please visit the Mason County, IL, Queries: <http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Il/Mason#Subscribe> If you wish to respond to this message, please post your response directly to the board. <http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Il/Mason>

Mason County, IL, Queries A new message, "Bridges, Ramsey," was posted by Michael Hutchinson on Tue, 12 Jun 2001 It is a response to "Bridges, Ramsey," posted by Michael Hutchinson on Mon, 09 Apr 2001 Surname: Bridges Ramsey Alvey Huffman Pollock Bailey Doyle McClung Henninge Hess This is an automatically-generated notice. If you'd like to be removed from the mailing list, please visit the Mason County, IL, Queries: <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason#Subscribe> If you wish to respond to this message, please post your response directly to the board. <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason>

Posted on: Mason County, IL, Queries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/Mason/10132 Surname: Bridges Ramsey Alvey Huffman Pollock Bailey Doyle McClung Henninge Hess ------------------------- Believed additional Children of Thomas Jefferson BRIDGES and Rebecca RAMSEY: Charles Augusta BRIDGES, b. 15 July 1869 m. Ella B. DOYLE Mason Co IL Parker M. BRIDGES, b. Jan 1872 m. Ida McCLUNG in Kay Co. OK Otis BRIDGES, b. 8 Sept 1879, d. Apr. 1965 perhaps in Kansas Ida B. BRIDGES, b. ? m. Frank HENNINGER 24 Dec. 1888 Mason Co IL Ollie (aka Olive) BRIDGES, b. ? m. Ralph C. HESS 25 Dec. 1889 Mason Co IL