Genealogy & Local History

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Digital Diaries
The Library would like to share some photos, stories, ideas that people are experiencing through these times of quarantine and shelter in place. We would like you to share your stories, photos or ideas of what this time in history is like for you and your friends and family. We will putting up the stories and photos up on our digital history site, Illinois Digital Archives so people can look back and see what it was like for us during this time. Click to send us your story.

Online genealogy library resources:

Genealogy 101
If you’re just getting started researching your genealogy, take a look at our webpage Welcome to Genealogy for helpful tips, forms, and links. We also have this information in a packet that you may request at the Service Center on your next visit to the Library.

One-on-one help
Do you have genealogy or local history questions? Consider requesting a Virtual Book an Expert appointment with our Genealogy & Local History Librarian, Nancy Gaynor.

Additional online resources:

• Family Search – A free personal account is needed to search thousands of worldwide databases. While many records are viewable from home, some have restricted access. CAPL is now an Affiliate Library and many of those records are accessible in the Library.
• Find A Grave – Volunteers worldwide have contributed to this collection of gravesite memorials.
• McHenry County Genealogical Society, including their Free Online Indexes
• McHenry County Historical Society Digital Newspaper Collection
• Illinois Genealogical Society

Local history collection:
Items in our local history collection include Cary-Grove High School yearbooks (years 1968, 1972-present), Cary veteran photo compilation, Cary Garden Club records,
Cary Cemetery gravestone photos, and more.