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Proudly Serving Free Genealogy Resources for 25+ Years

The Illinois USGENWEB® project was originally started in June 1996 by Melissa Calhoun.

On December 18, 1996, Susan Reed-Tortorelli took over the reigns as the State Coordinator and by the time she retired on April 17, 2000, USGenWeb had 953,025 visitors to the state pages along with thousands more who go directly to the county pages from bookmarks.

At that time, Richard Howland, an ILGenWeb County Coordinator since October 1997 and Susan’s right hand, became the new State Coordinator.

Richard retired from his State Coordinator position on July 31, 2004, and Scott Burow, also a long time county coordinator for ILGenWeb, took over as the State Coordinator on August 1, 2004. Scott retired as SC on October 31, 2007.

Deb Haines was elected State Coordinator on November 1, 2007 and held onto the reigns until Cheryl Rothwell took over in August of 2012 until July 2016 when she retired.

In July 2016 Dennis Partridge became SC and resigned in January 2022.

Sandy (Whalen) Bauer was elected the new State Coordinator, starting May 1, 2022. and was a long time contributor to both Jefferson county and Wayne County websites.

The ILGenWeb Project is very proud of our current and former State Coordinators for their dedication to our project. We are hopeful you will enjoy your visit to the ILGenWeb Project and that you will find the information you are seeking!!

The Illinois USGenWeb® Project
Sandy (Whalen) Bauer, State Coordinator
Cheryl Rothwell, Asst. State Coordinator
Morgan Johnson, Asst. State Coordinator

Search ILGenWeb

The search below searches all of ILGenWeb using Google Custom Search.

We really need volunteers to step forward and adopt counties currently up for adoption. We now have have 58 counties needing new County Coordinators. If you have a county with particular interest, please let me know. You can see which counties are available now for adoption here.

We just lost one of our long time county coordinators, Joe Markovich, on Friday night, June 2, 2023. Joe was County coordinator for 15 counties in IL and many counties in other states as well. Here is the link to his obituary:

https://angelcrestinc.com/obituaries/joseph-a-markovich/

Joe's counties were: Boone, Champgain, DuPage, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Lee, McHenry, Mercer, Rock Island, Stephenson, Tazewell, Vermillion, Whiteside and Winnebago.

ILGenWeb isn’t an ordinary genealogy website. Ordinary websites are those where text and sometimes pretty pictures are present, but trying to get in touch with a real person to help you with your research… impossible. The strength of ILGenWeb is its many volunteers, some of whom have spent over a decade assisting others with their Illinois research.

Using our county page visit the Illinois county your ancestors lived in and first try and find any information the county may freely provide on their pages (most have some sort of search built in). If the particular fact isn’t available online, then reach out to the county coordinator (cc) and they will try and assist you as best they can. Most county coordinators have their email address available on their website, though some will use contact forms.

What's New:

  • Illinois Obituary Index

    The Counties Listed are the only ones that Jose Rivera Nieves had listed on his original index which contained data. The rest of the IL Counties had no information and are not listed.

    • This is a Legacy Project: Preservation of the efforts and energy of Jose Rivera Nieves. With Thanks to the Memory of Jose Rivera Nieves and Tim Stowell's Conservation Tactics. (hosted on the NYGenWeb site and opens in a new tab in your web browser)


  • Annoucing the 2023 ISGS Honors & Awards Receipients

    1. Community Service Award:
      The Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society’s Underground Railroad Conductor Recognition Project

    2. Special Recognition Awards:
      Stephen Watts, Author of "Searching for Charles"
      Gail Ryan, Past President of the Fox Valley Genealogical Society
      Will Edmundson and Russ Cline, Winnebago & Boone Counties Genealogical Society

Comments and administrative-type problems or for suggestions, concerns or complaints regarding a specific web site within the ILGenWeb Project, should be emailed to the State Coordinator

Copyright 1996 -   The ILGenWeb® Project

All materials contained on these pages are furnished for the free use of individuals engaged in researching their personal genealogy. Any commercial use or any use for which money is asked or paid for any reason is strictly prohibited.

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