Great site for Eastern PA research

The Delaware Co, PA Archives office has a pretty decent website with the ability to search for administration files, wills, Orphan's Court files, marriages, and naturalizations. The site is located at http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/depts/archives.html and the staff there is really helpful and will answer questions via email, which is really handy. I've ordered several copies from them with no trouble, plus the prices and wait-times are reasonable. Considering the close proximity to Philadelphia, the Delaware Co Archives may be worth checking into for those researching in Eastern PA.

Helpful websites for Illinois research

For anyone doing Illinois research, including work in Chicago, the IRAD site is one to bookmark

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/irad/iradhome.html

They have a few online databases, some by surname others by location and type of records, and tell you where you can find various records including, marriage, naturalization, coroner's inquest files from Chicago and more.

A good supplement to this site for your search for vital records in Chicago (and Cook Co in general) is the Cook County Clerk's genealogy site at http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/. While they do not have all of their vital records digitized yet, it is possible to search the names of those whose records have been listed on the site. If you cannot find a person and/or event that should have occurred in the area you can request a manual search. They charge $15 for the first record ordered and full ordering instructions can be found on the website.