Morgan County, IllinoisEdit This Page
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Illinois Morgan County
Guide to Morgan County Illinois genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
| Morgan County, Illinois | |
| Map | |
 Location in the state of Illinois | |
 Location of Illinois in the U.S. | |
| Facts | |
| Founded: | January 31, 1823 |
|---|---|
| County Seat | Jacksonville |
| Courthouse | |
 | |
| Address | Morgan County Courthouse 300 W. State Street Jacksonville, Illinois 62650 (217) 243-8581 Morgan County Website |
Morgan County Organization
Morgan County's civil records start the following years:
| Beginning Dates for Morgan County Records | |||||
| Birth | Marriage | Death | Census | Land | Probate |
| 1851 |
1827 |
1851 |
1830 |
1824 |
1824 |
County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Morgan County are kept, see the Morgan County Courthouse page.
Historical Facts
Parent County
Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Morgan County boundary changes.
Record Loss
December 6, 1827 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.
For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:
Places / Localities
Populated Places
Chapin (village)
Clements
Concord (village)
Franklin (village)
Jacksonville (city)
Lynnville (village)
Meredosia (village)
Murrayville (village)
South Jacksonville (village)
Waverly (village)
Woodson (village)
Neighboring Counties
Records and Resources
Biography
- The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois has a MorganCounty edition. This includes a state history section along with a county history and biographies of Morgan County residents. See the wiki article for links to available copies and indexes.
Cemeteries
Illinois cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation.. See the Illinois Cemeteries state wiki page for more information.
Published Records
- The Family History Library Catalog lists records of cemeteries in Morgan County. Cemetery books may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.
- Books about Morgan County cemeteries are located at many libraries (WorldCat). Explore the wiki page about how to search WorldCat.
- Google Books Enter Morgan County Illinois in the search box.
Online Gravestone Transcriptions
- Find A Grave can be searched by the name of a person or family to find where a person is buried. Usually gives birth and death dates often with a picture of the tombstone. May give obituaries, names of family members and links to their information in Find A Grave.
- Morgan Co. IL USGenWeb Tombstone Project usually gives the names of the deceased in alphabetical order by last name with birth and death dates plus any remarks.
- Rootsweb Morgan County Cemetery Records. Select the cemetery name for online transcriptions.
Cemetery Gazetters
- ePodunk list of Morgan County cemeteries gives the names of the cemeteries in the county with a link to more information such as address, phone number, and web site.
- Illinois State Genealogical Society Cemetery Location Project
Census
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 35,006 | ||
| 1910 | 34,420 | −1.7% | |
| 1920 | 33,567 | −2.5% | |
| 1930 | 34,240 | 2.0% | |
| 1940 | 36,378 | 6.2% | |
| 1950 | 35,568 | −2.2% | |
| 1960 | 36,571 | 2.8% | |
| 1970 | 36,174 | −1.1% | |
| 1980 | 37,502 | 3.7% | |
| 1990 | 36,397 | −2.9% | |
| 2000 | 36,616 | 0.6% | |
| IL Counties 1900-1990 | |||
- 1840 Pensioners
- – A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. Washington, D.C., 1841. FHL 973 X2pc 1840; FHL 2321; digital version at Google Books. [See Illinois, Morgan County on page 187.]
- 1850 Census
- –1850 Census of Morgan County, IL at Rootsweb : Free; Index.
- 1860 Census
- –1860 Census of Morgan county, IL at Rootsweb : Free; Index
Church History and Records
Church records can give birth, death and marriage information as well as indictate family relationships. See Illinois state wiki article Church Records for more ideas about how to use church records in your research.
The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois has a Morgan County edition. This includes two chapters on Morgan County churches. Early rural churches are discussed beginning on page 665. Jacksonville churches are listed beginning on page 717. See the wiki article for links to available copies and indexes.
The Family History Library Catalog lists records of several Morgan County congregations. Explore these records. Other libraries also hold copies of abstracted Morgan County church records. (How to explore WorldCat).
The following online abstracts are available:
Non-Denominational Christian
1826–1845 Name index to the Christian Messenger, a periodical of the Restoration Movement. Courtesy of Restoration Movement Resources.
Baptist
1823–1837 Sangamon United (later Regular) Baptist Association Courtesy of the Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage.
1840 Apple Creek Church MinutesLibrary of Congress.
1918 First Baptist Church MembersCourtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Church of Christ
1852–1871 Old Berea Church. List of members. Courtesy of Illinois Trails.
1852–1871 Old Berea Church. List of members.Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Episcopal
1834–1879 Trinity Church. Membership, Baptism, Marriage and Death Records. Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Lutheran
1851–1888 St. Paul's Lutheran Church, births and baptisms
1863–1979 St. Paul's Lutheran Church deaths and burials Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Methodist Episcopal
18__?–1841 Record of church members.Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Presbyterian
1855 - 1860 First Portuguese Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, Illinois. List of members, their families, births, and baptisms. Courtesy of USGenWeb.
1875–19002nd Portuguese Presbyterian ChurchList of members. Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
1881–1890 2nd Portuguese Presbyterian Church. List of baptisms and some marriages. Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
United Methodist
Great Rivers Conference Collection is housed at the Pheiffer Library on the campus of MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. Some records are available online. Contact the archivist for more information.
Lauretta Scheller
IGRC Archives
Pfeiffer Library - MacMurray College
447 E. College Ave.
Jacksonville, IL 62650
217-479-7694
igrcarchives@yahoo.com
Court Records
1850–1932 Morgan County Poor Farm Record Index IRAD–UIS Explore how to use IRAD.
Ethnic Research
African American
The following have information concerning African American research.
- African American Research (US) has more information about the kinds of records
- Illinois State Archives pamphlet on African American Research describes what ;records are at the State Archives with an online method for ordering records.
- African-American Resources for Illinois
Portuguese Immigration from Madeira
A large number of Portuguese immigrants from Madeira arrived in Jacksonville, Illinois in November of 1949, fleeing religious persecution. A synopsis of the events surrounding their immigration is contained in http://www.orgsites.com/il/jaghs/_pgg5.php3.
Genealogy
History
Land
Original land records are held in the office of the County Clerk . See Illinois Land and Property for more information about using land records.
- 1823–1907 Notarial Records FHL Film 1317644 First of 53 films Includes grantor and grantee indexes. Most books include a separate index.
Land and Property records in the Family History Library Catalog may be searched by subject. Explore FHLC records.
IRAD land holdings for Morgan County include Land patents 1825 to 1833 and taxable land lists 1836 to 1861. See the IRAD-UIS wiki page on how to search IRAD records.
Online Resources
- Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales. The Illinois State Archives has an online index to the records of Public land sales held by the State Archives. The indexes are by purchasers name and by legal description. This is a statewide collection with nearly 550,000 land sales fro 54740 square miles.
- First index to Book B of Morgan County land records transcribed by Florance Huchison and online at GenWeb. Dates undetermined.
- BLM GLO Records. Search original land patents for Morgan County from the Govenment Land Office (GLO) or Eastern States Office. Some searches include images of the original warrants. All search results include the patant details needed for requesting copies of the land entry files at the National Archives. The GLO is the custodian of millions of land title documents. The General Land Office Automated Records Project is responsible for making these important documents available to the public.
- 1796–1907 U.S. General Land Office Records found at Ancestry.com ($)
- Illinois Public Land Purchase Records This record extract includes over 538,000 land sales from the 19th Century. Each entry includes the purchaser's name, purchase date, number of acres, price per acre, and in some cases the purchaser's sex and residence. Available at www.ancestry.com ($)
- Morgan County Federal Township Plats
- Sheldon, Theodore. Land registration in Illinois. Chicago: Callaghan Co., 1901. Digital book. Expains the laws regarding land and the land systems used in Illinois. Includes court cases involving land issues. In addition to being on Ancestry, this book is available online at no cost at Internet Archives and Google Books.
Maps
Federal Township Plat Map for Morgan County. Courtesy of IRAD–UIS
Military
Civil War
Civil War service men from Morgan County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies or regiments that were formed from men of Morgan County.
- - 6th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company C.\
- - 10th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (3 months, 1861), Companies B and G.
- - 10th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies A and B.
- - 13th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company G.
- - 14th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
- - 27th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company K
- - 33rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies F and K.
- - 34th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company G.
- - 68th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company A.
- - 101st Regiment, Illinois Infantry, All Companies.
- - 115th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
- - 133rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company B.
- - 145th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company C.
- - 149th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (1 year, 1865), Company G.
- - 154th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company K.
- http://www.scattercreek.com/~normw/morgancopage.html Meticuloulsy researched site produced by an individual researcher. Lists all Illinois Civil War units with soldiers from Morgan County. Provides individual files for each soldier serving in the 101ST Illinois Infantry. Contains enlistment data, service record, marriage, census, pension index, children, death and burial records. A few pictures and obituaries were found.
Naturalization
Index to Morgan County Naturalization Records Courtesy of the Morgan Area Genealogical Association.
Newspapers and Obituaries
Warren Haley's abstracts of thousands of obituaries published in Jacksonville newspapers between 1976 and 1996 are available online, courtesy: Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.
Probate Records
Original Morgan County probate records are available at the Morgan County Courthouse. Probate records include wills, inventories, settlements, and guardianship records. See Illinois Probate Records wiki page for more information about using probate records. The following copies of probate records are available:
- 1824–1929 Will Records, Morgan County. Each volume includes index. Film 1317859–1317865 These records are available in FamilySearch Historical Records Collection (1824–1925) Record Collection 9274515
- 1866–1879, 1889–1894 Probate Records v. C and v. E Record Collection 9274515
Available abstracts:
- 1825–1837 Index to Earliest Wills, Will Book A Courtesy of USGenWeb
- 1863–1870 Register of Decendents who Died Intestate from Administrators Bond book Courtesy of USGenWeb
Repositories
County Courthouse
County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Morgan County are kept, see the Morgan County Courthouse page.
Family History Center
Family History Centers (FHCs) are branches of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (United States) and are located all over the world. Their goal is to provide resources to assist you in the research and study of your genealogy.
The FHC center in Morgan County is located in Jacksonville. Be sure to call and visit the wiki page for hours of service and other information.
Jacksonville Illinois Family History Center
1053 E. Vandalia Rd,
Jacksonville, Illinois 62650
217-245-8113
You may search your address for a center near you on the FamilySearch site, if you live outside the area.
Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD)
IRAD is a system of Illinois Regional Archives Depositories managed by the Illinois State Archives, housing the archival records of local Illinois counties, townships, municipalities and school districts. The seven Regional Depositories are housed on state university campuses scattered throughout Illinois.
The University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) houses the records for Morgan County. The link will help you find and use the records. There address is:
Illinois Regional Archives Depository
LIB144
University of Illinois at Springfield Region
One University Plaza, MS BRK 140
Springfield, Illinois 62703-5407
217-206-6520
Libraries
201 W. College Ave.
Jacksonville, IL 62650
1–217-243-5435
Hours: M–Th 9 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Special Collections Room: collection is closed stack, but books and records can be requested by staff any hours the libray is open. Collection includes city diretories, Morgan County atlas and plat books, cemetery indexes, local history vertical files.
Jacksonville Area Genealogical and Historical Society
416 South Main Street
Jacksonville, Illinois 62650-2904
Phone: 1–217–245-9623
Call for library hours.
M-C River Valley Public Library District (no website)
304 Main
Meredosia, IL 62665
1–217-584-1571
Wavery Public Library
291 North Pearl Street
Waverly, Illinois 62692
1–217–435-2051
Social Groups Online
Societies
Jacksonville Area Genealogical and Historical Society
Society library is located at 416 South Main Street, Jacksonville, Illinois 62650-2904. Publishes a Quarterly bulletin.
Taxation
Vital Records
See Illinois Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Illinois. Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Original birth and death certificates recorded since 1878 are kept by the Morgan County Clerk while those recorded after 1916 are kept by the Illinois Department of Public Health. with a copy to the County Clerk. Original marriage records are kept by the County Clerk from 1827 to the present. Original divorce records are generally in the office of the Circuit Court Clerk.
Copies of original records may be accessed through the Family History Library and the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) located at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) - search for Morgan County records. For information on how to use IRAD see the UIS IRAD Wiki page. In addtion, various abstracts and indexes are available as indicated.
Birth Records
- 1858–1979 Birth Certificates 1858–1900. IRAD(UIS) How to search IRAD FHL Film 1317629 First of 11 films
- 1858–1979 Birth Records, Index. IRAD(UIS) FHL Film 1317629 First of 11 films
- 1858 - 1878 IRAD(UIS) Delayed Birth Records Morgan County IL 1858 - 1878
- 1870–1910 Delayed Birth Records Murrayville Area Morgan County IL Courtesy of Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.
- 1870–1910 Morgan County Births 1880, transcribed from the Jacksonville Journal by Myra N. Martin. Courtesy of Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.
- 1870–1910 Waverly Delayed Birth Records Courtesy of Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.
Marriage Records
Early marriages begin with license #181. Earlier records are lost because of a courthouse fire. The following copy of Morgan County records is available:
- 1827–1943 Marriage record (includes index to 1939) IRAD(UIS) How to search IRAD FHL film 1317640–1317644
The following indexes to marriages in Morgan County are available:
Online Resources
- 1827-1900 Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 (Morgan County records begin in 1827)
- 1827–1943 Marriage record (includes index to 1939) FHL film 1317640–1317644
- 1827–1860 Daughters of the American Revolution. Marriage records of Morgan County, Illinois, book A-B. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1970. Typescript on film. FHL Film 848653 Item 5
- 1827–1900 Morgan county marriages in Illinois Marriages 1790 to 1860. Ancestry ($). Morgan County marriages start in 1827 in this collection. The source of this collection is films in the Family History Library's collection.
- 1827–1869 Hutchinson, Florence. Marriages, Morgan County, Illinois. Jacksonville, Illinois: Jacksonville Area Genealogical & Historical Society, 19--. 10 vols.Other Libraries (WorldCat) FHL Film 1698192 Items 5-6. FHl Book 977.3463 V22h
- 1851–1900 Morgan County marriages in Illinois Marriages 1851 to 1900. Ancestry ($). The source of this collection is films in the Family History Library's collection.
- 1926–Jun 1938 Morgan County, Illinois Marriages 1926 - June 1938 (sorted by grooms) Free online index courtesy of Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois
- 1926–Jun 1938 Morgan County, Illinois Marriages 1926 - June 1938 (sorted by brides)Free online index courtesy of Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.
Death Records
The following copies of Morgan County records are available:
- 1858–1938 Index to Deaths. FHL Film 1317639 Item 2
- 1878–1939 Index to Deaths. IRAD(UIS) How to search IRAD
- 1878–1904 Death Register. IRAD(UIS) How to search IRAD FHL Film 1317639 Items 3–4; 1317640 Items 1–2
- 1878–1922 Stillbirth Register. IRAD(UIS) FHL Film 1317640 Item 2
Online resources
- 1850–1885 U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 found at Ancestry.com ($)
- Pre-1916 Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916
- 1916-1950 Database of Illinois Death Certificates, 1916-1950
Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois offers the following free online death indexes:
- 1840–1849 Anderson Funeral Home Records: 1840-1849, 1850-1854, 1864-1865, 1865-1869
- 1849–1861 Death Dates Abstracted from an Administrators' Bond Book VI July 1849 to January 1861 Morgan County IL (abstracted by Florence Hutchison)
- 1850–1880 Death Dates Abstracted from Morgan County Estate Papers
- Morgan Death Records File#1, File#2
- 1869–Coroner's Inquest Book A - Starting 1869
- 1879–1895 Old Settlers' Necrological List (Lists early county residents and their birth and death information.) Courtesey of USGenWeb.
- WWII Deaths from Morgan County, Illinois
Web Sites
- Family History Library Catalog
- Morgan County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
- Morgan Area Genealogy (Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois) ****One of the best sites about Morgan County Genealogy. Includes Cemeteries, Census, Church Records, Civil War Records, Deeds, Funeral Home Records, Local Histories, Naturalizations, Obituaries, Old Settler Society Records, Probate Records, School Records, State Hospital Admissions, Tax Lists, Vital Records
References
- ↑ Daniel Morgan www.wikipedia.org
- ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
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