Genealogy Jottings

My roots run deep in Illinois. About 1830, my great-great grandparents, Jane and Caleb Reed, moved from Kentucky to Coles County, Illinois. Young children at the time, they traveled in covered wagons to their new home with their parents, Ann (Kirkham) and Thomas Reed, and Mary (Templeton) and John Carter.

The families settled near each other, and descendants remain in Coles County today. Consequently, I am very interested in Coles County records from inception to the modern day. I love when I locate something online.

One source that I have found quite valuable in researching my Reed and Carter families is Illinois Genealogy Trails (http://genealogytrails.com/ill/). About 15 years ago, volunteers dedicated to putting historical and genealogical information online began this wonderful website.

This week I have spent time pulling marriage information from their online index to Coles County marriages. Both Jane and Caleb came from large families, and I found the dates and spouses for all their siblings’ marriages.

This marriage index offers just one example of the information one can find at Illinois Genealogy Trails. You can bet that I plan to spend more time on this website. They encourage submissions by users, too, so I may contribute an obituary or two.

Sites like Illinois Genealogy Trails make needed records so much easier for us to find. We can quickly move ahead in our research with all this at our fingertips. I feel fortunate that my ancestors chose Illinois.