Illinois, State Census, 1865 - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Illinois

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains a name index and images of the Illinois state census taken on 3 July 1865.

The following counties are missing:


 * Gallatin
 * Monroe
 * Part of Mason
 * Part of Tazewell

The state constitution of 1848 accepted the federal decennial censuses as the basis for apportionment of representatives, but also provided for state censuses at mid-decades. As a result state censuses were conducted in 1855 and 1865. The state constitution of 1870 ended the practice of state censuses. Census returns for 1865 exist for 99 of the 102 counties.

This census counted and gathered information about the population in 1865.

The census was compiled to obtain a count of the population to determine how many representatives the state would send to Congress.

Reliability of the information in the census is determined by the accuracy of the knowledge of the informant, which could have been any member of the family or even a neighbor.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The census includes the following information:


 * Name of head of family
 * Free white males by decennial age ranges; under 10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, etc.
 * Free white females by decennial age ranges; under 10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, etc.
 * Numbers of male and female Negros and mulattoes
 * Total number in household
 * Number of males eligible for duty in the militia
 * Manufacturers by type (for example: mill, tin shop, saddle shop) and their value
 * Number and tons of coal products
 * Value of live stock
 * Value of grain products
 * Value of all other agricultural products
 * Number of pounds of wool
 * Number of universities and number of students
 * Number of academies and grammar schools and number of students
 * Number of common schools and number of students

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate age of your ancestor.
 * The county where your ancestor lived.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select "County" ⇒Select "Locality" which takes you to the images.

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article [FamilySearch Tips and Tricks].

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s census record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date.
 * Use the ages and place of residence to locate the family in federal census records.
 * Use the race information to find records related to that ethnicity such as records of the Freedman’s Bureau.
 * If they are in the militia they may have military files in the State or National Archives.
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all families with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related.
 * Be sure to extract all families before you look at other records. The relationships given will help you to organize family groups. The family groupings will help you identify related families when you discover additional information in other records.
 * Married family members may have lived nearby but in a separate household so you may want *to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even a county.
 * You may be able to identify an earlier generation if elderly parents were living with or close by a married child.
 * You may be able to identify a younger generation if a young married couple still lived with one of their sets of parents.
 * Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the census.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the records of nearby counties.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals with the same family number.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation: Record Citation (or citation for the index entry): Image Citation: Top of Page