They are unofficially calling it the “Bureau County ‘Who Do You Think You Are?'” The official title is the “BCGS Ancestor Quest.”

The Bureau County, Illinois, Genealogical Society is picking three research problems to feature at their 3 December 2015 meeting. There is no charge for the research, but the focus is Bureau County, Illinois, ancestors. If possible, they’d like those submitting questions to attend the meeting, but it doesn’t look like that is absolutely necessary.

You don’t have to be famous to submit a question. Your ancestor doesn’t have to be famous in order for you to submit a question either. This looks like a nice way to piggyback on the current interest in “Who Do You Think You Are?”

The folks at the Bureau County Genealogical Society run a great organization, one that really provides a model for other societies in similar locations. Bureau County is not an urban area and does not have a large population from which to draw active, local members. It’s a rural society that has a great library collection, puts out a great newsletter, is actively involved in local records preservation and access, and has interesting and varied monthly meeting topics. I’ve given quite a few presentations there over the past fifteen years or so and have always enjoyed my time with the group.

More information about the contest can be found on the society’s website or by emailing the society bureaucounty@gmail.com.

I tried to submit my Anne (Murphy) Neill, born in the 1840s in Ireland who died in Hancock County, Illinois in 1897, but they told me she had to live in Bureau County. I said it was possible that she traveled through Bureau County on her way further south, but they didn’t buy it (grin!).