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DuPage County History and Information |
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County History |
Court Records |
Vital Records |
CENSUS Records |
TAX Records |
Military Records |
Church & Cemetery | Maps & Atlases | Genealogy Addresses | Genealogy Related Sites | |
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DuPage County was created on February 9, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 73) and was formed from Cook County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in:Cook County (1831–1839), Putnam County (1825–1831), Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Clark County (1819–1821), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801). The County was named for a small river named DuPage which flows through the county and is said to have derived its name from a French trapper and trader of that region. The County Seat is Wheaton . Prior County Seats was Naperville (1839–1867) and Wheaton (1867–Present). See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to DuPage County are Cook County (north, east, and south), Will County (south), Kendall County (southwest), Kane County (west). DuPage County Townships include Addison, Bloomingdale, Downers Grove, Lisle (Name changed from DuPage), Milton, Naperville, Wayne, Winfield, York Townships Cities, Towns and Communities include Addison, Aurora, Bartlett, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Glendale Heights, Itasca, Lisle, Lombard, Medinah, Naperville, Oakbrook Terrace, Palatine, Roselle, Villa Park, Warrenville, West Chicago, Westmont, Wheaton, Willowbrook, Winfield, Wood Dale
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The Official County website is located at http://www.co.dupage.il.us/. All departments below at located at the DuPage County Courthouse, 421 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, IL 60189 , unless a different address is listed below. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time. DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk has Probate Records from 1839 and Court Records from 1839 and is located at the address above. Phone Number: (630)
682-7111 DuPage County Recorder has Land Records from 1828 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (630)
682-7200 DuPage County Clerk has Birth / Death Records from 1877 and Marriage Records from 1839 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (630) 682-7035
Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Court Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Court Records by clicking the link below:
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Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, 605 W. Jefferson St., Springfield, IL 62702-5097. It can take up to 6 weeks to get a vital record from Illinois. A number of resources are available for individuals doing genealogical research using vital records filed in the state of Illinois. Births and deaths before January 1, 1916 and marriages before January 1, 1962 are recorded only in the office of the county clerk where the event occurred. Most county clerks have indexes to the records that are prior to 1916 that are available for the purpose of genealogical research. These indexes generally provide the name, date and place of occurrence and are located in county courthouses located throughout the state. Although self-service access to the indexes is generally permitted, the law limits physical access to the individual records to the clerk's staff. When you locate a record from the index, it will be necessary for the clerk to pull the record for you once you have paid the appropriate search fee. Please check with the county clerk for fees and policies on reviewing indexes.
Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for DuPage County, Illinois are 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in DuPage County, Illinois are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880.There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms. See Also Statewide Records that exist for Illinois Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Census Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Census Records by clicking the link below: |
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Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Ohio and other states. You can view rotating animated maps for Illinois showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Maps. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Maps by clicking the link below: |
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The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design. Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Military Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Military Records by clicking the link below:
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The first known tax authorization in Illinois fell under the jurisdiction of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio. The tax was based on every hundred acres of unimproved uncleared prairie or wood land, divided into three classes based on quality of earth surface and soil. The rates were thirty, twenty, and ten cents, to be paid annually. Property with delinquent taxes was sold at public auction. There do not appear to be any surviving tax records from this territorial period. Beginning with statehood, tax records form a large part of county archival material. The 1819 laws provided the first taxation process, imposing taxes on land, bank stock owned, slaves and indentured negroes or mulattoes, plus a poor tax. The tax was collected by the county with income divided between the county and state. Taxpayers lists were eliminated in 1824, and in 1825 a county road tax and school taxes were enacted. Original and microfilmed tax records at Illinois Regional Archives Depositories include taxable land lists, assessors books, railroad tax books, road tax records, and collectors books, the earliest record dated 1817. Other county tax records are located in county seats. Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Tax Records by clicking the link below: |
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The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over. Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in DuPage County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the DuPage County Tombstone Transcription Project. Despite the early Catholic missionaries in Illinois, their church had almost totally disappeared from the state by the time of the American Revolution. Later migration of English-speaking Catholics reestablished the church in the state. In 1850 the largest religious denomination in Illinois was the Methodists. Baptists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Congregationalists followed. Episcopalians had organized in the state in 1835, the Disciples of Christ were in Illinois prior to 1830, and the Lutherans grew in numbers with the German and Scandinavian emigration of the 1840s. The Genealogical Society of Utah and the Daughters of the American Revolution have compiled cemetery records for the state of Illinois. Soldiers' Burial Places in State of Illinois for Wars 1774-1898 is available on thirty-one reels of microfilm from the FHL. Local genealogical societies may have information and possible printed records of cemeteries in their locale. Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
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When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for DuPage County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing DuPage County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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"The first permanent settlement within the limits of Du Page, was made in the fall of 1830, and during the spring of the year following. Stephen J. Scott removed from Maryland to this State, with his family, in the year 1825, and "made a claim" near the present site of Gros Point. while on a hunting tour, in the month of August, 1830, in company with his son Willard, he discovered the Du Page river, near Plainfield. Impressed with the beauty and apparent fertility of the surrounding country, he resolved to explore the river, and ascended it as far as the confluence of its east and west branches, now called 'The Forks.' "A comfortable log house was subsequently built upon the farm now owned by Mrs. Sheldon, and the family of Mr. Scott came on to possess the 'new claim,' in the fall of 1830. "About the middle of March, 1831, Baley Hobson came and settled, with his family, near the present site of the family residence, being the first actual settler on the soil of DuPage County. The family of Mr. Paine located near Mr. Hobson, in April following. "The locality was then known as 'Naper's Settlement.' The winter of 1832 was one of unusual severity, which, together with a scarcity of provisions, rendered the prospects of the settlers rather gloomy. John Naper, John Murray, and R.M. Sweet were sent to the 'Wabash' for provisions." The winter became spring and the settlement was filled with activity, planning the first planting season. "The houses of the first settlers were usually built near the timber. Scarcely any were to be found upon the prairie prior to 1837. All the timber land was 'claimed' before 1835, but some of the prairie land in our county, which, at that day, was considered almost worthless, on account of its being inconvenient to timber, was never claimed by the squatters. Many difficulties arose among the settlers in relation to the boundaries and priority of the claims of parties." "...the settlers at the Big Woods formed a society, in 1836, called 'The Claim Protecting Society.' It had for its object, beside the protection of the settlers against speculators, the settlement of all disputes as to boundaries." "A society was formed for similar objects in 1839, called the 'Du Page County Society for Mutual Protection.' "The County of Du Page, is situated in the northern part of the State of Illinois, and consists of a fraction over nine townships. It belonged originally to Cook county, until its separation and organization into a distinct county by act of Legislature, passed at the session of 1839. It is bounded on the north and east by Cook county, on the south by Will and Cook, and on the west by Kane. " The early settlers were almost wholly of English extraction, but the population of the present day consists of a mixture of English and Germans." "We now have about seventy school districts, which are provided with good school buildings and good schools. Much of our advancement in this respect, is due to the indefatigable labors of our late school commissioner, Rev. Hope Brown. From Mr. Brown's annual report of 1855, we give some extracts showing the state of our schools at that time:'In addition to our district schools, there are in the county three incorporated academies, The Naperville Academy, The Illinois Institute, and the Warrenville Seminary; the two former of which are in a prosperous condition, but the latter is suspended for the present. There are also six priovate schools in the county. In these schools and in the above named academies, there have been the past winter, about five hundred pupils...' " Organization of the County, Etc. "The law organizing the county was approved Frebruary 9th, 1839. The boundaries of the county, as specified in the first section of the act, embraced not only the present limits, but the north half of two townships of Will county." "By the fourth section of the act, Ralph Woodruff of La Salle county, Seth Reed, of Kane county, and H.G. Loomis, of Cook county, were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat, and were to meet at the Preemption House, in Naperville, on the first Monday of June, 1839, or within thirty days thereafter. "There was a proviso to the fourth section, as follows: 'The said commissioners shall obtain for the county, from the claimant, a quantity of land, not less than three acres, and three thousand dollars, for the purpose of erecting county buildings; which sum shall be secured to the county commissioners, and paid out, under their directions, for the purposes aforesaid.' " "Naperville was selected as the county seat, and on the 17th day of June, 1839, a quit-claim deed was executed to the county commissioners, conveying all the title one claimant had (the undivided half) to the present public square. The county never had title to the other half as a claim." "About $5,000 was subscribed by the citizens of Naperville to erect a court house, which was built in 1839. The brick offices were subsequently erected. "The county buildings, after a lapse of nearly twenty years, remain in statu quo, nothing having been done to beautify the grounds, or to improve their convenience or comfort. In view of the possibility of their removal, the citizens of Naperville filed a bond in the clerk's office, in April, 1857, which obligates them to enlarge and improve the appearance of the court house during the present summer. The citizens of the county are looking for a faithful execution of that bond." 1836- Capt. Joseph Naper 1848- Warren L. Wheaton |
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