WHERE TO RESEARCH!


Sangamon County Courthouse
200 S. 9th Street
Springfield, IL 62701
Phone: (217) 753-6600

County Clerk has Birth and Death records from 1877 and Marriage records from 1821. Fee for a copy of a Marriage license is $12.00. They will not accept a personal check.



Sangamon County Genealogical Society
P. O. Box 1829
Springfield, IL 62705-1829

The Society has published many books of Sangamon County Records. A listing can be found if you click on the name above. They wlll also perform limited research for a small donation. Please write for information.



Illinois State Archives
Norton Building
Springfield, IL  62756 
Phone: (217) 782-4682

The Archives holds death certificates from 1916 -1946 (not sure on the ending date).  Request a search for one individual or a print-out of all of one surname from the microfiche.

The Archives also houses all the IL Census 1810-1920; Military records, including some Revolutionary microfilm; War of 1812; BlackHawk; Mexican; Civil War; Spanish- American War, WWI draft registrations; and Korean; Files of the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home (1887-1961) and Illinois Widow's Home (1896-1960); Records from National Home in Danville (1898-1934); and the publication "Honor Roll of Veterans Buried in Illinois". FIRST purchasers of Land from federal or state are indexed and print-outs can be obtained.

Some of these records are available through Inter-libray loan, including several state and federal censuses; War indexes and a Census records index for 1810-1855, through your local library.

Copy fees are $1.00 for legal size, 50 cents for regular. They request a person buy a Coupon voucher for $5.00 when first submitting a request. This voucher is good for two years and can be used for future copies when submitting it with future requests.

The IL State Capital Bldg. is on 2nd and Capitol Sts, faces 2nd St. The Norton Bldg. is just south of the Capital, easy walking distance.



Illinois Regional Archives Depository  (IRAD )
Brookens Library, LIB 144
P. O. Box 19243,

University of Illinois at Springfield
Springfield, IL 62794
(217) 786-6520
Hours open: M-F: 9:00am-5:00pm, with exception of holidays when the University is closed.

IRAD is Illinois Regional Archives Depository and is located in Brookens Library, University of IL at Springfield.  One can get there by going South on Interstate 55 south of Springfield, exit Toronto Road, East and follow the signs to University. It is a few miles from downtown.

Sangamon Holdings at IRAD, for a listing of the records of Sangamon County.

IRAD is a depository for County and City governments who do not have room and who wish to preserve their respective County records. IRAD is located in seven Universities throughout the State of Illinois. Sangamon County records are located at Brookens Library, University of IL in Springfield, as well as the surrounding Counties of Menard; Cass; Morgan; Macoupin, Christian, Montgomery, Macon and others. Records that are housed in IRAD are Local governments records; county board proceedings; records of births, deaths, and marriages; land deeds, mortgages and tax sale records; assessors' and collectors' tax books; pollbooks and vote registers; naturalization records; probate records, including wills, case files, administrator's and exectors' records guardinaship records, and inventory and apprasiment records; court case files, chancery cases (including divorce), docket books and court proceedings and insanity proceedings files and records; coroners' inquest records and inquest files; miscellanous county records incuding alms house/county home records and jail records.
County holdings in IRAD differ per County, depending on what the respective County sends to IRAD. For instance, you could find marriages for one county but not for another. A computer listing of the holdings for each County is available upon request at no charge. Their is no research fee, but there is a copying fee of a minimum of $1.00 (10 pages), all over 10 are 10 cents each.

IRAD welcomes your mail and telephone requests concerning genealogy and local history, but please include this information: full name of the person you are researching; approximate year this person is expected to appear in a record; name of the county; recod title or type to search. Please limit inquiries to two names at a time and wait until you've received a response to your first request before submitting additional ones.



Illinois State Vital Records
Division of Vital Records
535 West Jefferson Street
Springfield, IL 62761
(217) 782-6553 or (800) 547-0466

One can obtain copies of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces at this office. IL Adoption Registry is at this address, also. There are many rules/regulations governing each of these records, so one should click on the link above and research what they are intereted in. Copies were $10. for uncertified and $15.00 for certified, but I am not certain these still apply. Please refer to the link above.



Lincoln Library
Sangamon Valley Collection
7th & Monroe Sts.
Springfield, IL 62701
Lincoln Library with Sangamon Valley Collection is located corner of 7th & Monroe Sts. just a few blocks from downtown.  Lincoln Library houses microfilms of all early and present issues of Springfield newspapers. They have an Obituary Index Card file from the IL State Journal & Register which is published in Springfield. They charge 25 cents a copy.
This is a repository for the Sangamon County Genealogical Society, so most of their publications can be found here. The library also has the County Histories and various other publications re Springfield and Sangamon County.



The Family History Center 
3601 Buckeye Drive 
Springfield, IL 62703
Phone: 217-585-1294
Hours: Tuesdays 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Wednesdays 9:00 - 3:00 pm and 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Saturdays 9:00 - 3:00 pm


Illinois State Historical Library
The Old State Capital which houses the IL State Historical Library is right in the middle of downtown Springfield, between 5th and 6th Sts,  Adams and Washington Sts.

Parking is available in the underground public garage beneath the Old State Capitol Plaza. The library houses 170,000 books and pamphlets, 3,000 maps and 1200 periodical series. Major collections relate to individuals, cities and towns, agriculture, industry, religion and transportation. They house many Illinois County Histories as well as books covering many other States. DAR books are available for research here. There are many family genealogies and a variety of materials on the Civil War (both Union and Confederate) , the Northwest Territory, overland journeys, and Midwestern settlement. The earliest maps in the Library collection date from the mid-1700s. Of particular note are pre-statehood maps of the the Great Lakes, Northwest and Louisiana territories, and the US east of the Mississippi River. They house over 5,000 manuscript collections containing letters, business ledgers, diaries, and organizational record, major holdings relate to frontier travel and settlement, agriculture, the Civil War, medical care, women's studies and labor and social history.

The Library's Lincoln Collection is the most complete holding of Abraham Lincoln's pre-presential materials. Newspaper Micofilm and second copies of books may be borrowed on Inter-Library Loan from your local library. Photographs, films, manuscripts and Lincol materials are not loaned.

Re research request, the Library staff will respond to requests for specific information from the collection. Each request from non-Illinois residents must be accompanied by a $5. fee. Photocopies of materials can be provided for a nominal fee.

The Historical Library does not hold census or local records, such as birth and death certificates.

NEWSPAPER MICROFILM- The library house newspapers statewide for Illinois and will search for obits.  The charges are more for out-of-state researchers. One does need an exact death date, not just a year.
Address is:

Illinois State Historical Library
%Newspaper Microfilm
Old State Capitol Plaza
Springfield, IL  62756

IN-STATE RESEARCHERS

1.  Request no more than two searches per letter.

2.  Include a non-refundable payment of $1 to cover related copy costs.  We do not recommend sending cash, but rather encourage payment by check or money order payable to Illinois State Historical Society.

3.  Do not send another request until we have responded to your first one.

4.  Give specific information.  Obituary requests must provide full name and exact date and place--month, day, and year as well as city and county--of death.  Please type or print legibly.

5.  If you do not have the specific information needed for a reasonable search by our staff, you may borrow our newspapers on microfilm via interlibrary loan through your local library to do your own research.

6.  If our search is unsuccessful, you will be notified of that fact.

7.  Each letter of request must include a self-addressed, stamped business- size envelope.

 Guidelines for Non-Illinois residents, effective January 1, 1996.

1.  Request no more than four searches per letter.

2.  Include a non-refundable payment of $10 for each search requested.  We do not recommend sending cash, but rather encourage payment by check or money order payable to Illinois State Historical Society.

3.  Do not send another  letter of request(s) until we have responded to your first one.

4.  Give specific information.  Obituary requests must provide full name and exact date and place--month, day, and year as well as city and county--of death.  Please type or print legibly.

5.  If you do not have the specific information needed for a reasonable search by our staff, you may borrow our newspapers on microfilm via interlibrary loan through your local library to do your own research.

6.  If our search is unsuccessful, you will be notified of that fact.

7.  Each letter of request must include a self-addressed, stamped business- size envelope.

Library Hours:
8:30 am to 5:00 pm - Monday through Friday
8:30 am to 4:30 pm Saturdays (Reference and Newspaper departments only)
Closed on State holidays, holiday weekends and the last two Saturday in December.




Back to Sangamon County ILGenWeb page