Two Exciting Genealogy Announcements!

 Happy President's Day. We hope you are staying warm and dry during this winter of every kind of weather! This week, we have several items to share with you that we believe are of interest to our genealogy community. With luck, you will discover something new to help move your research forward.

St. Clair County [Illinois] Genealogical Society Offers New Finding Aids

St. Clair County, Illinois, was a place where many of our St. Louis ancestors traveled, resided, and worked. And, like many busy metropolitan areas, a large number of books have been written about the county and its residents. Now, the St. Clair County Genealogical Society (SCCGS) has published a Public Domain Books Finding Aid (PDBFA) on its website that it hopes will "energize research for all levels of genealogists," from "beginners to the seasoned super-sleuths among us."  

According to the society press release, "The PDBFA provides an alphabetical index and research notes on St. Clair County people, businesses, and events mentioned in 81 historical books." These are all in the public domain and the index is accessible for free to everyone on the society's website. 

The index is beautifully presented and very easy to use. Just click on the green text or green plus sign in any of the gray boxes to enlarge the box for more information. 

The PDBFA contains thousands of names divided alphabetically. When you scroll through each list of names, you will see how much work went into making this so useful to researchers. Not only will you find a code for the books and page numbers from which the names were taken, but you will also see notes to help you determine if you want to look further in the book.

In the example above, the specific information given for James S. Peach includes references to family members, associated businesses, people, and locations, as well as a date range so you can determine if this is the correct person. The codes for the books in which he is cited are in the second column. You can access the list of books on the PDBFA home page by clicking on the green "Book Codes and Hyperlinks" button. Since these books are in the public domain, each one has a hyperlink so you can go directly to the book online.

One of the books in which James S. Peach is mentioned is source "CMC-333," which, as you can see above, is the Centennial History of McKendree College, page 333. A click on the link takes you to the Internet Archive website, where the book is digitized, and, on page 333, there's a short article describing the marriage of James's daughter, Susie Mae.

The SCCGS has also posted a combined surname and article title index to their past forty-seven years of quarterly journals on its website. This index includes names of individuals and businesses appearing between 1977 through 2024. If you find an article of interest, you can order a copy of the entire quarterly for $8.00 or individual pages for 25 cents per page plus postage.

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Celebrate the Bravery of Nuns who Participated in the March on Selma

The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis invites everyone to watch and share a compelling film to honor the brave nuns who joined in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, sixty years ago. The documentary, entitled Sisters of Selma, "tells the story of American nuns who went to Selma to demonstrate at the invitation of Dr. King." These fearless women defied authority and marched in support of voting rights for everyone at a time when many were afraid to stand up against racism and speak out for equality.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Consolidated Archives has received archival material from Avila University on the making of the film, and to celebrate this acquisition, they are hosting a special afternoon program on Saturday, 15 March 2025 at St. Joseph's Academy, 2307 South Lindbergh Boulevard. The afternoon will include a chance to view the film at 12:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion at 2:00 p.m. featuring the filmmaker and some of the nuns who were in Selma, and will end with a reception at 3:30 p.m.

This is a free event, and the Archdiocese would like people to register by 7 March 2025 for planning purposes. It will not be livestreamed, but it is possible that the panel discussion may be recorded and eventually posted on a new website that will be unveiled that day featuring materials from the documentary archive. 

All the details and registration for the program are on the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet website. If you are unable to attend on March 15th, you can still watch the film online on Avila University's website. It runs for almost an hour, and it is free to watch.