Great grandpa had grey eyes

Mr. Fred Delap of Kansas, Illinois is certainly a friend of genealogists. He is described as an amateur but his gifts to Illinois genealogists is immense.

Mr. Delap, the staff of the Illinois State Archives and the Department of Information Technology have compiled a database of the names of soldiers who fought with Illinois units during the Civil War. The database gives searchers access to not only names but personal information. Information like age at time of muster, height, hair and eye color, complexion, hometown, nativity and service record. I found my great grandfather. Who knew he had a dark complexion, light hair and grey eyes. Great fun.

This information has only been available at the state archives building in Springfield, Illinois. Then you had to search through the big and bulky original ledger books. Previously the 285,000 Illinois Civil War soldiers were indexed on the state's web site but it did not contain the personal information about them. Now that these entries are available online, everyone has access to the treasure.

Of course you may search by name but also by city, town, county or township. If you know the name of your ancestors military unit, you may search by his unit.

I found my son's great, great grandfather also. He was 5'8', dark hair, and grey eyes.

You can find this great new free tool at http://www.ilsos.gov/genealogy. The press release from Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State and State Archivist can be read here.