Illinois County Resources
This entry was originally written by Carol L. Maki and Michael John Neill for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Wills, administrations, and probate matters are at the office of the circuit court. Deeds, mortgages, and leases are the responsibility of the recorder of deeds. In mailing requests to any Illinois county office, use the title of the appropriate county officer and 'County Courthouse,' with the address listed in the chart below.
For some counties there are two years for 'Date Formed.' The first is the year the county was created. The second is the year it was fully organized if it differs from the creation year. Under the heading 'Parent County/ies,' the name/s listed may be the county or counties from which the respective county was formed, or it may be the name by which the county was formerly known. 'Unorganized' denotes that some formerly non-county area was included. A county name in parentheses is the county to which the unorganized land may have been attached at that time. Counties listed with an asterisk (*) are those in which you may also find records for the respective county since it may have been 'attached' to that county for some period of time.
The date listed for each category of record is the earliest record known to exist in that county. It does not indicate that there are numerous records for that year and certainly does not indicate that all such events that year were actually registered.
The information on earliest dates of Illinois county births, marriages, deaths, land records, probate files, and county court records has been obtained through the courtesy of the Illinois Regional Archives. Karl R. Moore, supervisor of this repository, has been exceedingly kind in providing material for use in this publication. He was assisted in this project by Illinois Regional Archives Division staff members John Reinhardt and David Curtin. The basic sources of information used were the Historical Records Survey inventories, published and unpublished, which Moore feels are both thorough and accurate. The IRAD team used more recent data when available, comparing that with the Historical Records Survey findings, stating, 'The sources cited in our report are always the most recent and authoritative that could be established without actually visiting the county courthouses and taking an inventory.' Moore also explains, 'We also gave especially close scrutiny to records whose beginning date fell after the date of county organization. Since recording of births and deaths did not become mandatory in Illinois until 1877, these records would seldom appear before that date, but marriage, probate, land sale, and court records should have been created from the beginning of a county.' Many date discrepancies are explained, according to this report, by the loss of records in fires, floods, or other disasters. When this did not appear to be the explanation, the IRAD team again verified the accuracy of the beginning dates.
In regard to land records Moore states, 'Deed records usually coincide with the beginning of a county, so earlier dates in the land sales column usually indicate transcribed records from a parent county, or land patent records that contain information on original land sales from the public domain.' He explains, in regard to court records, 'The earliest court records for Illinois counties created after 1818 are invariably records of the circuit court. Chancery, civil, and criminal cases are usually filed together at first.' For counties created during the territorial period, the following gives the type of their earliest court: St. Clair: Court of the District of Cahokia; Randolph: French Provincial Council; Madison, Gallatin, and Johnson: court of common pleas; Edwards, White, Jackson, Pope, Monroe, Crawford, and Bond: county court; Franklin, Union and Washington: justices' court. Jackson, Cook and Franklin counties lost early court records in fires.
Ernest E. East's 'Records Lost in Illinois Court House Fires,' Illinois Libraries (October 1951): 376-79, provides an interesting history of courthouse fires in the state, plus an informative chart listing the counties, dates, and extent of record loss.
Addresses in the following chart were based on Illinois County courthouse addresses from the Illinois Secretary of State website.
Map | County | County Address | Date Formed | Parent County(ies) | Birth | Marriage | Death | Land | Probate | Court |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E2 | Adams | 507 Vermont , Box 1169, Quincy 62306 | 1825 | Pike/unorganized | 1877 | 1825 | 1877 | 1817 | 1826 | 1825 |
K5 | Alexander | 2000 Washington Ave., Cairo 62914 | 1819 | unorganized (Union) | 1877 | 1819 | 1878 | 1818 | 1819 | 1821 |
G4 | Bond | County Office Bldg. , 200 West College, Rm. 203, Greenville 62246 | 1817 | Madison/Crawford/Edwards | 1877 | 1817 | 1877 | 1817 | 1821 | 1817 |
A5 | Boone | 601 N. Main St., Belvidere 61008 | 1837 (1837) | Winnebago/*Jo Daviess | 1877 | 1838 | 1877 | 1838 | 1840 | 1838 |
E2 | Brown | Mt. Sterling 62353 | 1839 | Schuyler | 1878 | 1839 | 1878 | 1817 | 1839 | 1837 |
C4 | Bureau | 700 S. Main St., Princeton 61356 | 1837 | Putnam | 1878 | 1837 | 1878 | 1817 | 1837 | 1837 |
G3 | Calhoun | P.O. Box 187, Hardin 62047 | 1825 | Pike | 1878 | 1825 | 1878 | 1825 | 1833 | 1825 |
A3 | Carroll | 301 N. Main St., Mt. Carroll 61053 | 1839 | Jo Daviess | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1837 | 1839 | 1837 |
E3 | Cass | Virginia 62691 | 1837 | Morgan | 1878 | 1837 | 1874 | 1826 | 1837 | 1837 |
E6 | Champaign | 1776 E. Washington, Urbana 61802 | 1833 | Vermilion | 1878 | 1833 | 1878 | 1833 | 1833 | 1836 |
F5 | Christian | P.O. Box 190, Taylorville 62568 | 1839 | Montgomery/Sangamon/Dane | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1828 | 1839 | 1839 |
F7 | Clark | Marshall 62441 | 1819 | Crawford | 1865 | 1819 | 1865 | 1816 | 1820 | 1821 |
H6 | Clay | P.O. Box 160, Louisville 62858 | 1824 | Fayette/Crawford/Wayne/Lawrence | 1877 | 1825 | 1877 | 1825 | 1827 | 1825 |
H4 | Clinton | Courthouse Sq., Carlyle 62231 | 1824 | Washington/Fayette/Bond | 1877 | 1825 | 1877 | 1818 | 1825 | 1825 |
F6 | Coles | P.O. Box 227, Charleston 61920 | 1830 | Clark/Edgar | 1878 | 1831 | 1877 | 1830 | 1830 | 1831 |
B7 | Cook | 118 North Clark St., Room 402, Chicago 60602 | 1831 | Putnam | 1871 | 1856 | 1871 | * | * | 1871 |
* Illinois Regional Archives Depositor states, 'Most of the major records for the county (Cook) were destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871.'¦ The Cook County Recorder's Office has land records from 1871 onward. Prior to 1871, the Chicago Title Insurance Company has pre-fire tract and copy books as abstracted from the original documents filed in the Cook County Recorder's Office and from the issuance of the first government land patents. The Illinois State Archives has the original documents related to the government land patents. Federal land sale began from the various land offices in Illinois in 1814'¦' According to Szucs (see Background Sources), a will index survives that begins in the year 1850. The Illinois Historical Records Survey lists a record series titled 'Documented Record of Wills,' which begins in 1851 and a series titled 'Abstract of Probate Proceedings' beginning in 1861. All other probate records begin in 1871. | ||||||||||
G7 | Crawford | P.O. Box 602, Robinson 62454 | 1816 | Edwards | 1877 | 1817 | 1877 | 1816 | 1818 | 1817 |
G6 | Cumberland | P.O. Box 146, Toledo 62468 | 1843 | Coles | 1885 | 1880 | 1844 | 1885 | 1884 | 1885 |
Dane | (see Christian) | |||||||||
B6 | DeKalb | 110 E. Sycamore St., Sycamore 60178 | 1837 | Kane | 1877 | 1837 | 1878 | 1838 | 1837 | 1838 |
E5 | DeWitt | 201 W. Washington St. , P.O. Box 439, Clinton 61727 | 1839 | McLean/Macon | 1877 | 1839 | 1878 | 1828 | 1839 | 1839 |
F6 | Douglas | 401 S. Center , P.O. Box 467, Tuscola 61953 | 1859 | Coles | 1877 | 1859 | 1877 | 1830 | 1859 | 1859 |
B6 | DuPage | 421 N. County Farm Rd., Wheaton 60189 | 1839 | Cook | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1835 | 1839 | 1839 |
F7 | Edgar | 115 W. Court St., Paris 61944 | 1823 | Clark | 1877 | 1823 | 1877 | 1823 | 1823 | 1823 |
H7 | Edwards | Edwards County Courthouse, Albion 62806 | 1814 | Gallatin/Madison | 1877 | 1815 | 1877 | 1815 | 1815 | 1815 |
G6 | Effingham | 101 North 4th , P.O. Box 628, Effingham 62401 | 1831 (1833) | Fayette/Crawford | 1877 | 1833 | 1877 | 1833 | 1838 | 1833 |
G5 | Fayette | 221 S. Seventh St., Vandalia 62471 | 1821 | Bond/Jefferson/Wayne/Crawford/Clark | 1860 | 1821 | 1877 | 1816 | 1821 | 1821 |
D6 | Ford | 200 W. State St., Paxton 60957 | 1859 | unorganized (Vermilion) | 1878 | 1859 | 1878 | 1834 | 1850 | 1859 |
J5 | Franklin | Benton 62812 | 1818 | White/Gallatin/Johnson | 1877 | 1836 | 1877 | 1835 | 1837 | 1836 |
D3 | Fulton | 100 N. Main, Lewistown 61542 | 1823 | unorganized (Pike) | 1878 | 1824 | 1878 | 1817 | 1827 | 1824 |
J6 | Gallatin | P.O. Box K, Shawneetown 62984 | 1812 | Randolph | 1878 | 1813 | 1878 | 1813 | 1814 | 1813 |
F3 | Greene | 519 N. Main St., Carrollton 62016-1033 | 1821 | Madison | 1877 | 1821 | 1877 | 1821 | 1821 | 1821 |
C6 | Grundy | 111 E. Washington St., Morris 60450 | 1841 | LaSalle | 1876 | 1841 | 1878 | 1832 | 1841 | 1837 |
J6 | Hamilton | Hamilton County Courthouse, McLeansboro 62859 | 1821 | White | 1878 | 1821 | 1878 | 1823 | 1821 | 1821 |
D2 | Hancock | P.O. Box 39, Carthage 62321 | 1825 | unorganized (Pike)/*Adams | 1844 | 1829 | 1878 | 1817 | 1830 | 1829 |
K6 | Hardin | P.O. Box 187, Elizabethtown 62931 | 1839 | Pope | 1844 | 1884 | 1884 | 1814 | 1884 | 1878 |
D2 | Henderson | P.O. Box 308, Oquawka 61469 | 1841 | Warren | 1877 | 1841 | 1878 | 1818 | 1839 | 1841 |
C3 | Henry | 100 S. Main, Cambridge 61238 | 1825 (1837) | unorganized (Fulton)/*Peoria/*Knox | 1877 | 1837 | 1877 | 1836 | 1839 | 1837 |
Highland | 1847 (eliminated 1848) | Adams/Marquette | ||||||||
D7 | Iroquois | 1001 E. Grant St., Watseka 60970 | 1833 (1834) | unorganized (Vermilion) | 1878 | 1866 | 1878 | 1834 | 1834 | 1834 |
J5 | Jackson | Murphysboro 62966 | 1816 | Randolph/Johnson | 1877 | 1843 | 1877 | 1814 | 1840 | 1843 |
G6 | Jasper | 100 W. Jourdan St., Newton 62448 | 1831 (1835) | Crawford/Clay | 1877 | 1835 | 1877 | 1835 | 1835 | 1835 |
J5 | Jefferson | 100 S. 10th St., Mt. Vernon 62864 | 1819 | Edwards/White | 1877 | 1819 | 1877 | 1816 | 1820 | 1819 |
G3 | Jersey | 201 W. Pearl St., Jerseyville 62052 | 1839 | Greene | 1878 | 1839 | 1877 | 1822 | 1839 | 1839 |
A3 | Jo Daviess | 330 N. Bench St., Galena 61036 | 1827 | Mercer/Henry/Putnam | 1877 | 1830 | 1877 | 1828 | 1828 | 1827 |
K5 | Johnson | P.O. Box 96, Vienna 62995 | 1812 | Randolph | 1878 | 1835 | 1878 | 1809 | 1821 | 1812 |
A6 | Kane | 719 S. Batavia, P.O. Box 70, Geneva 60134 | 1836 (1836) | unorganized (LaSalle)/Cook | 1877 | 1836 | 1877 | 1836 | 1836 | 1836 |
C7 | Kankakee | 189 E. Court St., Kankakee 60901 | 1853 | Iroquois/Will | 1877 | 1853 | 1877 | 1832 | 1853 | 1853 |
B6 | Kendall | 111 W. Fox St., Yorkville 60560 | 1841 | LaSalle/Kane | 1877 | 1835 | 1877 | 1839 | 1847 | 1841 |
D3 | Knox | 200 S. Cherry St., Galesburg 61401 | 1825 | Fulton/unorganized/*Peoria | 1877 | 1830 | 1877 | 1818 | 1830 | 1836 |
A6 | Lake | 18 N. County St., Waukegan 60085 | 1839 | McHenry | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1839 | 1839 | 1840 |
C5 | LaSalle | 707 Etna Rd., Ottawa 61350 | 1831 | Putnam/unorganized | 1868 | 1831 | 1870 | 1831 | 1831 | 1831 |
H7 | Lawrence | Lawrenceville 62439 | 1821 | Crawford/Edwards | 1878 | 1821 | 1878 | 1818 | 1821 | 1820 |
B4 | Lee | P.O. Box 385, Dixon 61021 | 1839 | Ogle | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1838 | 1839 | 1840 |
C6 | Livingston | 112 W. Madison St., Pontiac 61764 | 1837 | LaSalle/McLean/unorganized (Vermilion) | 1877 | 1837 | 1878 | 1835 | 1837 | 1839 |
E4 | Logan | P.O. Box 278, Lincoln 62656 | 1839 | Sangamon | 1878 | 1857 | 1878 | 1829 | 1855 | 1857 |
E5 | Macon | 141 S. Main St., Decatur 62523 | 1829 | unorganized (Shelby) | 1877 | 1829 | 1877 | 1827 | 1831 | 1829 |
G4 | Macoupin | Carlinville 62626 | 1829 | unorganized (Madison) unorganized (Greene) | 1877 | 1829 | 1877 | 1829 | 1829 | 1829 |
G4 | Madison | 157 N. Main St., Ste. 109, Edwardsville 62025 | 1812 | St. Clair/Randolph | 1858 | 1813 | 1877 | 1802 | 1813 | 1803 |
H5 | Marion | P.O. Box 637, Salem 62881 | 1823 | Fayette/Jefferson | 1877 | 1823 | 1877 | 1819 | 1823 | 1823 |
Marquette | 1843 | (eliminated 1847) Adams | ||||||||
C4 | Marshall | 122 N. Prairie, Lacon 61540 | 1839 | Putnam | 1870 | 1830 | 1877 | 1839 | 1830 | 1840 |
E4 | Mason | P.O. Box 90, Havana 62644 | 1841 | Tazewell/Menard | 1878 | 1841 | 1877 | 1827 | 1841 | 1841 |
K6 | Massac | P.O. Box 429, Metropolis 62960 | 1843 | Pope/Johnson | 1877 | 1843 | 1877 | 1843 | 1843 | 1843 |
D2 | McDonough | Macomb 61455 | 1826 | unorganized (Schulyer) | 1870 | 1830 | 1870 | 1817 | 1833 | 1830 |
A6 | McHenry | 2200 N. Seminary Ave., Woodstock 60098 | 1836 (1837) | Cook unorganized (LaSalle) | 1877 | 1837 | 1877 | 1839 | 1840 | 1838 |
D5 | McLean | 104 W. Front, Bloomington 61701 | 1830 | Tazewell/unorganized | 1877 | 1831 | 1877 | 1831 | 1831 | 1831 |
E4 | Menard | P.O. Box 456, Petersburg 62675 | 1839 | Sangamon | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1821 | 1839 | 1839 |
C3 | Mercer | 604 NE 5th Ave./P.O. Box 66, Aledo 61231 | 1825 (1835) | unorganized (Pike)/*Schulyer/*Peoria/*Warren | 1877 | 1835 | 1877 | 1834 | 1837 | 1836 |
J3 | Monroe | 100 S. Main St., Waterloo 62298 | 1816 | St. Clair/Randolph | 1877 | 1816 | 1878 | 1816 | 1820 | 1816 |
G4 | Montgomery | Hillsboro 62049 | 1821 | Bond/Madison | 1862 | 1821 | 1877 | 1819 | 1821 | 1821 |
F3 | Morgan | 300 W. State St., Jacksonville 62650 | 1823 | Sangamon/unorganized (Greene) | 1851 | 1827 | 1851 | 1824 | 1824 | 1827 |
F6 | Moultrie | Sullivan 61951 | 1843 | Shelby/Macon | 1877 | 1843 | 1877 | 1831 | 1845 | 1840 |
A4 | Ogle | Washington and S. 4th St. , P.O. Box 357, Oregon 61061 | 1836 (1839) | Jo Daviess unorganized (LaSalle) | 1878 | 1837 | 1878 | 1836 | 1836 | 1837 |
D4 | Peoria | 324 Main St., Peoria 61602 | 1825 | Fulton/unorganized | 1878 | 1825 | 1877 | 1818 | 1825 | 1825 |
J4 | Perry | 612 Virginia Ct., P.O. Box 438, Pinckneyville 62274 | 1827 | Randolph/Jackson | 1845 | 1827 | 1878 | 1817 | 1828 | 1827 |
E6 | Piatt | 101 W. Washington St. , P.O. Box 558, Monticello 61856 | 1841 | DeWitt/Macon | 1877 | 1841 | 1877 | 1840 | 1843 | 1841 |
F2 | Pike | Pittsfield 62363 | 1821 | Madison/Bond/Clark | 1876 | 1827 | 1877 | 1818 | 1821 | 1819 |
K6 | Pope | Golconda 62938 | 1816 | Johnson/Gallatin | 1877 | 1813 | 1877 | 1816 | 1816 | 1817 |
K5 | Pulaski | P.O. Box 109, Mound City 62963 | 1843 | Johnson/Alexander | 1882 | 1861 | 1882 | 1843 | 1862 | 1857 |
C5 | Putnam | Hennepin 61327 | 1825 (1831) | unorganized (Fulton)/*Peoria | 1877 | 1831 | 1877 | 1831 | 1831 | 1831 |
J4 | Randolph | #1 Taylor St., Chester 62263 | 1795 | (territorial;became Illinois county 1809) Clair | 1877 | 1724 | 1877 | 1724 | 1722 | 1722 |
H6 | Richland | 103 W. Main St., Olney 62450 | 1841 | Clay/Lawrence | 1877 | 1841 | 1877 | 1836 | 1841 | 1842 |
C2 | Rock Island | 1504 Third Ave., Rock Island 61201 | 1831 (1833) | Jo Daviess | 1861 | 1833 | 1877 | 1835 | 1835 | 1834 |
H4 | St. Clair | 10 Public Sq., Belleville 62220 | 1790 | (territorial; became Illinois county 1809) unorganized | 1830 | 1763 | 1832 | 1786 | 1772 | 1778 |
J6 | Saline | Harrisburg 62946 | 1847 (1852) | Gallatin | 1877 | 1845 | 1878 | 1817 | 1847 | 1848 |
F4 | Sangamon | 200 S.9th St. , Springfield 62701-1629 | 1821 | Madison/Bond | 1877 | 1821 | 1877 | 1822 | 1847 | 1821 |
E3 | Schuyler | P.O. Box 200, Rushville 62681 | 1825 | unorganized (Pike)/Fulton | 1877 | 1825 | 1877 | 1817 | 1825 | 1825 |
F3 | Scott | Winchester 62694 | 1839 | Morgan | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1823 | 1839 | 1839 |
F5 | Shelby | Shelbyville 62565 | 1827 | Fayette | 1877 | 1827 | 1877 | 1827 | 1831 | 1827 |
C4 | Stark | 130 W. Main/Box 97, Toulon 61483 | 1839 | Knox/Putnam | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1817 | 1839 | 1839 |
A4 | Stephenson | 15 N. Galena Ave., Freeport 61032 | 1837 (1837) | Winnebago/Jo Daviess | 1878 | 1837 | 1878 | 1837 | 1837 | 1837 |
D4 | Tazewell | McKenzie Bldg., 2nd Floor, 4th and Court St., Pekin 61554 | 1827 | unorganized (Peoria) | 1878 | 1827 | 1878 | 1825 | 1827 | 1827 |
K5 | Union | P.O. Box H, Jonesboro 62952 | 1818 | Johnson | 1867 | 1818 | 1877 | 1818 | 1818 | 1817 |
E7 | Vermillion | 6 N. Vermillion, Danville 61832 | 1826 | unorganized (Clark)/unorganized (Edgar) | 1877 | 1826 | 1877 | 1826 | 1826 | 1826 |
H7 | Wabash | 401 Market St., P.O. Box 277, Mt. Carmel 62863 | 1824 | Edwards | 1877 | 1857 | 1877 | 1857 | 1851 | 1857 |
D3 | Warren | 100 W. Broadway, Monmouth 61462 | 1825 (1831) | unorganized (Pike)/*Schulyer/*Peoria | 1877 | 1831 | 1875 | 1800 | 1830 | 1832 |
H4 | Washington | 101 E. St. Louis St., Nashville 62263 | 1818 | St. Clair | 1877 | 1831 | 1877 | 1815 | 1818 | 1818 |
Wayne, Indiana Territory | 1803 | (eliminated 1803) Knox/St. Clair | ||||||||
H6 | Wayne | P.O. Box 187, Fairfield 62837 | 1819 | Edwards | 1870 | 1850 | 1886 | 1865 | 1886 | 1819 |
J6 | White | P.O. Box 339, Carmi 62821 | 1815 | Gallatin | 1877 | 1816 | 1877 | 1816 | 1816 | 1816 |
B4 | Whiteside | 200 E. Knox St., Morrison 61270 | 1836 (1840) | Jo Daviess/*Ogle | 1877 | 1857 | 1877 | 1838 | 1839 | 1838 |
B6 | Will | 302 N. Chicago St., Joliet 60431 | 1836 | Cook/Iroquois/unorganized (Vermilion) | 1877 | 1836 | 1877 | 1835 | 1837 | 1836 |
K5 | Williamson | 200 W. Jefferson, Marion 62959 | 1839 | Franklin | 1877 | 1839 | 1877 | 1818 | 183 | 1840 |
A5 | Winnebago | 404 Elm St., Rockford 61101 | 1836 (1836) | Jo Daviess/unorganized (LaSalle) | 1877 | 1836 | 1877 | 1836 | 1837 | 1836 |
D5 | Woodford | 115 N. Main, Ste. 202, Eureka 61530 | 1841 | McLean/Tazewell | 1877 | 1841 | 1877 | 1831 | 1841 | 1841 |