Links for White County and the
State of Illinois
Under revision 12/2007
ADDRESSES OF AREA LIBRARIES AND HOURS
(updated May 2001, call before you drive)

WHITE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY GENEALOGY LIBRARY
203 N. Church, Carmi
Features--copies of Shain and Land papers and Carl Shelton Database, obit scrapbooks and transcriptions, surname files, trained volunteer staff, selection of books for sale
Hours--Tuesday - Friday 11:30am - 4:30 pm or by appointment
Email--cbconly@midwest.net

CARMI PUBLIC LIBRARY
Main and Slocumb, Carmi 382-5277
Features--Harriet Vaught collection and Margaret Davis Land workbooks
Hours--Monday-Thursday Noon-8 pm; Friday Noon-6pm; Saturday 11am-5 pm
Email: carmilib@midwest.net (no genealogy inquiries)

NORRIS CITY MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Highway 45 South, Norris City, 378-3713
Features--Ira Shain workbooks
Hours--same as Carmi

GRAYVILLE CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY
110 W Mill, Grayville, 375-7121
Features--Obit scrapbooks and funeral card collection
Hours--Mon & Wed 10 am-7:30 pm; Tues & Thurs 2:30-730 pm; Friday 2:30-6:30 pm; Sat 10 am-2 pm

ALBION PUBLIC LIBRARY
6 N 4th, Albion 445-3314
Did not have a good genealogy section the last time I visited
Hours vary, closed Thursday

EDWARDS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY GENEALOGY LIBRARY
212 W. Main, Albion
Hours--6:30 pm - 9:30 pm Thursday or by appointment
email--melrose@wworld.com (Terry Harper, 445-3433)

MT. CARMEL PUBLIC LIBRARY
731 Mulberry, Mt. Carmel 263-3531
Features--recent listing of all county cemeteries and tombstones, reference books
Hours--Similar to Carmi

FAIRFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY
300 SE 2nd, Fairfield 842-4516
Features--Nice selection of family histories and recent obits
Hours--Similar to Carmi except open until 8:30 pm Mon-Thurs

BREHM MEMORIAL LIBRARY
101 S. 7th, Mt. Vernon, IL 242-6322
Features--Multiple copies of many items, concentrating on migration patterns to and from Illinois, has obituary index and surname files.
Hours--Mon-Thurs 9am - 8pm, Fri 9am - 5 pm, Saturday Noon - 4pm, Sunday 1pm - 5pm

GENEALOGY SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
John A. Logan College, Carterville, 800-851-4720
Features--Wide selection of books for sale for many parts of Southern Illinois, trained volunteers on Tuesday mornings
Call to confirm library hours--Monday - Thursday 7:30 am - 9:00 pm; Friday 7:30 am - 4:30 pm; Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm

MCCOY MEMORIAL LIBRARY
W Side Square, McLeansboro, 643-2125
Features--Legacy of Kin Volumes I and II, genealogy section open Mon-Thurs 11 am - 4 pm, Fri 1-4 pm (new hours in 1998)
Hours--Mon-Fri 11 am - 5 pm exc Thurs to 7 pm, Sat 8 am - 5 pm

SHAWNEETOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY
320 N Lincoln, Shawneetown, 269-3761
Hours--Tues & Fri 10 am - 5 pm, Wed 1-5 pm, Thurs 1-7 pm, Sat 10 am - 2 pm

SALINE COUNTY GENEALOGY SOCIETY LIBRARY
In Old Fire Station, Locust St, Harrisburg (Call Hobie 252-3761)
Features--Books for sale, trained volunteers
Hours--Mon-Fri 8am - Noon

ELDORADO PUBLIC LIBRARY
1001 Grant, Eldorado, 273-7922
Features--Good selection of books for Saline, Hamilton, Hardin and area counties
Hours--similar to Carmi

INTERNET RESOURCES

These are taken from my presentations in the Fall of 1998, and tend to duplicate the list above.  Again, they might work good as a handout about genealogy on the web--what they were developed as--or for beginning internet users.

WHITE COUNTY GENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilwhite2/

HAMILTON COUNTY GENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilhamilt/

GALLATIN COUNTY GENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilgalla2/

EDWARDS COUNTY GENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~iledward/

SALINE COUNTY GENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsaline/

WILLARD LIBRARY, EVANSVILLE  http://www.willard.lib.in.us/

JON'S SOUTHERN ILLINOIS HISTORY HOMEPAGE
http://www.illinoishistory.com

WHITE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilwcohs

GENEALOGY SOCIETY OF WHITE COUNTY  http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilgswc

GENEALOGY SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS http://jal.cc.il.us/

ILLINOIS HISTORIC PRESERVATION AGENCY http://www.state.il.us/hpa

INFOBAHN OUTFITTERS ILLINOIS HISTORY LISTINGS http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/history/

CARMI ONLINE http://www.cityofcarmi.com

McLEANSBORO ONLINE http://www.mcleansboro.com

ILLINOIS GENWEB ARCHIVES http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/il/ilfiles.htm

GENSEARCHER--GENEALOGY SEARCH ENGINE http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/8310/gensearcher.html

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH http://www.idph.state.il.us/vital/vitalhome.htm

INDIANA STATE LIBRARY GENEALOGY PAGE Has database of pre-1850 marriages
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/indiana/genealogy/mirr.html

TIGER MAP SITE  http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html

ILLINOIS STATE ARCHIVES http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/cgi-bin/archives
Be sure to check out their online databases (accessible from the bottom of this page) which include Public Domain Land Sale Records, Database of Illinois Civil War Veterans, Database of Illinois Spanish-American War Veterans.  Some of the Sec of State info is still at www.sos.state.il.us while others are at www.cyberdriveillinois.com

ILLINOIS REGIONAL ARCHIVES DEPOSITORIES (IRAD) Includes a searchable database of holdings http://www.sos.state.il.us/depts/archives/serv_loc.html

NARA's GREAT LAKES REGION (CHICAGO) http://www.nara.gov/regional/chicago.html

ILLINOIS HISTORY RESOURCE PAGE http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~sorensen/hist.html

ILLINOIS STATE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsgs/

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY http://www.prairienet.org/ishs/

ILLINOIS USGENWEB PROJECT http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilgenweb/

CHICAGO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY http://www.chgogs.org

  Mt Carmel Library http://www.sirin.lib.il.us/docs/mcp/docs/lib/gen&hist.htm

White County Political Graveyard  http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/WT.html

Seitz Construction Southern Illinois home page--says nice things about me  http://www.seitzweb.com/history.htm

Pat Davis Homepage with lots of IL info http://www.angelfire.com/il/patdavis/

William Newby Story--this is a story of a soldier returning to Mill Shoals Twp, White County, IL after the Civil War, when he was supposedly killed, and people not being sure if he is Newby or a friend he met in the war. Richard Gere and Jodie Foster were in a movie about a similar case several years ago, called Summersby. http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/newby.html

Early American Presbyterians--A good page for the Scotch-Irish among us http://sdsspc1.physics.lsa.umich.edu/amckay/presintr.htm There is also a site sponsored by the Primitive Baptist Library in Western Illinois, http://www.carthage.lib.il.us/community/churches/primbap/FamHist-White.html

 Cool list of Illinois cemeteries and other information from the Illinois State Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsgs/

There is lots of Lincoln-related activity going on in the state, including improvements at the Lincoln Home National Site in Springfield and the building of a new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Downtown Springfield. A heritage tourism project which includes several Illinois cities is called http://www.lookingforlincoln.com

EMAIL TO THE IL STATE ARCHIVES FOR FREE DEATH RECORDS REQUESTS secryan@ccgate.sos.state.il.us  This is supposed to be a state clearing house for death certificates. Please remember when you are looking for a death certificates that they were not required before the 1930s, although urban areas may have used them as far back as the 1870s.

There are many other commercial and family oriented sites, as well as those established by software companies and research organizations. A few libraries have their catalogs online, either through the internet or older bulletin board systems (BBS).  The Library of Congress, National Archives, and Bureau of Land Management all have interesting sites. You may also wish to subscribe to mailing lists for your counties or families which are supported by the USGENWEB. The SSDI and many personal home pages are also available, as well as email newsletters from Everton's and Ancestry. Stay away from anything like familydiscovery or gentruth, and I'm not sure about genseekers.

Lineages  http://www.lineages.com/usa/IL/WhiteCounty.html A commerical site

The Coordinator for the White County, Illinois US GenWeb page is Cindy Birk Conley

Created by Laurel Crook, 10 Aug 1998

Last Updated 15 January 2008

Copyright ©1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Laurel Crook  and  Cindy Birk Conley, all rights reserved. For personal use only. Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictly prohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright notice must appear with the information.