McHenry County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois  McHenry County

Parent County
McHenry County was created 16 January 1836 from Cook County. County seat:  Woodstock Historically, all or part of the present county were parts of the following counties :

1831–1836  Cook 1831–1836   LaSalle 1825–1831   Putnam 1823–1825   Fulton 1821–1823   Pike 1819–1821   Clark 1816–1819   Crawford 1815–1816   Edwards 1812–1815   Madison 1801–1812   St. Clair 1795–1801   Knox, Northwest Territory

Neighboring Counties

 * Boone
 * Cook
 * DeKalb
 * Kane
 * Kenosha County, Wisconsin
 * Lake
 * Walworth County, Wisconsin

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

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

Military

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


 * - 52nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company I.
 * - 95th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies A, C, D, F, H, and I.

Newspapers
Marriages, 1880-1979 -- These indexes represent a list of couples whose notice of marriage license issued, or marriage performed or wedding conducted, or news items for anniversaries celebrated, appeared in the weekly Crystal Lake Herald newspaper. Information was not necessarily limited to residents of Crystal Lake and/or Nunda Township. Researchers should look for variant spellings within each index. The Index, broken down by 10 year intervals, gives:


 * Bride’s name
 * Groom’s name
 * Issue date and page
 * Code

Obituaries
The following indexes represent a list of deceased individuals whose notice of death appeared in the weekly Crystal Lake Herald newspaper. Information was gleaned from obituaries, death notices, police reports, and newspaper articles and is not necessarily limited to residents of Crystal Lake and/or Nunda Township. It was not unusual for a death notice to appear months and even years after the event, particularly in the case of war dead. Researchers should scan several indexes when searching for the name of a specific individual and look for variant spellings within each index.


 * Index to deaths appearing in the Herald 1880-1890
 * Index to deaths appearing in the Herald 1891-1895
 * Index to deaths appearing in the Herald 1896-1900
 * Index to deaths appearing in Nunda Herald 1901-1903
 * Index to deaths appearing in Nunda Herald 1904-1905
 * Index to deaths appearing in Nunda Herald 1906-1910
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1911-1915
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1916-1920
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1921-1925
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1926-1930
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1931-1935
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1936-1940
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1941-1945
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1946-1950
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1951-1955
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1956-1960
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1961-1965
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1966-1969
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1970-1973
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1974-1976
 * Index to deaths appearing in CL Herald 1977-1979

Voter Registration
The 1877 Biographical Directory of the Tax-payers and Voters of McHenry County includes listings of men registered to vote or who paid taxes in 1877. Some listings include brief biographies giving his occupation, the date and place of birth for both the man and his wife, their marriage date, and the number of children.

Crystal Lake Public Library
126 Paddock Street Crystal Lake, IL 60014 815.459.1687 815.459.9581 fax

The Crystal Lake Public Library has a genealogy collection that is helpful in McHenry County research. On-line resources include indexes to the the Lake Avenue, Mt. Thabor, and Union cemeteries.

Illinois State Historical Society
P.O. Box 1800 Springfield, IL 62705-1800 217/525-2781

The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1950-2006)

Illinois Heritage (1997-2008)

Marengo-Union Library
200 S. State St. Marengo, Illinois 60152 815/568-8236

Woodstock Public Library
414 W. Judd St, Woodstock, IL 60098 815/338-0542

A significant genelogical resource available through the Woodstock Public Library's Genealogy and Local History web site is the on-line searchable Woodstock Surname Index, an every-name index of 13 local history publications. Many of the library's local history pamphlets and local ephemera have been digitized are available on the LookAtIllinois web site. How to Research Your Old House is an excellent research guide to library collections and county records.

The library has made its local historic photos collection available on-line through Flickr, in the Woodstock Illinois Historic Photographs collection.

Reference librarians are very knowledgeable about Woodstock-area genealogical resources, and are accessible through the library's Contact Us on-line reference request form.

Crystal Lake Historical Society
PO Box 1151 Crystal Lake, IL 60039-1151

The Crystal Lake Historical Society is located in the Colonel Palmer House at the intersection of Illinois Route 176 and Terra Cotta Road in Crystal Lake. Their Research/Archives Room resources include newspapers from 1875, published county and local histories, atlases, maps and family files. On-line resources include the Index to Death Notices/Obituaries in the Nunda/Crystal Lake Herald, which provides details of name, age, date of death and date of burial for more than 33,000 people, dating back to 1875.

Web Sites

 * McHenry County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * McHenry County, Illinois Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)