At 11:18 AM 9/15/2003 -0400, Lorraine wrote:
My ggrandfather Lewis Willis was a telegrapher for an RR in the 1910
Cook
Co.
IL census. Is there a site I could look for more information. RR may
be Rock
Island. Thanks
You might want to look for a book I picked up at the Federation of
Genealogical Societies/Florida State Genealogical Society conference at the
beginning of this month. It's called THE DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN
RAILROADS, ASSOCIATIONS, SOCIETIES, ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND THEIR
COLLECTIONS compiled by Holly T. Hansen (Croyden, Utah: by the author,
1999). There's a listing for the Rock Island Technical Society (which may
be more geared toward the actual machines and their technical
specifications and operation, but they may also have general information on
the line). They have a website at
http://storm.simpson.edu/~RITS. I don't
know how up to date this information is, because this society did not
respond to questionnaries sent out by the author of the book. Good luck,
at any rate.
You might investigate the history of Chicago at the time and see what other
rail lines served the city. If your ggrandfather wasn't with Rock Island,
it might have been one of the other lines, and they may be mentioned in the
book I suggest. You might also look for a city directory for Chicago for
1910 or thereabouts, and see if there isn't further information as to what
railroad he worked for.
Karen Rhodes