Morgan County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois  Morgan County

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

Historical Facts
Morgan County is named for Daniel Morgan who was a General of the Revolution and was one of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the War.

Parent County

 * 1823--Morgan County was created 31 January 1823 from Sangamon County. County seat:  Jacksonville

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

Record Loss
December 6, 1827 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.

For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Burned Counties Research
 * http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=2424

Neighboring Counties

 * Brown
 * Cass
 * Greene
 * Macoupin
 * Pike
 * Sangamon
 * Scott

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 Morgan County and links to the information for the individuals buried there.


 * Morgan 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 Morgan 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.

Census

 * 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, Morgan County on page 187.]


 * 1850 Census


 * –1850 Census of Morgan County, IL at Rootsweb : Free; Index.


 * 1860 Census


 * –1860 Census of Morgan county, IL at Rootsweb : Free; Index

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
First index to Book B of Morgan County land records transcribed by Florance Huchison and online at GenWeb. Dates undetermined.

BLM GLO Records. Search original land patents for Morgan 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.

IRAD land holdings for Morgan County include Land patents 1825 to 1833 and taxable land lists 2836 to 1861.

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.

Military

 * Civil War Civil War service men from Morgan 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 Morgan County.


 * - 27th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company K
 * - 33rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies F and K.
 * - 34th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company G.
 * - 68th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company A.

Newspapers and Obituaries
Warren Haley's abstracts of thousands of obituaries published in Jacksonville newspapers between 1976 and 1996 are available online, courtesy: Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois.

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

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 Morgan 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

Birth Records
Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois offers the following free online birth indexes:


 * Delayed Birth Records Morgan County IL 1858 - 1878
 * Delayed Birth Records Murrayville Area Morgan County IL (1870s-1910)
 * Morgan County Births 1880, transcribed from the Jacksonville Journal by Myra N. Martin
 * Waverly Delayed Birth Records (1870s-1910s)

Marriage Records
Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois offers the following free online marriage indexes:


 * Morgan County, Illinois Marriages 1926 - June 1938 (sorted by grooms)
 * Morgan County, Illinois Marriages 1926 - June 1938 (sorted by brides)

Available through Ancestry.com $:


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

Death Records
Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois offers the following free online death indexes:


 * Death Dates Abstracted from Morgan County Estate Papers (1850s-1880s)
 * Morgan Death Records File#1, File#2
 * Death Dates Abstracted from an Administrators' Bond Book VI July 1849 to January 1861 Morgan County IL (abstracted by Florence Hutchison)
 * Coroner's Inquest Book A - Starting 1869
 * WWII Deaths from Morgan County, Illinois
 * Anderson Funeral Home Records: 1840-1849, 1850-1854, 1864-1865, 1865-1869

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Jacksonville Illinois Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Morgan County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Morgan Area Genealogy (Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois) ****One of the best sites about Morgan County Genealogy. Includes Cemeteries, Census, Church Records, Civil War Records, Deeds, Funeral Home Records, Local Histories, Naturalizations, Obituaries, Old Settler Society Records, Probate Records, School Records, State Hospital Admissions, Tax Lists, Vital Records
 * Morgan Area Genealogy (Researching Your Roots in Central Illinois) ****One of the best sites about Morgan County Genealogy. Includes Cemeteries, Census, Church Records, Civil War Records, Deeds, Funeral Home Records, Local Histories, Naturalizations, Obituaries, Old Settler Society Records, Probate Records, School Records, State Hospital Admissions, Tax Lists, Vital Records