Welcome

Jefferson County, Illinois Genealogy project is a free genealogical site about the people and history of this county.

We are a part of the ILGenWeb Project which is also a member of the USGenWeb Project. You can click on the logos at the top to be taken to these websites.

We hope you find helpful clues for your research of ancestors and relatives of Jefferson county.

On December 3, 1818, Illinois was admitted as the twenty-first state of the Union. Just a few months later on March 26, 1819, Jefferson County was organized by the settlers in the area.

Early History of Jefferson County, IL

Early History of Mt. Vernon, IL

Jefferson County Courthouse
100 South 10th Street, Room 105
Mt. Vernon, IL 62864
Phone: 618-244-8020 ext 3 then option 1 for County Clerk's Department (vital records)
Website: https://jeffersoncounty.illinois.gov/

The photo to the right is the 5th District Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon which hears cases appealed from trial courts in 48 counties (Alexander, Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Macon, Madison, Marion, Massac, Monroe, Montgomery, Moultrie, Perry, Piatt, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, Saline, Shelby, St. Clair, Union, Vermillion, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, White, and Williamson).

Please consider contributing your pieces of Jefferson county family history. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED. Our combined efforts can make this a great site for all who visit!

Corrections, updates, and additions to this site are always welcome. Web sites go away and website addresses change. Please contact me if you find a broken link on Jefferson county web pages.

The Current Jefferson County Coordinator is:
Sandy Bauer
(born in Mt. Vernon)

Past County Coordinators:
2005-2022 Cindy Ford
1997-2004 Misty Flannigan

Thanks to our past County Coordinators for all the hard work they put into creating and maintaining this website with help from volunteers who so generously contributed information, documents and photos. We lost Mistry Flannigan in 2004 to sudden death and Cindy Ford resigned in 2022 due to ongoing internet access problems.

Memorials Page...to those we have lost

Note: offsite links will open in a new tab in your web browser

Join us on Facebook too --> Jefferson County, Illinois Genealogy Group

The Rootsweb Mailing Lists Archives were shut down on April 6, 2023. Our Facebook group is a great way to share photos and genealogy information.

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Jefferson County
mailing list archives

IL USGenWeb Archives

USGenWeb Archives

Formation of Jefferson County (from 1883 History of Jefferson Co, IL book)

The population of Jefferson county in the 2020 census was 37,113.

Jefferson County on Familysearch.org (create a free account to search all the records they have available.)
Search images of records for Jefferson County that have not yet been indexed on Familysearch.org
Illinois State Archives - Includes online databases for:
1. Illinois Servitude and Emancipation Records
2. Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database
3. Physicians Database
4. Databases of Illinois Veterans
5. 1929 Illinois Roll of Honor
6. Illinois Black Hawk War Veterans
7. Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls
8. Illinois Civil War Veterans of Missouri Units
9. Illinois Civil War Veterans Serving in the U.S. Navy
10. Illinois Mexican War Veterans
11. Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home Residents
12. Illinois Spanish–American War Veterans
13. Illinois Veterans' History Project
14. Illinois War of 1812 Veterans
15. Illinois Winnebago War Veterans
16. Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre–1916
17. Illinois Statewide Death Index (1916–1972)
18. Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900

Historical Books on Jefferson County now online:

(Note these books have many pages so they take extra time to load in your browser. They can be downloaded in PDF format to your computer)

History of Jefferson County, IL by William Henry Perrin - 1883

If you have slower internet connection you may wish to sign in to your free FamilySearch.org account and view the digital version of these books page by page here (you need to have an account but it's free so sign up if you don't have an existing account):