Professional genealogists and people interested in researching their family tree will soon be able to access key records from home instead of ordering by mail or traipsing down to a musty office in the Loop, Cook County Clerk David Orr said Thursday.If all goes as planned, newly digitized versions of county records such as birth and death certificates and marriage licenses will be available beginning in January on one searchable Web site that will revolutionize how such research is done, Orr said.
Great news! You'll be able to search the records on line and then order copies.
The Web site is part of a massive yearlong effort to digitize the county's 24 million vital records, which date to 1871, when record-keeping began after the Chicago Fire wiped out previous stockpiles, clerk's office spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said.
Scanning and indexing each record was completed in June, and the county is uploading about 1 million files per week into a computer server, a process that is expected to be complete by the end of the year, Quinn said.
Read the full article on line at the Chicago Tribune. Thanks to Karima for mentioning this on the ILROOTS mailing list.
