Mercer County, IllinoisEdit This Page
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| Mercer County, Illinois | |
| Map | |
| |
 Location of Illinois in the U.S. | |
| Facts | |
| Founded: | January 13, 1825 |
|---|---|
| County Seat | Aledo |
| Courthouse | |
 | |
| Address | Mercer County Courthouse P.O. Box 66 Aledo, IL 61231 309-582-7021 Mercer County Website |
 |
This Illinois-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. While this page is under construction, may we suggest Cyndi's List. |
Illinois Mercer County
Mercer County Organization
Mercer County's civil records start the following years:
| Beginning Dates for Mercer County Records | |||||
| Birth | Marriage | Death | Census | Land | Probate |
| 1877 |
1835 |
1877 |
1830 |
1834 |
1837 |
County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Mercer County are kept, see the Mercer County Courthouse page.
Historical Facts
Parent County
- 1825--Mercer County was created 13 January 1825 from unorganized territory and Pike County. County seat: Aledo [2]
Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Mercer County boundary changes.
Places / Localities
Populated Places
Neighboring Counties
- Des Moines County, Iowa
- Henderson
- Henry
- Knox
- Louisa County, Iowa
- Muscatine County, Iowa
- Rock Island
- Warren
Records and Resources
Biography
- The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois has a Mercer County edition. This includes a state history section along with a county history and biographies of Mercer 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 Mercer County and links to the information for the individuals buried there.
- Mercer 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 records of cemeteries in Mercer County. Some of the books or others may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.
- ePodunk list of Mercer 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
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 20,945 | ||
| 1910 | 19,723 | −5.8% | |
| 1920 | 18,800 | −4.7% | |
| 1930 | 16,641 | −11.5% | |
| 1940 | 17,701 | 6.4% | |
| 1950 | 17,374 | −1.8% | |
| 1960 | 17,149 | −1.3% | |
| 1970 | 17,294 | 0.8% | |
| 1980 | 19,286 | 11.5% | |
| 1990 | 17,290 | −10.3% | |
| 2000 | 16,957 | −1.9% | |
| 2010 | 16,434 | −3.1% | |
| IL Counties 1900-1990 | |||
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. FHL 973 X2pc 1840; FHL 2321; digital version at Google Books. [See Illinois, Mercer County on page 187.]
Church Records
Court Records
Ethnic Research
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
History
Local Histories
- History of Mercer and Henderson Counties Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc. Chicago, Illinois: H.H. Hill and Company, 1882. FHL fiche 6071026; digital versions at Ancestry ($), and Internet Archive (free)
- Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Mercer County. Chicago: Munsell Pub. Co., 1903. Digital version at Ancestry ($).
Land and Property
Abstracts
- 1935 Thomas, Clarence C. Township plat book of Mercer County, Illinois: supplement of the official directory of Mercer County 1935. [S.l. : s.n., 19--]. Other libraries (WorldCat) FHL book 977.3395 R2t
Copies of original records
- 1834–1901 Deed Index IRAD–WIU
- 1834–1901 Deed Record IRAD–WIU
- 1834–1954 Entry Books IRAD–WIU
- 1979 Land atlas and plat book Other libraries (WorldCat) FHL book 977.3395 R2m
Maps
Military
Civil War
Civil War service men from Mercer 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 Mercer County.
- - 17th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
- - 26th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company C.
- - 27th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company G.
- - 30th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies A and G.
- - 37th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company A.
- - 45th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
- - 65th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (Scotch Regiment), Company B.
- - 83rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company D.
- - 84th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company H.
- - 102nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies A, C, E, G and K.
Naturalization
Newspapers and Obituaries
- NewspaperArchive.com ($) has historical newspapers online including Burlington, Iowa newspapers dating back to the mid 1800's that may have included Mercer County residents. This database is free at some libraries.
Poorhouse
- Mercer County Almshouse Registers Index, 1859-1948, courtesy: Illinois State Archives
- 1859–1986 Almshouse Registers IRAD–WIU
Probate Records
Repositories
County Courthouse
County records are most often kept at the County Courthouse or another local repository. For further information about where the records for Mercer County are kept, see the Mercer County Courthouse page.
Family History Center
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. Western Illinois University houses the records for Mercer County.
Public Libraries
Social Groups Online
Societies
The Essley-Noble Museum located at 1406 SE 2nd Ave. in Aledo Illinois is a friendly and well staffed genealogy resource for those researching Mercer County.
They specialize in having an INDEXED cross-referenced obituary collection going back to the early publication dates for the local papers. They also have microfilms available for these papers. They just completed (2010) a project for all the cemeteries in the county which contains GPS locations, which is particularly useful when trying to locate the small and hidden cemeteries in the townships.
Their current project is collecting civil war veteran photos, biographies, histories from Illinois, specifically in Mercer County.
Although the genealogy section is in a corner of the Museum it is well worth the visit. The majority of the building is devoted to collections of period attire, house wares and other antiques.
Visit their web site at mcmuseum@frontier.com for current hours (the volunteers currently staff the facility three days a week) and other details. The mailing address is PO Box 269 Aledo, IL 81231,
Taxation
Vital Records
Births
Marriages
Deaths
Web Sites
References
- ↑ Hugh Mercer www.wikipedia.org
- ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, UT: Everton Publishers, 2002), 196. (FHL Collection Ref Book 973 D27e 2002). WorldCat entry.
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