Illinois Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
The records in this collection cover the years 1819 to 1970.

Record Description
Probate records were court documents and may have involved loose papers and/or bound volumes. These records were generally known as a case file or probate packet. These files normally included wills, settlement papers, inventories, receipts, and other records pertaining to the estates. Some probate records were recorded in books which may have carried many titles such as accounts, administrations, appraisals, minutes, petitions, guardianships, inventories, settlements, and so forth. Wills are normally transcribed into a bound volume.

Record Content
Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees and other court documents. Genealogical facts in entries are:


 * Name of testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs such as spouse, children, and other relatives or friends
 * Name of executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Residence of testator
 * Document and recording dates. (These are used to approximate event dates, i.e. a will was usually written near time of death.)

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Check the index for the surname and then the given name. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:

The place of residence. The approximate death or probate date. The name of the deceased. Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example:

Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives. You may be able to use the probate record to learn about adoptions or guardianship of any minor children and dependents. Use the document (such as the will) or the recording dates to approximate a death date. Use the information in the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records since the probates exist for an earlier time period. You may be able to use the probate record to learn about land transactions. Use the birth date or age along with the residence or place of birth of the deceased to locate census, church, and land records. Use the occupations listed to find employment records or other types of records such as military records. Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname as the deceased, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual. Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have died in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify. When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct. Keep in mind:

Wills are more likely to be found in rural communities than in larger cities and industrial areas. The information in the records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the deceased or the testator.

Record History
County officials began keeping probate records from the time the county was formed. Probates are generally recorded in the county were the person resided. These records cover approximately 40 percent of adult males who left wills, but this may be less than 25 percent in some areas. Less than 10 percent of women had wills or estate inventories. Wills are more likely to be found in rural communities than in larger cities and industrial areas. A higher percentage of individuals died without a will, but they may have had their estates probated and distributed through the courts. Wills and other estate documents are found in the estate files.

Why this Record Was Created
Probate records were used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. If the deceased had made a will, the probate process transferred the following from the deceased to an executor or executrix: the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs. If there was no will, the transfer went to an administrator or administratrix. A guardian or conservator was appointed if the deceased had heirs younger than 21 or if the heirs were incompetent due to disability or disease.

Record Reliability
The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceedings are reliable, but realize that there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members or those who had previously received an inheritance. In some cases, the spouse mentioned in the will was not the parent of the children mentioned. Also, some wills do not name family members.

Related Web Sites
Illinois State Archives Online Databases

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Related Wiki Articles
Illinois Probate Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
It is recommended that you cite the sources of information as you search genealogical records. Citing sources will allow you to avoid duplicate searches later and share your sources with other researchers. A citation with specific details about the source document should allow yourself or others to easily find the source document at a later time. You should cite all sources searched, whether new information is found, to avoid duplicating searches without findings.

Suggested Format

A suggested format for citations created to document information found in FamilySearch Record Search is: Collection title, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: date accessed or downloaded), items of interest. Items of Interest May Include: • Name of the person mentioned in the document • File, folder or jacket number • Locality • Record type • Page number • Line number • Date of entry • Digital identification number • Film number

You are Invited to Add Source Citations for a Record in This Collection Below: Please add sample citations to this article following the format guidelines listed above. Examples: • United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71 • Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023

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Sources of Information for This Collection: (Heading 2)
"Illinois Probate Books, 1819-1970," database, FamilySearch; (http://familysearch.org); from County Courts. Digital images of originals housed at various county courthouses throughout the state of Illinois. Marriage records. FHL digital images, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.