The November IL INT will be switching to the third Saturday! Duane Funk will be sharing insights concerning the War of 1812 and the Civil War on Saturday, November 17, 2012. Regular hours...9:30 to 11:30 a.m. At the GFO. He hopes to see a good turnout despite the date change. If you¹ve not ever attended an Illinois Interest meeting...If you have someone in your history who once lived in Illinois... If you have any interest in the War of 1812 (it¹s the 200th anniversary you know*)...If you have any interest in the Civil War (even if it is not Illinois-connected)...this is a meeting from which you will gain a lot! Just show up, and enjoy. You¹ll be glad you did. *Do you know that the pension records for all the soldiers who served in the War of 1812 are being digitized? The ones that have been done are on Fold 3...and free. They will be always be free, even if at some point another website becomes their home. And you can help it get done. You can find the right page by searching for ³1812 pension records Fold 3². Perhaps it is because I am not well acquainted with either pension records or Fold 3, but I found it to be a ³learning curve² so play with it when you have time. I looked in New York State and found people with surnames beginning with A and B. (As records are digitized they are put online.) New batches will come online as time passes. But even if you cannot find your 1812 soldier, you can get a look at what kind of information will be found eventually. How is this happening? Genealogists are contributing funds to pay for the work. It costs approximately 45¢ a page. The Illinois State Genealogy Society is one of those collecting. If you are fast, you could send a donation to them while their ³special offer² is still available. They will double whatever amount you send! And Ancestry will double that! Making each $1 you send worth $4 of pension money. (At the recent conference in Rockford, the ISGS table took in over $700 in donations ranging from ³loose change² to $200. That will be $1400 that ISGS sends in...and $2800 by the time Ancestry doubles it. What a deal! The ISGS address is <http://www.ilgensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=268> where you can pay online (or find an address to send a check clearly labeled for 1812 records). But hurry...the ³sale² is nearly over. Questions? Write to Kristy at hannah@teleport.com