Welcome to Douglas County Genealogy and History part of the Genealogy Trails Group Volunteers Dedicated to Free Genealogy This county's website is available for adoption. If you are interested in becoming the host for this website, view our Volunteer Information and contact Kim If you would like to contribute genealogical data, you can send it here If you need help getting started with your research, please visit our Research Page where you will find links to our available online databases, as well as links to the most helpful researching sites. We do regret that we do not have the time to conduct research for you. General County Information HISTORY "Douglas County, lying a little east of the center of the State, embracing an area of 410 square miles and having a population (in 1900) of 19,097. The earliest land entry was made by Harrison Gill, of Kentucky, whose patent was signed by Andrew Jackson. Another early settler was John A. Richman, a West Virginian, who erected one of the first frame houses in the county in 1829. The Embarras and Kaskaskia Rivers flow through the county, which is also crossed by the Wabash and Illinois Central Railways. Douglas County was organized in 1857 (being set off from Coles) and named in honor of Stephen A. Douglas, then United States Senator from Illinois. After a sharp struggle Tuscola was made the county-seat. It has been visited by several disastrous conflagrations, but is a thriving town, credited in 1890, with a population of 1,897. Other important towns are Arcola (population, 1.733), and Camargo, which was originally known as New Salem. " ["Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois", 1901] Established February 8 & February 16, 1859 Township Names: Arcola, Bourbon, Bowdre (Name changed from Deer Creek on June 5, 1868), Camargo, Garrett, Murdock (Formed from Camargo and Newman on December 7, 1882.), Newman, Sargent, Tuscola [View Township Map - offsite link to IRAD website] Douglas County Online Data Biographies Births Cemeteries Census Church Histories / Records County Records Death Records Family Bibles County History Marriages Military Miscellaneous Data Newspaper Data Obituaries A-G Surnames H-N Surnames O-Z Surnames School Records Wills/Probate Records Website Updates May 2012: Gossip News Apr 2012: Bio for DIXON Mar 2012: Obituaries for BYARD, HOLMES, NICHOLAS, MAST, BREEDEN Feb 2012: TINWELL death notice Dec 2011: ROGERS-WALKER, SCHULTZ-KIMBERLIN marriage announcements; gossip item for FISHER, HEINLEIN; HOOD obit July 2011: GUYOT obit, SEXSON-GUYOT marriage announcement Mar 2011: GREEN obit, WW1 registration card for GREEN LINKS Douglas County Courthouse........ Douglas County Clerk P.O. Box 467, Tuscola, IL 61953 (217) 253-2411 (birth, death and marriage records) For all other records, contact...... Douglas Co. Clerk of the Circuit Court P.O. Box 50, Tuscola, IL 61953 (217) 253-2352 Mailing address for IRAD: IRAD Eastern Illinois University, Booth Library, 600 Lincoln Ave, Charleston, IL 61920 (217) 581-6093 They will take phone calls, but not email. Copy charges are nominal....10 cents a page (with a minimum charge of $1.00) and they will bill you (so don't send them $ in your first letter). The interns are usually pretty quick in responding. Need help with your research in Illinois? Visit the Illinois Genealogy Trails research help page. There are lots of pointers and suggestions on locating records. Data Found At Illinois Genealogy Trails' Main website: ....Illinois Genealogy Trails Military Data - Includes Revolutionary, War of 1812, Civil War, Korean, WWII and more! ....Illinois Genealogy Trails Census - Includes Census data currently online for all of our counties ....Illinois State Data - Includes History, Maps, Convict Register Project and more! ....Illinois Events - Includes information on Slavery, Epidemics and more! Join the  Illinois Genealogy Trails Mailing List to be notified of updates to this website and our other county websites. Visit our Surrounding County Websites...... [Coles] [Vermilion] [Edgar] [Moultrie] [Piatt] [Champaign] This website was updated May 2012 Copyright © Genealogy Trails All data on this website is Copyright by Genealogy Trails with full rights reserved for original submitters. http://genealogytrails.com/ill/douglas/ This website and its contents in the format presented, except where otherwise noted on the page, are copyrighted by Illinois Genealogy Trails History Group and may not be copied, altered, converted nor uploaded to any electronic system or BBS, nor linked from any "pay-for-view" site, linked in such a manner as to appear to be part of another site including "frame" capturing, nor included in any software collection or print collection of any type without the express written permission of the author of this site. Information is furnished for the free use of researchers who are interested for the purpose of researching their family histories and genealogies. 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