Welcome to CAGGNI!January 17 Monthly CAGGNI Presentation:
by Marty Acks Saturday, 17 January 2026 Hybrid event - Zoom and Arlington Heights Memorial Library
Israel Blackburn was born into slavery in 1818 in Kentucky. By 1865, he was serving in the U.S. Colored Infantry in Kentucky. Blackburn moved his family north to Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago, shortly after the war. He became a respected member of the community and within a few years, in 1873, was one of the 38 founding signers of the Incorporation Papers for the new Village of Downers Grove. In this presentation, you learn the unique story of Israel's life. This story will be told by following the large amount of archival material found from both traditional and unexpected sources. Marty Acks is an amateur genealogist and historian. He has been researching his family history since 1999 after having caught the bug from his mom and dad. He volunteers at WikiTree where he contributes to the global family tree, leads surname studies for the Porterfield and Lenover surnames, contributes to the global tree, and acts as a WikiTree Ambassador. Marty is a board member of CAGGNI and the Downers Grove Historical Society. For more info and to register: Israel Blackburn: A Journey from Enslaved Person to Founder of Downers Grove
It’s always a great time to join CAGGNI!Join now and you’ll enjoy all the perks of membership, including access to meeting handouts, videos, current and past newsletters, and the online meeting links to CAGGNI Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The program committee has produced an exciting lineup of presentations for this year. Meetings may be in-person only, online only or, a combination of both (hybrid). Please note, non-members are charged a $5 guest fee for the Zoom link to regularly scheduled monthly meetings. Per library policy, any guest attending meetings in person at one of our host libraries will be welcome for no charge. Join CAGGNI | Upcoming Events
Need a handout from a meeting?
Need the link to a Zoom meeting? |
_____________________________________ | _______________________  | _________________________
|
_______________________________________________________________________
CAGGNI (Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois) is a group of amateur genealogists who are committed to effectively using technology and the internet in support of their research activities.
Monthly meeting topics cover a broad range of subjects of interest, including software, tools, techniques and methodologies. Additionally, monthly newsletters, support for computer and genealogy issues and internet surname exposure are among the benefits of membership.
A wide variety of genealogy software packages are used by the members as well online trees and database websites. We are also interested in personal websites, digital photography, handheld apps and other ways to share our family histories.
For questions about the group, comments and suggestions, contact secretary @ caggni.org. To report problems with the website, contact webmaster @ caggni.org.