Chicago Genealogy Resources include links to digital collections and primary sources, organized by ethnicity, to find your Chicago ancestors and relatives. Chicago’s success as a vibrant city owes much to the incredible number of immigrant forebears, who came from virtually all points of the globe to build a better life for themselves and their families.

In the 1880s, each of my eight great-grandparents decided to emigrate not just to the United States, but to straight to Chicago. They came from Norway, Sweden, Austria, Prussia (now Poland), and Scotland, and (with one exception), they met and married their future spouses in Chicago.

Between my own family research and my Jamboree session on doing Chicago genealogy research from afar, here are links to the Chicago genealogy resources I recommend.

Please note: The lists are meant to include resources other than the ones found at the big genealogical sites like FamilySearch, Ancestry, Fold3, and the like. And the lists are by no means exhaustive, so please let me know about additions, corrections, omissions.

Here are the entries for my recommended Chicago genealogy resources:

African-American Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Bohemian, Czech and Slovak Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Chicago and Illinois Digital Collections

Free Chicago City Directories Online

Chicago German-American Resources:

Chicago Jewish Genealogical Resources

Norwegian Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Polish Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Scottish Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Swedish Genealogical Resources for Chicago

Digital collections at The Newberry Library, Chicago History Museum (formerly the Chicago Historical Society), Chicago Public Library and others are included.

If there is a record type or ethnicity or other facet of Chicago research I can highlight in future posts, please let me know here. Happy researching in these Chicago genealogy resources for your ancestors and relatives.