Christian County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois  Christian County

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

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

Historical Facts
Large numbers of Kentuckians settled in frontier Christian County, Illinois. The name of the county (Christian) is reminiscent of Christian County, Kentucky - the previous residence of many pioneer settlers.

Parent County

 * 15 February 1839: -- Christian County was created fromSangamon and Shelby Counties. It was formerly Dane County, until the name was changed to Christian County 1 February 1840.

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

Places/Localities
To see a list of places in Christian County, click on [Show], above. The preceding list of places includes incorporated cities and towns, unincorporated towns and communities, and place names that may have been used in family histories. Some have well-organized records and even have web sites. Some are simply social communities with no official records, but which may be referenced in small-town newspapers. The list is provided to help researchers identify localities within the county. As records or histories of these localities are identified, a page will be added for each of these place names.

Cemeteries
Find A Grave, list of cemeteries. Additional information can be found at local level (city, township, etc.)


 * Christian 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.

Federal
For tips on accessing census records online, see Illinois Census.

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 Christian 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.

Land records that include Bond 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.

Civl War
Civil War service men from Christian 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 Christian County.


 * - 33rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company D.
 * - 35th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company B.
 * - 41st Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies G and I.
 * - 54th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company A.

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

Marriages
Some of the Family History Library's Collection of Christian County marriages have been or will be made available digitally:.

Available through Ancestry.com $:


 * Christian county marriages in "Illinois Marriages 1790 to 1860." The source of this collection is films in the Family History Library's collection
 * Christian County marriages in "Illinois Marriages 1851 to 1900." The source of this collection is films in the Family History Library's collection

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Christian County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History(Linkpendium)