Cumberland County was created on March 2, 1843 (Laws, 1843, p. 94) and was formed from Coles County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Coles County (1831–1843), Clark County (1819–1831), 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 Cumberland road, named in its turn from the town Cumberland, Maryland, which derived its name from the mountain range of the same name adopted, presumably, from the Cumberland mountains of Great Britain. The County Seat is Toledo . Prior County Seats was Greenup (1843–1855) and Toledo—Known as Prairie City until 1874 (1855–Present). See also County History for more historical details.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information. Total record loss (1843–1885) due to a Fire on November 5, 1885
The Official County website is located at N/A . All departments below at located at the Cumberland County Courthouse, Courthouse Square, Box 145, Toledo, Illinois 62468 , unless a different address is listed below. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.
Cumberland County Circuit Court Clerk has Probate Records from 1884 and Court Records from 1885 and is located at the address above. Phone Number: (217)
849-3601 The Clerk of the Circuit Court, commonly known as the Circuit Clerk, is the keeper of the files and records of the Circuit Court. The Circuit Clerk works at the direction of Circuit Court, Appellate Court and Supreme Court of Illinois and is mandated to follow and enforce the laws of the State of Illinois. The Circuit Clerk's Office processes all documents in criminal law, chancery, support, probate, adoption, juvenile, drainage, local improvement, mental, small claims, traffic, ordinance violations, prepares appeals to the higher court, issues passports, summons jurors, tax deeds and handles approximately ten million dollars in costs, fines, restitution, investments and support each year. The Office also issues summonses, writs, attachments, subpoenas and all other tasks as mandated by the courts.
Cumberland County Recorder has Land Records from 1885 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (217)
849-2631 The County Recorder of Deeds serves the people of County by receiving, filing and maintaining all records related to real property in our county. These documents range from all types of conveyance deeds, mortgages, releases and assignments, property liens, as well as, assorted federal, state and local liens. The Recorder’s office is responsible for the recordation and storage of plats of subdivision, land surveys and monument records. Many other types of miscellaneous documents are recorded, such as; foreign birth certificates, foreign marriage licenses, and military discharge paperwork to name a few.
Cumberland County Clerk has Birth / Death Records from 1885 and Marriage Records from 1880 and is located at the courthouse. Phone Number: (217) 849-2631 The County Clerk maintains records and issues certificates of vital statistics (birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage certificates) for the entire County.
Below is a list of online resources for Cumberland County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Court Records by clicking the link below:
Illinois Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
Click Here to Search Illinois Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
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.
Birth, Death Certificates:
The Division of Vital Records and Statistics maintains birth, death and marriage records that occur in Illinois from 1916 to the present.
Cost: Initial search and one certified copy or certification of the record or No Record Statement is $17.00 (long) or
$10.00 (uncertified) per certificate by mail.
Make your check or money order payable to "Illinois Department of Public Health". Enclose a business-size self-addressed envelope. The cost of each record includes a ten-year search if the exact date or place of event is not known. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep check amount for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
In Person:
In-person orders can be dropped off for mail out within two business days at the Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records office, 605 W. Jefferson St., Springfield, on Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding holidays. (Large volume orders may take longer.) PLEASE NOTE: the person requesting the record will be asked to show a valid picture identification card.
Marriage & Divorce Certificates: The Division of Vital Records also maintains an index of marriages & divorces from 1962 to the present. Copies of the marriage & divorce records are available from the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the marriage license was obtained or divorce was granted. Fees vary.
Cost: $5.00. Make your check or money order payable to "Illinois Department of Public Health". Enclose a business-size self-addressed envelope. The cost of each record includes a ten-year search if the exact date or place of event is not known. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $5.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Processing Time: 6 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Order Online: You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering below
Below is a list of online resources for Cumberland County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE - Search over 82 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research. New content added weekly! Most comprehensive SSDI site online!
Research Death records In The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of historical Illinois newspaper articles about deaths. Search for local articles about an old family friend that died many years ago or a celebrity that committed suicide. Historical newspapers contain a wealth of information about the deceased.
Click Here to Search Illinois Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.
Below is a list of online resources for Cumberland County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Census Records by clicking the link below:
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
You can view rotating animated maps for Illinois showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries.
Below is a list of online resources for Cumberland County Maps. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search Illinois Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
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 Cumberland County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Military Records by clicking the link below:
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Illinois (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
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 Cumberland County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
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 Cumberland County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Illinois State Library, 300 South 2nd Street, Springfield, IL 62701-1796; Phone: (217) 785-5600
Illinois
State Historical Library, Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL 62701 County histories, plat books, census indexes, cemetery indexes, city material,
family and association files, microfilmed newspapers, manuscripts, and photographs
are located beneath the restored old state capitol between 5th and 6th streets
and Washington and Adams streets.
Illinois Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search Illinois Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
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.
Below is a list of online resources for Cumberland County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Find Obituaries in The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of Illinois obituaries to help you research your family history. Search for a Illinois newspaper obituary about your ancestor or a celebrity. Begin your search today and find death notices and funeral announcements printed in newspapers from Illinois.
Click Here to Search Illinois Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.
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 Cumberland County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Cumberland County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
Illinois Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
Cumberland County is named after the famed Cumberland Road, construction of which by the United States Government to be one of the chief factors in the development and growth of the west. This great national highway, extending from the Potomac almost to the Mississippi, was first authorized by Congress, after being favorably reported by the Senate Committee, in an act "to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," the act being approved by President Thomas Jefferson, March 29, 1805.
The first contracts were let on April 11th and 16th 1811, and by 1818 United States Mail coaches were running between Washington, D.C. and Wheeling, Virginia. By the time building operations began in Illinois, around 1830, emigration, given tremendous impetus by the extension of the road to what was then the far west, was in full swing. The Cumberland Road reached what is now Cumberland County about 2835, and ended at Vandalia, fifty-five miles away, about three years later.
The formation of Cumberland County arose from the dissatisfaction of early settlers over the long distance to be traveled to Darwin, the county seat and center of trade of Coles County. business men of Greenup, hoping to promote their own village as the prospective county seat, were the chief agitators for the change.
When the feeling of dissatisfaction finally culminated in the demand for the creation of a new county, two factions opposed one another. Settlers of Charleston demanded that the county of Coles be divided into three equal parts, which would result in the creation of two new counties the Greenup contingent, as well as others, insisted upon a division in two equal parts, or the creation of only one new county. The two propositions were known respectively as the "crop" and the "split". Candidates were put up by both sides, and in 1842, after much spirited campaigning, the declaration of E.H. Starkweather, one of the leaders in the fight, for the "split" resulted in the creation of the new county of Cumberland by act of legislature, March 2, 1843.
The Act designated the boundary lines, set the date and place for the first election, and named the village of Greenup as the seat of justice until a permanent county seat should be selected according to the terms set forth in the Act. The first election was held on the first Monday of the following April, and resulted in the choice of the following officers: Sheriff, Thomas Scones; Coroner, Hiram Buell; County Surveyor, Judson E. Holly; Probate Judge, E.E. Starkweather; County Recorder, Otis Perry; Treasurer, Abrah Trease; School Commissioner, Daniel C. Docius; County Commissioners, James Gill, Charles P. Chowning, and David P. Wisnor; J. Ewart was appointed Clerk of the County commissioners' Court.
The first session of the county commissioners court, a special term, was held May 1 1843, and one of the first acts was an order on the treasurer to pay the sum of fourty dollars to William Price, who had loaned the county two hundred dollars with which to defray current expenses and purchase books and stationery. This sum was to be paid out of the first money received by the treasurer.
Inaccordance with the requirements of the act of creation, an election was held on the first Monday in August to determine the location of the county seat. At this election DeKalb received a majority of the votes. James Gill and Thomas Scones gave bond for the donation of De Kalb, but it was subsequently discovered that the title was not clear. Despite considerable controversary, De Kalb went ahead with its plans, even to the extent of hauling logs to begin building operations. The rival village of Greenup, however, making capital of the encumbered title, finally secured the county seat. They managed to hold on to it until 1855, when it was removed to Prairie City, which had been laid off in April, 1843 by N. Berry, John Berry, L. Harvey and W.P. Rush. fighting a losing battle, Greenup stubbornly sought to retain the seat of justice by refusing to give up the official records, and it was not until 1857 that all the county records were finally removed.
During the time Greenup was county seat there were no public buildings, the county seat and clerk of the circuit court being furnished temporary quarters by JamesEwart. A house later secured from Daniel Porter, served as the courthouse for the next ten years. The circuit court was somiciled in an old log schoolhouse, and here court was held and cases tried by men who later became famous as statesmen not only in Illinois, but throughout the nation. among them was Abraham Lincoln, who tried many of his cases here, including the famous "Lustre Case".
When in 1855, Prairie City succeeded in wresting the seat of justice from Greenup, one of the stipulations provided for the erection of public buildings. accordingly, a contract was let to Filey Ross and Bennet Beale to build a courthouse, the contract providing that the building be forty feet square and the walls twenty-seven feet high. the specifications called for three doors, nineteen windows, and a cupola with a bell that could be heard for five miles. There was so much opposition to all this by the county clerk, that he did not record the contract, and it did not appear on the commissioners' journal until a new clerk was elected and recorded it is 1857. The first courthouse was destroyed by fire in the early part of 1885; the second erected the same year, is still being used. It is a two and one half story brick building with stone trimmings, seventy two feet long, seventy-two feet wide, and forty-two feet high.
The first jail, a single, two story building of brick, twenty by thirty-two feet and including the jailers quarters, was constructed in 1859 as a result of a prisoner's escape. Prior to this time a jail had been thought to be unnecessary, as the Sheriff used an old "gum" which stood in his yard. This had a wire netting over the top, and in the opinion of the sheriff, a prisoner was as safe there as in a jail. Finally one prisoner, in an attempt to escape, climbed to the top, but as he was getting the wire netting off, the "gum" toppled over into the river. this was considered as easy a way as any of releasing him, and no effort was made to recapture him.
In 1859 Cumberland elected to adopt the township form of county government, the administrative county court being succeeded by the first county board of supervisors, elected in April 1861 representing eight townships. In the early part of 1874, the name of the county seat was changed from Prairie city to Toledo.
Cumberland is strictly an agricultural county, but in the vicinity of Greenup is found potter's clay which makes a fair quality of stoneware, there is also some copper, but not in sufficient quantify to warrant mining.
Cumberland county lies in the south tier of the area improperly called Central Illinois, on the border of the section known as Egypt. It is bounded on the north by Coles County, on the east by Clark, on the south by Jasper and Effingham, and on the west by Shelby and Moultris. It has an area of 350 square miles, and according to the 1930 census, the population is 10,419.
