Elmhurst Public Library Genealogy Club

The Genealogy Club meets once a month at Elmhurst Public Library. View upcoming dates online. If you’re planning to attend, please register for each session. Include your email in your registration. The next meeting is scheduled! Reserve your spot here. EPL does not endorse or profit from the links on this page- we are providing them as a reference for members of the Genealogy Club. If you are looking for alternate or different resources, please use the Contact form below. 

Links to Get Started:

All EPL Biography and Genealogy databases EPL books on genealogy and names Ancestry.com [Library Edition] FamilySearch.org FindAGrave.com Fold3 Library subscription GeneaNet Heritage Quest Library subscription National Archives’ Resources for Genealogists CDC’s Where to Write for Vital Records for a list of every state’s and territory’s vital records office and contact. Cyndi’s List for further resources.

Translation Services:

The American Translators Association Search using your ZIP code. Once you see the results, you can see what the person’s specialty is and get contact information and rates. (e.g. we found 14 German-to-English translators and eight Italian-to-English translators within 50 miles of Elmhurst) Advance Translations, Inc provides written translation services in a wide range of languages. Specialized in translating documents from birth, marriage, death certificates, and diplomas to legal, business, and medical documents. Advance Translations, Inc. can formally certify translated documents attesting to the accuracy of the translation done by a qualified translator. Illinois Language Services offer services in all major languages for document translation, on-site interpretation, over-the-phone interpretation and ASL interpretation. Google Translate is a free, online resource to help researchers translate documents manually. Translations are computer generated and can be inaccurate due to dialect, grammatical errors, etc. from the document or from user input.

Immigration Records:

US Immigration Records online Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Naturalization Database (NOTE: page may take up to 30 seconds to load) The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Archives is home to more than 500,000 naturalization petitions covering the years 1871 to 1929. More than 400,000 of these records are Declarations of Intention, 1906-1929 which were usually the first papers to be filed by those who wished to become U.S. citizens.

African American Genealogy Resources:

ThoughtCo.’s collection of African American history and African history.

Understanding American Life:

Interactive Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880 shows how foreign born populations settled in the U.S. This map of Two Centuries of US Immgration from 1830 to 2013 shows immigration patterns into the U.S. The Historical Census of Home Values from the US Census Bureau provides context for home values in each state from 1940 to 2000. Measuring Worth provides researchers with tools to compare monetary value from 1774 to present. ThoughtCo.’s collection of American history.

Historical American Newspaper Databases:

Chicago Tribune Historical Archive The full-text of the Chicago Tribune from 1849-1997, includes front pages, time lines, this day in history, obituary searching. It offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Elmhurst Local History/Newspaper Index This is an index of several local Elmhurst, IL newspapers. With this tool you can find a citation for a specific newspaper article. The following newspapers are covered: Elmhurst Doings (March 2001-12/23/2010), Elmhurst Independent (September 2001-September 21, 2017), Elmhurst Press (June 1985-2013), Elmhurst Suburban Life (Oct 2013-September 22, 2017), Suburban Life (March 1997-September 2000). Elmhurst Local History Files This is an index of PDF files of clippings collected over the years by Elmhurst Public Library staff. As such, authors and publishing dates may be unavailable. New York State Historic Newspaper provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers from NY. Cyndi’s List Newspaper Index

State and Historical Society Websites:

CDC’s Where to Write for Vital Records for a list of every state’s and territory’s vital records office and contact. USGenWebProject “A group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.” Online Illinois Death Records and Indexes Minnesota Historical Society’s People Records Search New York Heritage’s Digital Collections New York: Rensselaer County History Society

European Regional Sites

Central Europe lists pages for Belgium, Denmark, Greenland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland East Europe Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russian, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia Mediterranean Andorra, Azores, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, and Vatican City   Other Regional Sites Africa Northern Africa, Algeria, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara : Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia : Eastern Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, São Tomó and Príncipe, Seychelles, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe : Central Africa: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo : Southern Africa: Botswanna, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland : Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo Asia Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam Middle East Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

European Resources:

Interactive European History Map ThoughtCo.’s collection of European History

Austrian Genealogy:

Austrian Embassy’s Resources for Genealogical Research in Austria includes links to the Provincial Archives of Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, and Vienna. Austrian State Archives Austrian National Library

German Genealogy:

German Federal Archives website including online resources.

French Genealogy:

French National Archives French Genealogy Records ThoughtCo Article: French Genealogy Records Online ThoughtCo Article: How to Research Your French Ancestry

Italian Genealogy:

Italian Genealogy Homepage D’addezio Italian Heritage and Genealogy Italy World Club

Netherlands Genealogy:

Center for Family History/WieWasWie

Spanish Genealogy:

The National Library of Spain

United Kingdom Genealogy:

UK National Archives The official public archive of the United Kingdom government has records covering more than 1,000 years of history. Government records which have been selected for permanent preservation are sent to The National Archives. You can search descriptions of the records they have in their catalog. The National Archives of Ireland The National Archives of Scotland Ireland & United Kingdom GenWeb The Archives of Easting Riding of Yorkshire The Archives of West Riding of Yorkshire

Family Tree Creators:

Family Tree Maker Roots Magic FamilySearch.org Ancestry.com (non-library edition) Spreadsheet (Google Docs)

Places to Visit:

Family History Center (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) 1320 Ridgeland Rd Naperville, IL Phone: 630-505-0233 Hours: T&Th 12pm-6pm; W 9am-9pm; F 10am-4pm; Sat 9am-1pm Find a Family History Center The Newberry 60 W. Walton St. Chicago, IL – 60610 Contact the Newberry Elmhurst Historical Museum 120 E. Park Ave. Elmhurst, IL 60126 Ph: (630) 833-1457 Fx: (630) 833-1326 DuPage County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 3 Wheaton, IL 60187-0003 Contact DuPage Count Genealogical Society