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Fayette 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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Fayette County was created on February 14, 1821 (Laws, 1821, p. 164) and was formed from Bond, Clark, Crawford and Jefferson Counties. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Crawford County (1816–1821), Clark County (1819–1821), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1817), Edwards County (1815–1816), St. Clair County (1790–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801). The County was named in honor of the Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de la Fayette, the famous French General who fought for the colonies in the Revolutionary War. The County Seat is Vandalia (1821-Present). See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to Fayette County are Shelby County (northeast), Effingham County (east), Clay County (southeast), Marion County (south), Clinton County (southwest), Bond County (west), Montgomery County (northwest). Fayette County Townships include Avena (Name changed from Howard on September 24, 1860), Bear Grove (Formed as Johnson sometime in 1869; name changed to Bear Grove in June, 1869), Bowling Green, Carson (Formed from Bowling Green ), Kaskaskia, LaClede, Lone Grove (Formed from LaClede and Wilberton in September, 1876), Loudon, North Hurricane (Formed from a split in Hurricane after 1921), Otego (Name changed from Cumberland on September 24, 1860), Pope (Formed from Kaskaskia in March, 1878), Ramsey, Sefton, Seminary, Shafter (Formed from Sharon in December, 1920), Sharon, South Hurricane (Formed from a split in Hurricane after 1921), Vandalia, Wheatland, Wilberton (Name changed from Richland on September 24, 1860) Townships Cities, Towns and Communities include Bingham, Brownstown, Farina, Pittsburg, Ramsey, St. Elmo, St. Peter, Vandalia
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The Official County website is located at N/A . All departments below at located at the Fayette County Courthouse, 221 South 7th Street, Vandalia, IL 62471 , unless a different address is listed below. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time. Fayette County Circuit Court Clerk has Probate Records from 1821 and Court Records from 1821 and is located at the address above. Phone Number: (618)
283-5009 Fayette County Recorder has Land Records from 1816 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (618)
283-5000 Fayette County Clerk has Birth / Death Records from 1877 and Marriage Records from 1821 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (618)
283-5000
Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Fayette County, Illinois are 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Fayette 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 Fayette County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Maps. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in Fayette County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Fayette 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 Fayette County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette 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 Fayette County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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Vandalia Illinois History Founded in 1819, Vandalia, Illinois is located in Fayette County. The origin of the name is uncertain, but the name probably is derived from the Germanic Vandal tribe. Other explanations of the name hold that it is a latinization of a Dutch family name or that it refers to a small Indian tribe of the early 19th century. Vandalia, Illinois is unique in its beginning history as a city, in that from its inception it was known that it would be the state's capitol city. It seems that Kaskaskia, the first state capitol and also the territorial capitol, was situated so poorly that it was under constant threat of the great Mississippi River floods. 
In 1819, Congress donated land to the new state of Illinois for a capitol city. Five commissioners were named to choose the actual location. Traveling up the Kaskaskia River in May 1819, they chose a wooded area known as Reeve's Bluff, located on the river's west bank about 90 miles northeast of Kaskaskia. Surveyors, axemen, and others were soon struggling to build a town before the December 1820 meeting of the Illinois General Assembly. The first of three capitol buildings to stand in Vandalia was a plain two-story frame structure. The building had been constructed hastily, and the effects were soon apparent. By 1834 its floors sagged badly and the walls bulged dangerously. Two years later people refused to enter the building for fear it would collapse. Vandalia residents, frightened by an 1834 referendum to relocate the capitol, constructed a third statehouse, the one that stands today. Work began in the summer of 1836 with efforts to salvage material from the old building. Though workers attempted to finish the building rapidly, much remained to be done when the legislature convened in early December. Plaster in second-story rooms was still damp, and rooms on the first floor were barely begun. This third statehouse was of simple Federal design. Larger than any of its predecessors, the building provided, for the first time, space for all three branches of the government. The first floor contained offices for the auditor of public accounts, secretary of state, treasurer and all members of the executive branch as well as chambers for the supreme court. There was no space specifically assigned to the governor. The whole second floor was devoted to the needs of the general assembly. Abraham Lincoln assumed the first statewide office of his political career at Vandalia. He arrived in the capitol city in late November 1834, and the freshman legislator took his seat on December 1, 1834, in the dilapidated second statehouse. He began his second term in December 1836 in the capitol building that stands today. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, received his license to practice law in the Vandalia Statehouse in March of 1837. While at Vandalia, Lincoln worked for passage of an ambitious internal improvements bill and made a long speech in the House of Representatives on January 11, 1837, opposing a resolution to investigate the state bank, a move that would have damaged the state's ability to finance improvement projects. he last session of the Illinois General Assembly to meet in the Vandalia Statehouse closed on March 4, 1839. Before adjournment the legislature passed an act presenting the building to Fayette County and the town of Vandalia. The western half of the building was used as the county courthouse, while the eastern portion was to be used by the town for school purposes. In 1856 Vandalia sold its interest in the building for $3,150. Shortly thereafter, county commissioners authorized an extensive remodeling, including the addition of the porticoes that visitors see today. On August 5, 1918, the State of Illinois purchased the old statehouse and public square in order to ensure its preservation for future generations. Though owned by the state, the building continued to serve as the Fayette County Courthouse until 1933, when county offices moved to new quarters. In the 1930s and 1940s the State of Illinois carried out a major effort to restore the building to its Lincoln-era appearance. Spectators' galleries were reconstructed in the Senate and House chambers in the 1970s, and restoration continued thereafter.
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The entire first floor served as a meeting place for the House of Representatives, while the second floor was divided into rooms for the Senate and the Council of Revision, which consisted of the governor and justices of the Illinois Supreme Court. Executive offices were located in other buildings. The state treasurer transacted business at his home, while the auditor and secretary of state worked in the brick building that housed the state bank. The bank building burned on January 23, 1823, consuming most of the state's financial papers, and the statehouse was destroyed by fire the following December. Vandalia's second statehouse was built during the summer of 1824 by residents who feared removal of the capitol to another town. Like its predecessor, the building served primarily as a meeting place for the general assembly. State executive offices and the supreme court seem to have had no permanent quarters.
In his first published speech, Lincoln announced that he would oppose any move to injure the bank's credit. Lincoln studied in earnest for a career in law during his time as a legislator, and he was enrolled as an attorney before he left Vandalia following the legislative session that ended in March 1837. He returned to Vandalia twice for sessions before the capitol was moved to Springfield in 1839.