Brown County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois Brown County

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

Historical Facts


Brown County is named for who was a Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the early 1800's.

Boundary Changes

 * 1 February 1839: -- Brown County was created from Schuyler County. 


 * Interactive map of Brown County boundary changes.

Record Loss
8 March 1939: Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.

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


 * Burned Counties Research

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


 * Brown 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.

Census
For information and tips on using and accessing online census records, see Illinois Census.

Federal

 * 1840 federal census of Brown County, Illinois, pub. 200?
 * 1850 Brown County, Illinois federal census, pub. 1983
 * Illinois 1870 census index, Brown County, pub. 1997
 * 1880 federal census, Brown County, Illinois: complete, indexed; pub. 2003
 * Ancestry.com (FI$)
 * heritagequestonline.com (LAR)

State

 * Illinois State Census, 1825-1865 Ancestry.com (FI$)

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, Brown County on page 186.]

Church History and Records
Some additional resources for Brown County, Illinois church recordscan be found in the WorldCat library which can be ordered through interlibrary loan at your local library. Explore how to search the Worldcat Online Catalog.

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

History

 * Biographical Review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing Biographical Sketches of Pioneers and Leading Citizens. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1892. Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Genealogy Trails; Internet Archive; USGenWeb (partial).

Military History and Records

 * 1943–1950 Military Discharge Record IndexIllinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD)
 * 1901–1951 Military Discharge RecordIllinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Brown 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 Brown County.


 * - 50th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company H.
 * - 84th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company D.

Newspapers
For local newspapers, please check local town.

Poorhouses
Brown County Almshouse Registers Index, 1882-1963, courtesy: Illinois State Archives

Probate Records
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 Western Illinois University (WIU) - search for Brown County records. For information on how to use IRAD see the WIU IRAD Wiki page.

Online Resources


 * 1829-1902 An unspecified number of are available at the Family Search Records online database. The collection does not have an every name index, but the images are available to browse and may have indexes within each volume.


 * Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) Collection

The following records may be accessed through: IRAD-Western Illinois University (WIU) and search for Brown County records. For information on how to use IRAD see the IRAD Wiki page


 * 1841-1872 Circuit Court Fee Books
 * 1850-1867 Probate Fee Books


 * Family History Library Collection

1819-1902 Probate records, 1819-1902; index to probate files


 * Administrators' records, 1849-1936
 * Executors's records, vols. B-E, 1869-1928
 * Miscellaneous probate records, 1879-1903, 1908 (1), 1913 (1), 1914 (2), 1917 (1)
 * Probate records, 1844-1922; indexes, ca. 1844-1964
 * Probate related records, vols. AA-27, 1839-1923
 * Wills, 1869-1927
 * Will packets, ca. 1873-1963


 * SAMPUBCO - Index of testators of wills.

Repositories

 * Inventory of the county archives of Illinois, no. 5, Brown County (Mt. Sterling), Historical Records Survey; pub. 1938


 * County Courthouse

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


 * Family History Center


 * Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD-WIU)

For information and tips, see IRAD-Western Illinois University.


 * Public Libraries

Marriages

 * Hoffman, Laurie. Early Marriages -- Brown County Illinois 1839 - 1850, courtesy: ILGenWeb

Some of the Family History Library's Collection of Brown County marriages have been digitized:.

Websites

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