Lake County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois Lake County

Guide to Lake County, Illinois ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Organization
Lake 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 Lake County are kept, see the Lake County Courthouse page.

Historical Facts
Lake County is named for Lake Michigan which Lake County borders.

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Illinois county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Illinois County Boundary Maps" (1790-1869) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Prior to County Formation


 * 1795-1801 - Lake part of Knox County and the Northwest Territory
 * 1801-1812 - Lake part of St. Clair County
 * 1812-1815 - Lake part of Madison County
 * 1815-1816 - Lake part of Edwards County
 * 1816-1819 - Lake part of Crawford County
 * 1819-1821 - Lake part of Clark County
 * 1821-1823 - Lake part of Pike County
 * 1823-1825 - Lake part of Fulton County
 * 1825-1831 - Lake part of Putnam County
 * 1831-1836 - Lake part of Cook County
 * 1836-1839 - Lake part of McHenry County

County Formation and After


 * 1839 - Lake County created from McHenry County

For more information see Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties or Lake County Fact Sheet (Illinois State Archives). For interactive county boundary maps see Illinois County Boundaries, 1790-Present, Illinois Historical Counties

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Neighboring Counties

 * Cook
 * Kenosha County, Wisconsin
 * McHenry

Biography

 * The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois has a Lake County edition. This includes a state history section along with a county history and biographies of Lake 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.


 * 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 Lake County and links to the information for the individuals buried there.


 * Lake 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.


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


 * ePodunk list of Lake 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.

BillionGraves.com provides a page for each cemetery, with yellow pushpins on a Google map to indicate where a headstone is if photographed. You can search each cemetery individually from its page, or search the site globally from the 'Search' button at the upper right. On that search page you can narrow things down as well.

Individual cemeteries in Lake County on BillionGraves:


 * Knopf Cemetery, Buffalo Grove

In 1946, the Aaron Miner Chapter D.A.R. (Chicago) prepared a List of Cemeteries in Cook - Lake - Will Counties Containing Graves of the Military Dead Who Served in the Wars of the United States. Ancestry ($) digitized this publication.

Church Records
Church records may give birth, death and marriage information. It is usually best to locate church records with a search at a local level such as the city, town, or village.


 * USGenWeb's list of Lake County Churches provides numerous church histories.

Catholic


 * Koenig, Harry Corcoran. A History of the Parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois: The Archdiocese, 1980. This two volume set includes indexes. The archdiocese covers Cook and Lake counties.


 * Koenig, Harry Corcoran. A History of the Institutions of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois: The Archdiocese, 1981. This two volume set includes indexes. The archdiocese covers Cook and Lake counties.

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.


 * 1857-1963 County Court Case File Index IRAD-NIU; search for Bureau County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)
 * 1840-1898 Lake County Circuit Court Case Files Index at Illinois State Archives


 * 1840-1898 Circuit Court Case Files IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)
 * 1857-1963 County Court Case Files IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)
 * 1930-1941 Jail Registers IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)

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

Genealogy
Federal Land Sales of residents of Lake County, Illinois have been annotated with genealogical and geographical information by Historic Millburn Community Association Incorporated. The material has been placed in an Online Historical Archives.

History

 * [1831–1857] McHenry and Lake County Old Settlers' Association members. Courtesy of Illinois Trails.

Land and Property
Original land records are held in the office of the County Clerk. See Illinois Land and Property for more information about using land records.

The following abstracts and copies of original records may be accessed online or through the Family History Library.

Copies of original records


 * 1834–1855 First land purchase maps
 * 1886, 1896 Land tax judgements, sales, redemptions and forfeitures

Online Resources


 * 1800s-Present - Use the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land Patent Index to obtain original federal land transfer records including homestead, military warrants, and cash entry patents. These records help a research establish location and lead to National Archives' records which may include genealogical information. Earlier land transfer records are housed at the National Archives.
 * 1800s-Present - Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales from Illinois State Archives also provides an index to federal land sales.
 * 1800s-Present - Federal Land Sales of residents of Lake County, Illinois have been also been annotated with genealogical and geographical information by the Historic Millburn Community Association Incorporated. The material has been placed in an Online Historical Archives.
 * 1796–1907 U.S. General Land Office Records found at Ancestry.com ($)
 * Illinois Public Land Purchase Records This record extract includes over 538,000 land sales from the 19th Century. Each entry includes the purchaser's name, purchase date, number of acres, price per acre, and in some cases the purchaser's sex and residence. Available at www.ancestry.com ($)
 * Federal Land Sales Buyers by Name courtesy Historic Millburn Community Association, Inc.
 * Lake County Federal Township Plats

Additional Resources

Additional resources for Lake County land and property may be found in the, and. Copies of records on FHL microfilm and microfiche can be ordered for viewing at Family History Centers. Copies of books found in the FamilySearch Catalog may be found in WorldCat catalog and ordered from your local library through interlibrary loan. Explore how to search the FamilySearch Catalog and the Worldcat Online Catalog.

Maps



 * Maps of Illinois (1788-1940)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Cook 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 Cook County.


 * - 8th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company A.
 * - 15th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
 * - 17th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company I.
 * - 37th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies C and F.
 * - 39th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company F.
 * - 51st Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company G.
 * - 64th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (Yates’ Sharpshooters), Company K.
 * - 65th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (Scotch Regiment), Company F.
 * - 96th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies B, C, D, and G.
 * - 144th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (1 year, 1864-65), Company F.
 * - 146th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company D.
 * - 147th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
 * - 153rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry (1 year, 1865), Company H.

Probate Records
Online Probate Records
 * 1772 - 1999 Illinois Wills and Probate Records 1772-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1819 - 1988 at FamilySearch.org — images

Original estates and wills are held in the office of the Circuit Court Clerk. See Illinois Probate Records for more information about using probate 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 Northern Illinois University (NIU) - search for Lake County records. For information on how to use IRAD see theNIU IRAD Wiki page.

Lake County Court Probates from 1840-1900 are available at Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) - Northern Illinois University Region located at Founders Memorial Library, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, or

There are almost 4000 probate folders in the boxes. You have to have a Box Number or you will not be able to locate the probate folder. The boxes have aprox 2 years of probate in them until you hit 1882. Some of the file folders are not in numeric order. Lake County Genealogical Society Quarterly. Libertyville IL: Mar 1987. Vol. 7 Iss. 3 index #1-200. Further Persi search has failed to locate an index to these files as of Mar2010.


 * 1840-1900 Probate Case Files IRAD-NIU


 * 1840-1963 Probate Case Files Index IRAD-NIU

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

Family History Centers
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.

You may search your address for a center near you on the FamilySearch site. The following centers serve Lake County:


 * Buffalo Grove Illinois Family History Center 3075 N. Buffalo Grove Rd. Buffalo Grove, Illinois 60089 Telephone: (847) 913-5387


 * Crystal Lake Illinois Family History Center 480 N Walkup Ave. Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014 Telephone: (815) 459-7475


 * Kenosha Wisconsin Family History Center 1444 30th Ave. Kenosha, Wisconsin 53144 Telephone: (262) 552-7816

Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD)
The Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRAD), managed by the Illinois State Archives, houses 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 Northern Illinois University (IRAD-NIU) holds the records for Lake County. Learn more about finding and using their records.


 * Illinois Regional Archives Depository c/o Regional History Center Founders Memorial Library, Room 400 Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL 60115 Telephone: (815) 753-1807

Vital Records
See Illinois Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Illinois. See also How to order Illinois Vital Records or order electronically online.

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Original birth and death certificates recorded until the year 1916 are kept by the Lake 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 usually kept by the County Clerk from the establishment of the county to the present. Original divorce records are generally in the office of the Circuit Court Clerk. The website of the Lake County Court Clerk explains how to order birth, marriage, civil union, death, and adoption records.

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

Birth Records
Copies of Original Birth Records


 * 1866-1893 Birth Records and Certificates IRAD-NIU
 * 1866–1875, 1877–1905 Birth records [only 7 certificates in 1866–187]
 * 1871–1905 Birth record index
 * 1877-1905 Birth Record Index IRAD-NIU
 * 1922-1941 County Hospital Birth Records IRAD-NIU

Marriage Records
Online Resources


 * 1763-1900 Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 at Illinois State Archives; Index
 * 1805-1985 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1810–1934 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1833-1889 at FamilySearch — index

Copies of original Marriage Records


 * 1839-1915 Marriage Records IRAD-NIU
 * 1893-1905 Marriage License Applications IRAD-NIU
 * 1839-1918 Marriage Record Index IRAD-NIU

Death Records
Online Resources


 * 1877-1901 Death Records IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)


 * 1916-1950 Database of Illinois Death Certificates, 1916-1950 at Illinois State Archives; Index

Copies of original Death Records


 * 1862–1918, 1933 Record of burial certificates of soldiers, sailors or Marines [only 1 for 1933]
 * 1877–1901 Deaths
 * 1916-1938 Death Record Index IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)
 * 1922-1972 County Hospital Death Records IRAD-NIU; search for Lake County Records. (Learn more about IRAD.)

Additional Resources
Additional resources for Lake County births, marriages and deaths may be found in the, the , and the topic pages of the FamilySearch Catalog. Copies of records on FHL microfilm and microfiche can be ordered for viewing at Family History Centers. Copies of books found in the FamilySearch Catalog may be found in WorldCat catalog and ordered from your local library through interlibrary loan. Explore how to search the FamilySearch Catalog and the Worldcat Online Catalog.

Web Sites

 * Lake County, IL History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Lake County IL Genealogy
 * Illinois Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Illinois Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Lake County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Lake County, Illinois Genealogy, Faces and Records Resources (familytree101)
 * Lake County, Illinois Genealogy, Faces and Records Resources (familytree101)