Here is one VERY limited place to look. The state of Illinois has an official website that includes a lot of very good data on early marriages, and reasonably good data on deaths. Both of these are better in urban areas, of course. I just looked at it, and found that for one village, Arthur, a project has been done putting online births from 1868-1925. http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/arthurbirths.html#about Arthur is on the county line between Moultrie Co. and Douglas Co. Moultrie Co is just to the NE of Shelby Co. and Douglas is E. of Moultrie Co. The chances are minimal that you will find one of your children there, of course, but it is worth a try. Read this page, go to the URL and remove the #about, and it will let you go to the search page. Hopefully, someone else will have another, better idea. Finding births in IL is always hard because infant baptisms were rare during this time period in most denominations. If you know the denomination you can sometimes find them. Churches like the Catholics and Episcopalians seemed to be uncommon. Now someone will prove me wrong and you will be able to find what you need! Hope this helps, or brings help out of the woodwork. Doris Waggoner Seattle Washington USA -- thepars@tiscali.co.uk wrote: This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Usrey & Powell Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Vh.2ADE/835 Message Board Post: Advice please! I have a family that were in MO in 1870 (with 1 child) and then in Shelby Co IL in 1880 with 5 other children 'born in IL'. Is there a reference library or otherwise that I could find out about these births? I am not in the US. Thanks! ==== ILSHELBY Mailing List ==== Visit the Shelby Co IL ILGenWeb Site http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilshelb2/shelby.htm