Madison County, Illinois Genealogy

United States Illinois  Madison County

County Courthouse
The County Of Madison County Board Office 157 North Main Street Suite 165 Edwardsville, IL. 62025

The County Clerk has records as follows:


 * births from 1860
 * marraiges from 181
 * deaths from 1878

Madison County's government web site has a page specifically explaining how to request records for genealogical research.

The Clerk of Circuit Court has divorce, probate and other court records.

Parent County

 * 1812--Madison County was created 14 September 1812 from St. Clair County. County seat: Edwardsville

Places / Localities
To see a list of places in Madison County, click on [Show], in the bar above. The preceding list of places includes incorporated cities and towns, unincorporated towns and communities, and place names that may have been used in family histories. Some have well-organized records and even have web sites. Some are simply social communities with no official records, but which may be referenced in small-town newspapers. The list is provided to help researchers identify localities within the county. As records or histories of these localities are identified, a page will be added for each of these place names.

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
The Cemeteries of Madison County, Illinois are documented in sixteen volumes of cemetery and tombstone inscription books prepared by the Madison County Genealogical Society. All sixteen volumes are available on-line at the Illinois Digital Archive. The volumes are organized by township, and are fully text searchable. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has burial records for Alton National Cemetery and other Veterans Affairs National Cemeteries around the country.

The Illinois Cemeteries page provides general explanations of the following additional online Madison County resources:

Census
Elsie Wasser's transcriptions of the Illinois State Census for 1845, 1855, and 1865 for Madison County are available on the Illinois Digital Archive site as part of the Madison County Genealogical Resources collection.

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, Madison County on page 187.]

City Directories

 * A transcription of The 1866 Madison County Directory (Genealogy trails) is available online. This directory is part of James T. Hair's Gazetteer of Madison County (Google Books). See p.161 for the County directory, p.205 for Alton, and p.239 for Upper Alton.
 * The St. Louis County Library has Alton City Directories 1858 and 1889-1935 available in their Special collections Department of the Main Headquarters Branch.

Land
A Gazetteer of Madison County, Containing Historical and Descriptive Sketches... (Google Books) published in 1866 by James T. Hair covers the geography and history of Madison County from the 1600's, and includes a directory of residents as of 1866. Also available on Ancestry ($).

Local Histories

 * The Madison County Genealogical Society publication A Complete Surname Index to the History of Madison County, Illinois is available on-line at the Illinois Digital Archive as part of the Madison County Genealogical Resources collection.
 * A fully-digitized copy of the original book, The History of Madison County, Illinois with Biographical Sketches of many Prominent Men and Pioneers, published in 1882 by W.R. Brink and Company, Edwardsville, Illinois, is available for free at Internet Archive and for a fee at the subscription sites Ancestry ($) and HeritageQuest Online ($).
 * Norton, William T. Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois, and Its People: 1812 to 1912. Chicago: Lewis Pub., 1912. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Maps
Maps of townships (Histopolis)

Military

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


 * - 59th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Company D.
 * - 97th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, Companies G and I.

Newspapers

 * Search the Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) database for a listing of historic newspapers available for Madison county.


 * The Edwardsville Spectator (1819-1826) is available on-line at genealogybank.com ($). Ancestry.com ($) has some issues of the Edwardsville Intelligencer from 1869-1977


 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line for the Madison County cities of Alton, Edwardville, and Troy. Some libraries including Hayner Public Library provide free access to this database. It is often listed under the name Access Newspaper Archive.

Probate
An unspecified number of Madison County probate records are available in.

Madison County Probate Case Files Index, 1813-1910, courtesy: Illinois State Archives.

Madison County Probate Case Files Index, 1813-1903, courtesy: Genealogy Trails.

Vital Records
Information about acquiring Madison County birth and death certificates and marriage licenses is available on the County Government site.

Births

 * ca. 1846-1916 Birth certificate index
 * 1846-1916 Birth reports First of 13 films.

There are a number of birth records on the ILGenWeb site.

Marriages

 * 1813-1908 Marriage index
 * 1813-1903 Marriage records First of 3 films.

Deaths

 * Pre-1916 Illinois Statewide Death Index
 * 1878-1915 Death index
 * Arranged by certificate number Death records First of 4 films.

There are a number of death records on the ILGenWeb site.

Societies and Libraries
Madison County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 631 Edwardsville, Illinois 62025-0631

The society maintains a library at the:

Edwardsville Public Library 112 S. Kansas Edwardsville, Illinois 62025 Phone: (618) 692-7556

Hayner Public Library located in Alton, Illinois has genealogical information including maps, city directories, marriage records and cemetery transcriptions in its Genealogy &amp; Local History Library.

Web Sites

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