Genealogy
Track your family history and find your roots with the help of these tools dedicated to genealogy! You can also discover interesting information about the history of a specific region.
Looking for local history? Try:
Local newspapers available in our collection (list coming soon)
Historic Lake County documents digitized from our Indiana Room collection
Recommended Resources
Access World News
Explore and stay informed on local, national and international topics, people and events. Features a wide variety of credible, vetted news sources from around the world to around the corner, including The Times, Gary Post Tribune, and the Merrillville Post Tribune.
Ancestry Library Edition
An easy-to-use genealogy tool that will help you trace your ancestors. Also includes downloadable charts to help you track your family! View tutorial
*Accessible only from Lake County Public Library's public computers, located at each of our branches.
Black Life in America
Comprehensive coverage of the African American experience from the early 18th century to the present day. Sourced from more than 19,000 American and global news sources, including over 400 current and historical Black publications.
Chicago Sun-Times (1986-Current)
Current news plus a 39 year archive of the Chicago Sun Times. Full text coverage from 1986 through today, including full color pages for current issues.
FamilySearch.org
FamilySearch.org is a standard, free genealogy website that anyone may use from any location. Create a free account to view records. More records may be available when connecting from LCPL locations.
Fold3
Convenient access to U.S. military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served.
Heritage Hub
Explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1824 to today.
Heritage Quest Online
Provides several searchable sources, including the U.S. Census, Freedman's Bank, and land grants from the Revolutionary War.
High School Yearbooks (Lake County)
LCPL is in the process of digitizing our local high school yearbook collection. The collection includes yearbooks from all high schools in our library district.
Hoosier State Chronicles
Digitized versions of Indiana's historic newspapers, operated by the Indiana State Library.
INSPIRE
Free to Indiana residents: a searchable database of databases. Find hundreds of further resources for your research!
Indiana Genealogy Online
Internet project for researching and documenting genealogical data throughout the state. Includes requirements for participation, areas in need of work, archives and related links.
Indiana Historical Society
Learn about the society's collections, exhibits and publications. Check out the site's Today in Indiana History feature, read online copies of Hoosier Genealogist or surf the Hoosier Heritage links.
Indiana State Library Genealogy Division
Contains searchable databases indexing Indiana cemeteries and Indiana marriages through 1850.
National Genealogical Society
Outlines services and publications of the NGS, offers tips for beginners, soundex history and methods, and links to other genealogy sites.
NewspaperARCHIVE Library Edition
Browse through global and local newspaper articles dating back to 1607. Search by first and last name, dates, or regions.
Online Post Tribune or Gary Post Tribune Obituary Index (1921-current)
Now you can quickly and easily search local obituaries when tracing your family history! Our brand new obituary search engine lets you search by name, partial name, maiden name, date, city, and age. Once you've found the obituary, we'll be happy to pull a copy for your records. (Please note: Indexing for 1987 - 1989 is incomplete. If you need an obituary from those years, please use ourᅠAsk a Librarian form).
Post Tribune (1986-current)
Search more than 30 years of Indiana history with the Post-Tribune Collection. Full text coverage from November 1986 through today, including full color pages for current issues.
ProQuest Historical Chicago Tribune
Every article of the Chicago Tribune's archive is available in this database



















