Queries
You may link from here to view and submit queries at
How to write an effective query...
- Write surname in bold letters or in all CAPITAL letters.
- Give dates or approximate dates of events, along with locations.
- Use upper and lower case letters in your query. Using all CAPS distracts from the important parts you want people to read and screams at you!
- Keep your query brief! No one wants to read the entire family tree, they just want to see the part that interests them.
Suggestions:
- Give links to your family tree that you may have posted on your own Personal Genealogy page.
- After having submitted your family tree to this site, refer the researchers to the "Family Trees" section of this Cook ILGenWeb site (not to the specific page, when I change the web's look, sometimes I accidentally change the location of the page).
- Tell researchers to email you personally.
- Make sure your email address or snail address are at the bottom of the query. This way people will not have to click to two or three places to find your address.
List important information in your title:
"Looking for family" is NOT a good title, everyone is looking
for family/ancestors, etc.; nor is "Help!!" People that look
through queries don't usually have the time (or inclination) to
look at "Help" queries. Personally, I never look at either of
the types of queries above.
"James Holley 1877 IN" or "Holley 1850 NY>OH>IN" ---
are a good titles: it gives name, time frame and location.
"Death Records - 1820" Is another example of a good title. It
gives what you are looking for and the time frame.
USGenWeb Lineage Researcher Project
If you are looking for descendants of one particular ancestor, who lived in the US at one time and was born before December 31 1850, you may want to post on the Lineage Project.
RootsWeb Cook Mail List
The mail list is a good way to network with Cook County researchers.
- Browse the RootsWeb Cook Mail List Archives
- Search the RootsWeb Cook Mail List Archives
- Join the Cook County Mail List. It is my intention to use the mail list to announce additions to this Cook ILGenWeb site. You can receive individual messages by sending an email to [email protected] with the single word subscribe in the message subject and body. Or to receive a group of messages, send an email to [email protected]. with the single word subscribe in the message subject and body.
There are a variety of additional Cook County mailing lists each with a more specific focus such as "Dutch-Midwest," "Irish-in-Chicago," "IL-Cook-Schaumburg," "IL-Cook-ElkGrove," "IL-Cook-Palatine," "Chicago-Polish," "IL-Chicago-Norwegians," and "IL-Cook-Chicago."
