Macoupin County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois  Macoupin County

County Organization
Macoupin County's civil records start the following years:

County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Macoupin County are kept, see the Macoupin County Courthouse page.

Historical Facts
Macoupin County is named for Macoupin Creek which is a tributary of the Illinois River, which it joins near the village of Hardin, Illinois.

Parent County

 * 1829--Macoupin County was created 17 January 1829 from Madison and Greene Counties. County seat: Carlinville

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Macoupin County boundary changes.

Populated Places
Barr (township) Benld (city) Bird (township) Brighton (township &amp; village) Brushy Mound (township) Bunker Hill (city &amp; township) Cahokia (township) Carlinville (city &amp; township) Chesterfield (village &amp; township) Dorchester (village &amp; township) Eagarville (village) East Gillespie (village) Gillespie (city &amp; township) Girard (city &amp; township) Hettick (village) Hillyard (township) Honey Point (township) Lake Ka-Ho (village) Medora (village) Miles Station Modesto (village) Mount Clare (village) Mount Olive (city &amp; township) Nilwood (town &amp; township) North Otter (township) North Palmyra (township) Palmyra (village) Plainview Polk (township) Sawyerville (village) Scottville (village &amp; township) Shaws Point (township) Shipman (town &amp; township) South Otter (township) South Palmyra (township) Standard City (village) Staunton (city &amp; township) Virden (city &amp; township) Western Mound (township) White City (village) Wilsonville (village) Womac

Neighboring Counties

 * Greene
 * Jersey
 * Madison
 * Montgomery
 * Morgan
 * Sangamon

Cemeteries
Illinois cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation.


 * 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.


 * Find A Grave also gives a list of cemeteries in Macoupin County and links to the information for the individuals buried there.


 * Macoupin 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.


 * Illinois Cemeteries by county.


 * The Family History Library Catalog lists . Some of the books or others may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.


 * ePodunk list of Macoupin 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.

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. ; ; digital version at Google Books. [See Illinois, Macoupin County on page 187.]

Court Records
Original court records are held in the office of the Circuit Court Clerk. See Illinois Court Records for more information about using court records.

The following abstracts and copies of original records may be accessed through the Family History Library or the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) located at the University of Illinois at Springfield - search for MaCoupin County records. For information on how to use IRAD see the UIS IRAD Wiki page.


 * 1829-1849 Macoupin County Records
 * 1829-1911 Circuit Court Case Files Index, Chancery and Common Law IRAD-UIS
 * 1830-1975 Circuit Court Record, Chancery IRAD-UIS
 * 1847-1946 Circuit Court Record Index, Chancery IRAD-UIS
 * 1858-1900 Circuit Court Record Index IRAD-UIS
 * 1870-1956 Jail Registers IRAD-UIS
 * 1899-1905 Circuit Court Fee Books, Chancery IRAD-UIS
 * 1919-1920 Circuit Court Dockets, Chancery IRAD-UIS

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

Land and Property
BLM GLO Records. Search original land patents for Macoupin 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.

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.

IRAD holdings for Macoupin County include Land patents 1819 to 1917

Land records that include Macoupin County 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.
 * "U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796 to 1907:" Records of Illinois are among the 13 states included in this set. It includes images of the land patents which contain the information necessary for ordering the complete case files from the National Archives. This appears to be the same information that is online at the Federal Land Office site http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
 * 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.

Civil War
Civil War service men from Macoupin 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 Macoupin County.


 * - 3rd Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company L.
 * - 7th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies F and K.
 * - 27th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company F
 * - 32nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies A, C and I
 * - 59th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I
 * - 97th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company A
 * - 152nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry (1 year, 1865), Company I.

Probate Records
Original probate records are held by the circuit court clerk. Probate records include wills, inventories, settlements, and guardianship records. A few copies of probate records are held at IRAD. Explore how to search IRAD–UIS. The following copies are available at IRAD–UIS and in the Family History Library Catalog:


 * 1835–1926 Probate Records Index Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1835–1939 Probate Records
 * 1835–1881 Probate Index A Courtesy of USGenWeb
 * 1849–1924 Administrator's Records Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1859–1924 Executor's Records Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1849–1923 Guardian Records Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1849–1915 Probate Records Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1835–1925 Will Record Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1874–1883 Court Papers Index Browse for Macoupin records.
 * 1882–1883 Probate Dockets IRAD–UIS
 * Leonard, Cindy. The Macoupin Connection. Staunton, IL: Leonard Data Quest, 1991- (Probate Index Listings–no dates)

Other abstracted probate records for Macoupin County can be explored through a subject search of the.

County Courthouse
County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Macoupin County are kept, see the Macoupin County Courthouse page.

Macoupin County Historical Museum Library
920 W. Breckenridge St Carlinville, IL 62626 Phone: 217-854-2850 Phone: 217-854-2561 Hours: Wednesday May - Nov 10 AM - 2 PM Sunday Jun - Aug 1 PM - 5 PM

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. Currently there are no Family History Centers located directly in Cass County.

You may search your address for a center near you on the FamilySearch site.

The following centers are located in surrounding counties. Their wiki pages may supply hours and other information.

Litchfield Illinois Family History Center 12367 Roberson Rd. Litchfield, Illinois 62056 217-324-2396

Springfield Illinois Family History Center 3601 Buckeye Dr. Springfield, Illinois 62707 217-529-7930

Alton Illinois Family History Center 6500 Humbert Rd. Godfrey, Illinois 618-466-4352

Jacksonville Illinois Family History Center 1053 E. Vandalia Rd, Jacksonville, Illinois 62650 217-245-8113

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 Macoupin 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

Vital Records
Information and forms for ordering birth, marriage, and death records can be found at the Macoupin County clerk web page.

Marriage Records
Available through Ancestry.com $:


 * Macoupin County marriages in "Illinois Marriages 1851 to 1900." The source of this collection is films in the Family History Library's collection

Death Records
Macoupin County Coroner's Inquest Files Index, 1835-1928 (courtesy: Illinois State Archives)

A list of Macoupin County Patient Deaths at the Illinois State Hospital (1910s-1930s) is available online, courtesy: Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois. The site also provides a list of WWII Deaths.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Macoupin County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History(Linkpendium)
 * Macoupin County, Illinois (Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois) Cemetery, Local Histories, Soldier's and Sailor's Home, Vital Records
 * http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/index_macoupin.html Macoupin County section of the Morgan Area Genealogy website.
 * http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/index_macoupin.html Macoupin County section of the Morgan Area Genealogy website.