Local History Notes

Local History Notes

Are you researching ancestors who lived in the Algonquin area? The Algonquin Library has many local history publications in the genealogy section that may mention your family members. Here are just some of the titles available:

  • Algonquin the beautiful : history of its pioneers and its settlement
  • Algonquin illustrated
  • Algonquin maps, 1800-2011 : Algonquin Township plat maps, historic maps : collection of Algonquin area maps
  • History of Algonquin : old newspaper articles, timelines for pioneer times (1834-1890), villages expands (1890-1900), new century (1900-now).
  • Historic homes of McHenry County
  • History of McHenry County, Illinois (1885)
  • History and stories of the McHenry County Cemeteries
  • Jacobs High School Yearbook
  • McHenry County, Illinois
  • McHenry County memories : the early years, 1800s-1939
  • McHenry rural survey : Algonquin Township 1998
  • Once upon a town-- : Algonquin, Illinois, the first 160 years

Need help finding information about a specific ancestor from Algonquin? Contact a Genealogy Librarian to ask your genealogy question.

The Seed Library Is Open for 2024!

The Seed Library Is Open for 2024!

Just in time for spring planting, Algonquin Area Public Library, in cooperation with the University of Illinois Agricultural Extension, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Illinois Master Gardeners of McHenry County, is excited to offer the Seed Library,  that provides seeds to local gardeners free of charge!

How Does It Work?

Stop by the Adult Services desk at the Main Library on Harnish Drive to browse our Seed Library catalog, or check it out online. You'll find photos and descriptions of each plant variety, helpful information about when, where and how to sow your seeds, and the number of seeds you'll receive. Quantities range from 2 to 20 seeds per packet, depending on the type of plant.

Find our online request form here, or pick one up at the Adult Services desk. Choose up to 20 different plant varieties, per household, per calendar year. Due to high demand, you cannot make multiple requests for the same seed variety. We'll contact you when your seeds are ready to be picked up. Access planting and care instructions with a QR code included with your order.

What Can I Choose?

Choose from over 130 varieties of vegetable, fruit, flower and herb seeds. You'll find heirloom vegetables, such as the Oxheart and Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, Dixie Queen watermelons and White Icicle radishes. Favorites like pumpkins, mixed color carrots, and various types of green beans can turn this summer's garden into a family project. Brighten your landscaping with colorful Painted Daisies, and the beautiful, exotic Passion Flower.  Add color to your home with classic cutting flowers like zinnia and sunflowers. Select annuals, which are planted each year, or perennials which return year after year.

If It's A Seed Library, Do I Have To Return My Seeds?

While we love the name "Seed Library," it's not a library in the traditional sense. You don't need a library card, nor do you have to return seeds from your personal harvest-- though if you want to send a photo of your garden, or your harvest, we'd love to post it! If you can't use all your seeds this year, no problem!  Store unused seeds in their packets in an airtight glass jar, and keep it in a cool dark place like your basement or garage, until you're ready to plant.

Discover March’s Library Reads

Discover March’s Library Reads

In the mood for an engrossing read to fill the gray days of March? Look no further than the newest Library Reads list! Library Reads are ten new releases chosen by librarians each month as their favorites. Library Reads cover just about every genre, and include both up-and-coming authors and best-sellers.

This month, check out the latest release from Jeannette Walls, author of the best-selling memoir, The Glass Castle. Fans of the Netflix mystery drama series Defending Jacob won't want to miss author William Landay's new novel All That Is Mine I Carry With Me, another compelling thriller about a family in peril. Click here to see this month's Library Reads flyer, or stop by the Main Library, where recent Library Reads can be found on the square shelf beside the New Releases display.

Literary Fiction

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano - William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.

But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

Mystery/Thriller

All This Is Mine I Carry With Me - William Landay - One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom's pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot.

So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin?

Investigators suspect Jane's husband. A criminal defense attorney, Dan Larkin would surely be an expert in outfoxing the police. But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public's memory, a simmering, unresolved riddle. Jane's three children--Alex, Jeff, and Miranda--are left to be raised by the man who may have murdered their mother.

Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty or innocent? And what happens if they are wrong?

A tale about family--family secrets and vengeance, but also family love--All That Is Mine I Carry With Me masterfully grapples with a primal question: When does loyalty reach its limit?

Historical Fiction

Hang The Moon by Jeannette Walls - Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

Horror

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle - Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret. Or is there? Discover a haunting new vision of the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear...

The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it—except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.