Chicago Daily News, Roll 675 25 Nov 1933, Page 11 [Click to enlarge] While conducting newspaper research in Chicago several weeks ago, I came across an article on Hungarian wines to be presented at the 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair. The fair was otherwise known as the Century of Progress, itself being a celebration of the city's centennial. A transcript of the article is below: "Rare Old Hungarian Wines    to Be Shown at 1934 Fair By John Drury     Rare old wines from the former royal cellars of Budapest, some of the villages dating back a century will be on ..read more

Vital records for Cook County, and specifically Chicago, are available on microfilm for a significantly reduced cost, compared to requesting the documents through the Cook County Clerk or Vital Records. Below you can find details of what is available and how you can order copies of these records. Copies of these certificates and licenses are only $6.50, compared to the $15-17 per document through Cook County. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed a majority of documents and registers, so no vital records exist prior to then. Both birth registers (certificates exist post-1878) and marriage ..read more

An example of three death notices from the Chicago Polish newspaper, Dziennik Związkowy, 1940. The Center for Research Libraries, CRL for short, holds many ethnic newspapers on microfilm for viewing and copies. The CRL is located on the south side of the UC campus, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. One particular item of interest is the Chicago Polish newspaper, Dziennik Związkowy, which began in January of 1908 and is available up to 1992 (catalog title: http://catalog.crl.edu/record=b1336327~S1). Many death notices were published in this daily newspaper and should be ..read more

The Harold Washington Library, in Chicago, Illinois, has a collection of material that could aid in genealogy research. They can be found in the Microfilm Room, on the third floor, where you will find rows of microfilm cabinets containing newspapers, city directories and telephone directories. Over the past six months, I have created inventories of what is currently available on microfilm for these collections and you can find them below. Newspapers The newspaper collection is by far the largest, taking up most of the space. The inventory I created was focused on newspapers from the Chicago ..read more

Ever since my father had his stroke last February (2013), I've been increasingly curious about my family's medical history and causes of death. Digging into my paternal grandmother's family revealed some scary and shocking information. My own grandmother, Mary Lou (Adas) Gombash, died from a massive heart attack and from what I understand, her brother had some heart and possibly stroke issues. They are the children of Edward Robert Adas, Sr. I've created a family tree to highlight the causes of death in the Adas family, going back to our immigrant ancestors who came over from Putzig (today Puc ..read more

North Carolina Revolutionary War Land Grants Roll 10: Book G-7 Page 15 State of North Carolina Grant No. 35 Know ye that we have Granted unto Samuel Hays six hundred and forty acres of land in Davidson County on the North side of Stones or Clover creek a branch of Stones River, Beginning at the spanish oak on the North bank of the Creek a corner of the land reserved for Stones lick, running thence along the line of the said land, West one hundred and twenty two poles to a large white oak, corner to Col. John Donelson, thence with said Donelson line North three hundred and twenty five poles to ..read more