Welcome to Champaign County

Champaign County was created February 20, 1833 by an act of the Illinois legislature. Prior to that date, the area was part of Vermilion County. The 1833 act also provided that the county seat would be called "Urbana." Senator John W. Vance, for his efforts in getting the act passed, was given the honor of naming the new county. He named it "Champaign" after his former home county in Ohio, the county-seat of which is also Urbana.

It is hoped that this web site will be informative and helpful to those seeking ancestors in Champaign County, Illinois. This is an ongoing project and there will be frequent updates—check back often!

If you have any documents you would like to share—cemetery transcriptions (even if only a few names), obituaries, wills, biographies, family histories, etc., please contact Celia Snyder.

County Facts:

The present area, or parts of it, were formerly included in:

  • 1826-1833 — Vermilion
  • 1823-1826 — Edgar
  • 1819-1823 — Clark
  • 1816-1819 — Crawford
  • 1815-1816 — Edwards
  • 1812-1813 — Madison
  • 1801-1812 — St. Clair
  • 1790-1801 — Knox, Northwest Territory

History of county governing board:

  • 1833-1849 — County Commissioners' Court
  • 1849-1860 — County Court
  • 1860-Date — County Board of Supervisors

Township form of Government was adopted November 8, 1859

History:

Maps:

Town/Township Information:

Churches:

Data on Early Residents:

Online Data/Help:

  • Search the Champaign County USGenWeb site:

Military Records:

Cemeteries:

Bibliographic Resources:

  • Index to the biographies in History of Champaign County, Illinois, 1878
  • Index to the biographies in Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Ill., 1887
    • searchable, printable PDF version from the University of Illinois at U-C Library
  • Index to the biographies in Biographical Record of Champaign County, Illinois, 1900 - contributed by Ruth Ryan
    • NEW - searchable, printable PDF version from the University of Illinois at U-C Library
  • Index to the biographies in Standard History of Champaign County, Illinois, 1918
    • NEW - searchable, printable PDF version from the University of Illinois at U-C Library - Volume 1
    • NEW - searchable, printable PDF version from the University of Illinois at U-C Library - Volume 2
  • Bibliography - reference materials which may be purchased or the Illinois library which has them
  • WebCATS: Library Catalogues on the World Wide Web - access library catalogs without the use of Telnet

NEW - Champaign County Books in Searchable/Printable PDF Format from the University of Illinois Library:

Libraries:

Schools:

Queries:

  • Submit a Query - send an email to Celia Snyder. To be sure that it is not confused with a lookup request, please be sure to put "Champaign County Query" in the Subject - thanks!
  • View Queries (alphabetical by first surname listed):

Surname Registry:

Other County Resources:

State Resources:

Champaign County Clerk:

Other County Links:

German Research:

  • The Hannover Chronicle - newsletter for descendants of the founding families of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (Pickrell, Gage Co, NE). Zion, commonly known as Hannover Church, was founded by several families who emigrated between 1850-1880, from Germany to Adams, Champaign, or Menard Counties, IL, then on to Gage County, NE.
  • German Migration - devoted to studies of German emigration and genealogy

Join the County Mail List:

  • Champaign County Mail List - ILCHAMPA - mailing list for anyone with a genealogical interest in Champaign County, IL. E-mail address for postings is ilchampa-l@rootsweb.com. To subscribe, send the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) as the only text in the body of an E-mail to

Adjoining Counties:

States from Which Many Settlers Emigrated:

GenWeb Links:

Other Genealogical Links:

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FEEDBACK: I am the coordinator for Champaign County; my name is Celia Snyder. If you would like to help out by submitting data, volunteering to do look-ups, etc., please contact me. I also welcome your comments or suggestions regarding the Champaign County, ILGenWeb pages.
- Copyright 1997-2009 by Celia G. Snyder -

All rights reserved
Inaugurated January 1, 1997 and last updated -- Saturday, January 23, 2010 2:32 PM using Dreamweaver on a Mac.

Should anything unexpected happen to me and I am no longer able to fulfill my obligations, I want it known that all information contained in this website would become the responsibility of the ILGenWeb Project to do with as the ILGenWeb State Coordinator(s), or their representative, feel(s) appropriate. And further, should such an occasion arise, I grant permission to the System Administrator to release account/password information to the ILGenWeb State Coordinator(s), or their representative, as needed. - Celia Snyder