A: While the Internet has brought many resources to the fingertips of genealogists all over the world, it is far from the only answer to our research. Commercial companies have been scanning books that have entered into the realm of public domain as their copyrights expired. This is how most of the books have come to be on the Internet that we find today.

In the case of the history of St. Francisville, you may be able to find it through interlibrary loan. Before your public library can search for the book, you will need to have at the very least the complete title, the author, the publication information, including the publisher, place of publication and year of publication.

I searched the Family History Library Catalog at www.familysearch.org and did not find anything listed for the town of St. Francisville, Ill. You might want to see what county histories for Lawrence County are available on microfilm. The county histories often include histories of each of the towns in that county.