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St. Clair County, IL
Genealogy

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Reference Books

On-Line Searchable Data-Bases, and Lookup Volunteers

Many St. Clair county books are mentioned below, although certainly not all. If you have any St. Clair County books in which you will do Look-ups, please read and follow the POLICY followed by the ILGenWeb Project USGenWeb Project. After you have written permission (when necessary), then contact St Clair Coord.

Many of the following reference books are published by the St. Clair County Genealogical Society and their website has Surname indexes to many more books. Books from non-profit organizations and private individuals are also listed below.

If you need more than a few names looked up in a given publication, consider purchasing the book directly from the source. Chances are you will find even more names of interest and unexpected connections once you own the publication. This is particularly true for rural cemeteries and transcribed/translated church registers. Visit the SCCGS directly at the above link for databases, on-line indexes, and publication information.

Request FREE Look-ups from the volunteers below.

Please put ST. CLAIR LOOKUP in the subject line of your request to help the message stand out and hopefully prevent unintentional deletions. Since many volunteers search more than one source, please enter the name of the book in which you are requesting a lookup plus the ancestor of interest. And of course, please remember to thank the volunteer for their time performing your research.

Various History Books

  • See Collections - Bioraphies Biographical Sketch Index compiled from five older St. Clair County histories printed in 1874, 1881, 1892, 1907, 1928. Search to see if your person of interest is listed and in which publication they may be found. Link provided courtesy of the St. Clair Co. IL Genealogical Society.

  • Biographical sketch index to Southern Illinoisans in The St. John Orphanage Edition of The Messenger (1919)

  • Chapman Brothers Portrait and Biographical Record (1892). Bob Buecher

  • History of St. Clair County, Illinois Brink, McDonough & Co. (1881). Jan Wouters

  • Illustrated Historical Atlas of St. Clair County, Warner & Beers (1874). The Atlas contains maps showing the landowner's name and a listing of all landowners in the county in 1874. The landowner listing is by township and range and also includes the landowners occupation, where they came from and when they settled in the county. There is also a brief biographical section. It is not as extensive as the 1881 history, but it does have some different biographical info. Jan Wouters

  • McKendree College Centennial Yearbook (1928). Bob Buecher

  • O'Fallon, Illinois Centennial History (1954). Jan Wouters

Church Records

Catholic Diocese of Belleville Parish Registers (all of Southern Illinois) available for free viewing on FamilySearch. Click the Search icon, then Browse databases. Registers are mostly in Latin.

St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, Millstadt, later became St. James.

St. John United Church of Christ, New Athens:
History & Church Records, 1878-1979. Teresa. This book is still in print and for sale by Martha Mae Schmidt, 9848 Hillstown Road, Marissa, IL 62257-2302. 351 pages, indexed, GBC binding, $25.00 ppd.

"St. Philip - Our Salvation History," French Village:
Covers the history of St. Philip parish from 1841-1982, indexes its cemetery as well as its parishoners as of 1982. Charly LaRobardier

All of the following records, and many more, are currently available for purchase through the St. Clair County Genealogical Society.

Census Records

County and State Records

  • Illinois State Archives On-Line Searchable Databases including Marriages (1763-1900); Servitude and Emancipation Records; War Veterans of 1812, Black Hawk, Mexican American, Civil War, and Spanish American Wars; 1916-c1950 statewide death index online; pre-1916 deaths registered at the county level (ongoing project), Public Domain Land Tract Sales; St. Clair county Chancery Case Files Index (1815-1870); and the St. Clair co. Farm Board Record Index (1784-1879).

Cemetery Compilations
First visit the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Cemetery Surname Index which includes all of their published inventories 1978-1998 (including those below) EXCEPT College Hill. Then, come back and ask for a specific Look-up if necessary.

When requesting a Look-up, please specify ST.CLAIR LOOKUP in the subject line of the message box. Some links are to online records (try back later if the page doesn't load).

Family Compilations

  • Die Kurpfalzischen Familien Engelmann und Hilgard, G. Baecker u F. Engelmann, (1958). Origins of the Engelmann family and the descendants of Erasmus Theodor Engelmann (1730-1802). A supplement was published in 1983. Family names DECKER, FISCHER, HILGARD, KIRCHER, KOERNER, KRAFFT, LEDER- GERBER, REUSS, ROMBAUER, RUNKWITZ, SCHEEL, SCHOTT, TITTMAN, TYNDALE, VILLARD, and many others. Jim Dunn

Geographical Compilations

  • Millstadt. Robert Buecher is currently compiling an alphabetical database of foreign-born Millstadt area residents. Included are foreign-born settlers who resided in Millstadt Township (including the village of Millstadt), Stookey Twp., and part of Sugar Loaf Twp. The information comes from his 30+ years of genealogical research in Millstadt area church records, cemetery records, and newspapers. Information found in each entry varies but usually includes birthdate, birthplace, and other biographical information. There are currently about 900 entries and cross-indexed entries but eventually there may be as many as 2000 entries. Mr. Buecher will be pleased to share his information with other Millstadt area researchers. He may be contacted at either his e-mail at [email protected] or by regular mail at 5400 Pernod Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63139-1537. Those wanting a reply by U. S. mail are asked to enclose a # 10 size self-addressed stamped envelope.

  • 1400 landowners in Township 1 South, Range 9 West (aka Millstadt/Centerville) as shown in the 1874 Atlas of St. Clair County.

High School

  • Yearbooks - Assumption High School: 1962-65. John Aramowicz

  • Yearbooks - Belleville Township High School 1946, 1947, 1951, more courtesy Rosie Rideout.

  • Notes on East St. Louis Schools - Rock Junior High School, Hughes-Quinn Jr. High, East St. Louis Senior High, contributed by Michael Bergmire in response to a question posted to the St. Clair Maillist June 2006 (edited with permission):

    Both Rock Junior High School and East St. Louis High School have been razed. . . Be a little careful regarding picture post cards of the buildings. In the early 1900s East St. Louis Senior High School was a building constructed of large pieces of stone. One source of information stated that the stone is the same type of stone that was used to construct Eads Bridge. This stone asborbed pollutants and by the 1950s, when I was a student in the area, the stone was almost black in color. This building was located on Summit Avenue between 9th and 10th Street. I did locate a quote from one individual who indicated that he attended high school in this building in 1913. This older stone building became Rock Junior High School in the late 1950s.

    Later on a new building was constructed of red brick to the south of the original building. There was only a few feet separating the two buildings. At this time the two schools occupied a one block by two block lot, bounded by 9th and 10th Streets on one side and Summit Avenue and Ohio Avenue on the other. This newer red brick high school was used until 1958, and subsequently occupied by Southern Illinois University as a Residence Center until the university was build at Edwardsville in the late 1960s. After Southern Illinois University stopped using the newer brick building, Rock Jr. High School and Hughes-Quinn Jr. High School started using the newer building. East St. Louis Senior High School was now located at 49th and State Street where it is currently located.

    The Summit, 9th and 10th street area of East St. Louis has recently [spring 2006] been in the news due to the death of dancer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located about a block away, possibly in the old YWCA building.

    Before the mid 1910s I would estimate high school graduates attended the building constructed of stone. From the later 1910s until 1958 it would be the building constructed of red brick. There was a brass plaque in the building and a date on the cornerstone, but I am unable to recall the dates. Michael Bergmire, Ballwin, MO 63011. Class of June 1958. Go Flyers!

Newspaper Records

  • Belleville and East St. Louis Newspapers: obituaries and death notices from the East St. Louis Journal 1889-1979 and article abstracts from Belleville newspapers 1840-1940 are in a catalog card file in the Belleville library ph (618) 234-0441 - ask for archives (on an as-available basis only, in-house patrons come first). A volunteer is currently needed to perform look-up requests.

  • Millstadt Enterprise: marriages and obituaries from 1897-1998. Bob Buecher

  • O'Fallon Progress: Index to marriages and obituaries from 1898-1997 are slowly coming on-line by the O'Fallon Historical Society. Click through Resources to Marriages and Deaths, or, e-mail Jim Dunn

Updated 20 March 2019; broken links removed 29 April 2015.

For corrections or additions, please contact: State Coordinator

St. Clair County, IL Genealogy
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