Spotlight on Vermilion County, Illinois

Vermilion County is located in east central Illinois.  It was formed in 1826 and has been its present size since 1859. It was named for the Vermilion River which passes through the county on its way to the Wabash River.

Birth and death records have been kept since 1877 (some earlier birth records still exist).  Marriage records, Probate files and Land Records date to the founding of the county.  Many of the early records may be found on FamilySearch.org.

The courthouse is located in the county seat of Danville and their website is vercounty.org.  Vital records may also be found at the IRAD depository at Illinois State University. Other county records housed at the IRAD are school records, police dockets and Justice of the Peace dockets.

The Danville Public Library in Danville contains many genealogical records relating to Vermilion County and surrounding areas.   https://danvillepubliclibrary.org/genealogy-resources-online/ .  The Illiana Genealogical and Historical Society may be reached at ighs@sbcglobal.net 

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Note: This was originally published in the "County Spotlight" column in the Illinois State Genealogical Society Newsletter (January 2021).  

Tip - How do I find my ancestors who lived in the city?

 

One good place to look is in City Directories.  These were usually published annually and contain information about residents of a given city.   While most large cities had directories, often smaller towns would publish one as well.  Occasionally, a county would publish a similar type of directory.

Information in a city directory often included the address of the person, their telephone number (in later directories), and their occupation.  While all included the name of the head of household, some also listed the wife’s name.  City directories were often arranged in both an alphabetical and a geographical listing.  Thus, it was easy to tell who the neighbors were.  Businesses were also listed in the geographical listing.  Often, local businesses would advertise in the directory, so be sure to look in the advertisements if your ancestor owned a business. 

Because directories were published yearly, they can be helpful in tracking people between census years.  If someone “disappears” from a directory, they may have moved to another location or died. 

City Directories can be found online at Family Search, Archive.org or Ancestry.  Again, they could be for a large city such as Chicago, or smaller cities such as Peoria, Moline, Princeton or Shelbyville.  Another good place to find city directories is at the local library in the city of interest.  Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library also has a large collection of directories from around Illinois.

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Note: This was originally published in the "Tips from the Genealogy Committee" column in the Illinois State Genealogical Society Newsletter (January 2021).  While these tips were written for those researching Illinois ancestors, many of the principles can be applied to other locations.