Illinois Genealogy – Free Illinois Genealogy

Illinois Genealogy. This state page of our website provides direct links to free Illinois genealogy databases and historical titles and information found on Illinois Genealogy, whether they exist on our site, or across the web.

African American Specific Illinois Genealogy

Illinois Biographies

Illinois Cemetery Records

Illinois Census Records

Illinois Church Records

  • Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1695-1956
    A help guide for accessing the images of parish registers recording the events of baptism, first communion, confirmation (to 1907), marriage (to 1930) or death (to 1956) in the Diocese of Belleville (Illinois), Roman Catholic Church. The index to some volumes may reference pages within a given volume beyond current publication dates. As such, these images are not currently available. In addition to traditional parish registers, this collection includes a small number of census, church history, family and financial records. To assist the researcher I have broken down the available registers by county and name of parish, including the years covered by those parish records.
  • Illinois Methodist Church Records
    The following collection of material reflects 250 churches of the Methodist faith which have closed their doors since 1824 in southern and central Illinois. This region makes up the Illinois Great Rivers United Methodist Conference. While the vast majority of the information relates to membership rolls and registers of officials, many of the churches also kept vital records of their members. Ancestry claims that “Baptism records are available until 1914, and Marriage records are available until 1970.” In fact I found baptism records which occurred after 1914, however, they’re not indexed. They appear in the records on the images only.

Illinois County Genealogy

Adams County Genealogy

Bond County Genealogy

Brown County Genealogy

Carroll County Genealogy

Cass County Genealogy

Champaign County Genealogy

Coles County Genealogy

Cook County Genealogy

DeWitt County Genealogy

Douglas County Genealogy

Du Page County Genealogy

Fulton County Genealogy

Henry County Genealogy

JoDaviess County Genealogy

Kane County Genealogy

Knox County Genealogy

Lake County Genealogy

Livingston County Genealogy

Logan County Genealogy

Macon County Genealogy

Macoupin County Genealogy

Madison County Genealogy

Mattoon County Genealogy

  • Mattoon Death Certificate Registers Index (1899–1918)
    The Mattoon Death Certificate Registers Index was compiled by Amanda Standerfer, intern for the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) System at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The database indexes nearly 3,600 death records that were recorded by the local registrar in the City of Mattoon. The City of Mattoon is located in Coles County. The information in the database was extracted from the Mattoon Death Certificate Registers.
  • Mattoon Court of Common Pleas Case Files Index (1869–1873)
    The Mattoon Court of Common Pleas Case Files Index was compiled by Jennifer Van Haaften and Amanda Standerfer, interns for the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) System at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The index includes nearly 500 cases heard by the Common Pleas Court of the City of Mattoon from its inception in 1869 to its termination in 1873. The information in the database was extracted from the Mattoon Court of Common Pleas Case Files.

McHenry County Genealogy

  • Algonquin the Beautiful
    A History of Its Pioneers and Settlement In Commemoration of Its 100th Birthday, 1935
  • Time was…
    Algonquin Founder’s Days Collector’s Edition, August 9-13, 1972.
  • Those Were the Days! Algonquin Founders Days Booklet, 1973
    Program Guide to the Algonquin Founders Days Festival, August 8th – 12th, 1973. The booklet contains information about the festival events, as well as historical information about the Village of Algonquin and its people. Includes photographs, diary.
  • The Way We Were – Algonquin Founders Days, August 7-11, 1974
    Historical booklet featuring information about historical structures and people from Algonquin. Includes an excerpt from the diary of John Hamilton Cornish recounting his visit to the area in 1845 to see his brother, Dr. Andrew Cornish.

McLean County Genealogy

Mercer County Genealogy

Menard County Genealogy

Montgomery County Genealogy

Morgan County Genealogy

Moultrie County Genealogy

Ogle County Genealogy

Peoria County Genealogy

Piatt County Genealogy

Randolph County Genealogy

Rock Island County Genealogy

Sangamon County Genealogy

Shelby County Genealogy

  • Shelby County Circuit Court Case Files Index (1828–1871)
    The Shelby County Circuit Court Case Files include chancery, criminal and common law proceedings. These case files generally show the names of the plaintiff, defendant, judge and clerk of the court; the court dates; and usually the charge or cause of action. Documents contained in these case files include: summonses, affidavits of witnesses, subpoenas, bonds, receipts, depositions, declarations, decrees and orders of the court, jury and witness lists, indictments, warrants, writs of habeas corpus, verdicts, dismissals and transcripts of coroner’s inquests.

St. Clair County Genealogy

Stark County Genealogy

Stephenson County Genealogy

Vermillion County Genealogy

Wayne County Genealogy

  • Wayne County Coroner’s Inquest Record Index (1888–1960)
    The Wayne County Coroner’s Inquest Record Index was compiled by Jenny K. Crider and Erin Russell, interns for the Illinois Regional Archives Depository at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The 1,122 records in the database were extracted from the Wayne County Coroner’s Inquest Records. Each entry found in the index contains the following categories of information: the name of the deceased; the date of inquest; the volume number; and the page numbers.

Will County Genealogy

Winnebago County Genealogy

Woodford County Genealogy

Illinois Directories

Cook County Directories

Moultrie County

Randolph County Directories

Illinois Genealogy Websites

United States Genealogy

United States GenWeb Project

Adams, Alexander, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Cook, Crawford, Cumberland, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Greene, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, JoDaviess, Johnson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, Lake, LaSalle, Lawrence, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Massac, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Richland, Rock Island, Saline, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, St. Clair, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Warren, Washington, Wayne, White, Whiteside, Will, Williamson, Winnebago, Woodford,

American History and Genealogy Project

AlexanderClintonEdwardsFranklinGallatinHamiltonHardinJacksonJohnsonLeeMassacPopePulaskiSalineUnionWabashWhiteWilliamson.

Illinois History

  • Narrative of Richard Lee Mason in the Pioneer West, 1819
    In the late fall and early winter of the year 1819 Dr. Richard Lee Mason made a journey from Philadelphia to Illinois, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Some of his adventures were remarkable, and these, together with his observations on the country, the towns and the people whom he encountered, were recorded in a diary kept by him, which is now in the possession of his only surviving child, a daughter, who resides in Jacksonville, Ill.

Illinois Land Records

  • U.S., Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1820-1908
    3,907 land management tract books containing official records of the land status and transactions involving surveyed public lands arranged by state and then by township and range. These books indicate who obtained the land, and include a physical description of the tract and where the land is located. The type of transaction is also recorded such as cash entry, credit entry, homesteads, patents (deeds) granted by the Federal Government, and other conveyances of title such as Indian allotments, internal improvement grants (to states), military bounty land warrants, private land claims, railroad grants, school grants, and swamp grants. Additional items of information included in the tract books are as follows: number of acres, date of sale, purchase price, land office, entry number, final Certificate of Purchase number, and notes on relinquishments and conversions.
  • Arizona Land Patents online. Index.
  • Database of Servitude and Emancipation Records (1722–1863)
  • Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database

Illinois Military Records

Illinois Native American Records

Illinois Newspapers

Lake County Newspapers

  • Post Tribune or Gary Post Tribune Obituary Index (1921-current)
    The Lake County Public Library has provided a searchable online database of obituaries in the Post Tribune/Gary Post Tribune (1921 to the present). Browse or search.
  • Lake County Register and Star from 1857-1938
    The Lake County Public Library has provided a searchable online database of marriages and deaths (1857 through 1938) and birth announcements (1931 through 1938) in the Lake County Register and Star. There are 14,864 names available to search or browse.

Rock Island County Newspapers

Illinois Obituaries

Illinois Vital Records

Illinois School Yearbooks

  • Champaign Central High School Yearbooks
    The Maroon Library at Champaign Central High School has digitized 94 yearbooks of Champaign Central High School. These yearbook images they placed online for everyone to view for free. To facilitate your access we have provided links to the individual yearbooks, by year published, oldest to newest.
  • Sullivan County

What’s New in Illinois Genealogy?

Sheldon Centennial

History of Sheldon Illinois, 1859-1959

The “History of Sheldon Illinois, 1859-1959,” compiled by the Sheldon Centennial History Committee, offers an immersive journey into the development of Sheldon, Illinois, over its first century. It seeks to celebrate and memorialize the efforts of those early settlers whose dreams and toil laid the foundation for the Sheldon we know today.
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Ogle County, Illinois, marriage records, 1837-1850 title page

Ogle County, Illinois, marriage records, 1837-1850

In 1960 Robert Steenrod of Belvidere, Illinois, transcribed the early marriages of Ogle County Illinois, from the Marriage Registers volumes A and B. These marriage records cover the years of 1837, when the first record was created to 1850. This book is free to read or download as a PDF.
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Honor roll of the Great War, Stephenson County, 1917-1919

Stephenson County Illinois World War 1 Veterans

This small booklet contains all the known men and women who participated in World War 1 and claimed their home of record as Stephenson County, Illinois. By participation, this record does not limit this to soldiers, but also contains the records of those men and women who served the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other non-fighting positions. This book is free to read or download.
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1923 Calumet District Telephone Directory

Calumet District Telephone Directories

The Merrillville Branch of the Lake County Public Library have placed online several telephone directories for the Calumet District that previously were only available on Microfilm. The communities represented are Dyer, East Chicago, Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Indiana Harbor, Munster, St. John, and West Hammond in Indiana and Burnham, Lansing, and Whiting in Illinois.. These 28 directories were published by the Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation of Chicago twice annually, and those digitized cover the years of 1909-1960.
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Civil War Cannon

Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrants

This article helps you access the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrants for free. Following two simple steps, one to search, and the other to browse the actual microfilms, you can quickly find your ancestors Revolutionary War pension record, or Bounty-Land record and download the images. During 1800-1900 the United States issued more than 80,000 pensions and bounty-land-warrants to soldiers of the Revolutionary War, their spouse, or their children. Was your ancestor one of them?
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Winchester Star

Illinois Newspaper Collection

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library has digitized over 200,000 pages of 131 pre-1922 (out of copyright) historically significant newspapers. Newspapers digitized as part of this program are also included in the Library of Congress Chronicling America collection. Their current  list (as of post update) are below. Titles Currently Available: The Advertiser 2 March 1918 – 25 February 1922 (208 issues)Albion Journal 3 January 1884 – 15 March 1900 (844 issues)Aledo Press 19 October 1894 – 17 January 1896 (64 issues)The American Issue (Illinois Edition) 4 July 1913 – 1 May 1932 (420 issues)The Arsenal Record 2 July 1918…

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1875 winnebago and boone

Winnebago and Boone Counties Genealogy Society

The Winnebago and Boone Counties Genealogical Society has placed online at the Cherry Valley Public Library District website, numerous genealogical indices which cover the counties of Boone, Cook, McHenry, and Winnebago. These free genealogy records are PDF’s downloadable to your computer.
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Northside of Courthouse in Sullivan Illinois

The History of Moultrie County and Sullivan, Illinois

Robert Eden Martin has created a web site dedicated primarily to the history of Moultrie County, a small county in east-central Illinois, and the city of Sullivan, the county seat. This website also contains information about several families who have lived in the area for 150 or more years: the Martins, Edens, Pifers, Taylors, Whites and Davises and related families, from which Eden descended. Much of what appears on the site was last updated in 2011 – including the county newspapers, high school yearbooks and the information about the Edens, Pifers, Taylors, Whites and Davises. This is a treasure trove…

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Dekalb County History Center

The Dekalb County History Center is located at 1730 N Main Street in Sycamore Illinois. Present within it’s building is the Joiner History Room, a premier facility for genealogical research into Dekalb County ancestors. The combined facilities have significant holdings of genealogical material, some of which have made it online. The following online databases are free to research: Joiner History Room Obituary DatabaseOver 40,500 obituaries in an online, searchable database. Joiner History Room volunteers have worked for over five years inputting obituaries. 1902 Small Pox Vaccination ListVaccinations provided by Dr. Westgate in 1902. Farm Name Registration 1915-1988A registration of farm…

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Descendants of John and Mary Howes of Montgomery County, Maryland

Descendants of John and Mary Howes of Montgomery County, Maryland

John Howes of Montgomery County, Maryland, was born ” … after 1740, m[arried] Mary_____, and d[ied] between November, 1808 and March 1809. He is buried in Laytonsville, Maryland with his mother, his brother James and daughter Sarah. About a year after his death his widow, Mary, went to Bucks County, Kentucky.”–P. 8. Descendants and relatives lived in Maryland, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Ohio, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, D. C., Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, California, Maine, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
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Macoupin County Illinois Biographies

The county coordinator of the Macoupin County ILGenWeb site, along with her volunteers, has a comprehensive collection of biographies of Macoupin County people. All told they have compiled 853 biographies from a variety of sources. We’ve placed links to those biographies here. All questions and corrections, as well as donations of additional biographies, should be referred to them. Aberle, Frank JAckermann, BernhardAdams, Clayton *Adams, Daniel *Adams, Francis M 1904 bioAdams, Francis M 1911 bioAdams, GilesAdams, W W *Aden, Christopher RAhrens, John F 1904 bioAhrens, John F 1911 bioAlderson, Francis BAlderson, J DAlderson, R KAlderson, W CAlford, Robert EAllen, Frank DAmbrose, Charles SAnderson, Crittenden H CAnderson, John C 1904…

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Wakefield kindred of America

Wakefield Kindred of America

Wakefield Kindred of America provides the genealogy of John Wakefield, the immigrant ancestor of the Boston Family, who was born in England in 1614-15. He was according to the best information at hand, a native of Gravesend, county Kent, England, as Thomas Wakefield, probably his brother, came from that town which was an ancient seat of this family.
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Elmer Lawrence Corthell

Corthell Genealogy of Hingham to South Abington, Massachusetts

Of the first generation of the Corthell family in America there are records somewhat contradictory. Robert Corthell appears at Hingham, Mass., at the commencement of the eighteenth century. Nothing earlier of him seems to be known. He married Oct. 13, 1708, Deborah, daughter of Benjamin and Deborah Tower, his wife being born in Hingham in February, 1685. Robert Corthell died March 5, 1737-38, aged fifty-two years.
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Home of Franklin and Mary Noyes Rowe 1887-1905

The Descendants of Franklin Mary Noyes Rowe of Humboldt County, Iowa

Franklin Rowe, son of Lucy Stillwell and Lucian Rowe, was born in Onondaga County, New York, possibly at Manlius as his parents were married there March 16, 1826. Franklin was the youngest and eighth child, born December 30, 1836. He was the grandson of Ebenezer and Mary Rowe, his grandfather was born in 1772 and died February 16, 1828 and is buried in Christ Church cemetery at Manlius, New York, his name is in the 1820 census but not in that of 1810 so he must have come to Onondaga County between those dates but diligent search has not been…
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Exclusively yours, Eurilla / by Edna M. Herrin.

Exclusively yours, Eurilla

Written by Edna Dooling Herrin for her daughter Eurilla, this self-published manuscript intent was to instruct Eurilla on her ancestry, especially in the settling of Madison County, Illinois. Families mentioned: Barber, Culp, Dooling, Harris, Herrin, Judy, Pearce, Rhodes, and Walsh.
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