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Champaign County Genealogical Society
Purpose:  
Established in 1969 the purpose of the Champaign County Genealogical Society is:
  • to promote genealogical and historical research;
  • to aid in the publication and preservation of genealogical and historical records and manuscripts; and
  • to provide programs designed to assist both the beginning and the advanced genealogist.

MEETINGS: General membership meetings are held at 7pm on the second Tuesday of every month in the auditorium on the Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois. The society sponsors a research night in the Archives from 6pm to 8:30pm on the second Wednesday of every month. The research nights are open to the public and members of the society are available for assistance. The April meeting is a joint dinner meeting with the Champaign County Historical Society. The meetings are free and open to the public. Board meetings are held in the Archives of the Urbana Free Library at 7pm on the third Tuesday of January, March, May, July, September and November.

PROGRAMS are oriented to genealogical research, family and local history, and may consist of a lecture, a workshop, tours, or discussion on research problems. Join us!

Click to check out the meeting schedule.
Research Services Available From CCGS Members:


The following CCGS members have given permission for their names to be added to our list of local researchers.

Professional Researcher:
Joyce Wicks joyce@eskimo.com. Please contact her regarding her availability and fee schedule.

Non-Professional Researchers: The following list include members who are willing (if they are available at the time of the request) to do work on local county research projects. The Society sets no fee guidelines; each individual researcher determines the cost in consultation with the patron requesting assistance. Some researchers may be willing to go the Champaign County Historical Archives; the County Courthouse; the local Family History Center or possibly, the University of Illinois Library.

Carolyn Adams: mainadams1@comcast.net
Carol Climer climers@soltec.net
Karla Gerdes kjeanne1@juno.com
Lorraine Glasa ljglasa@netscape.net
Donna Mayer btgurst@insightbb.com
Waneta Mehaffey mehaffey@uiuc.edu
Candace Wilmot cwilmot@uiuc.edu

University of Illinois Library Assistance: Cherie Weible cweible@uiuc.edu is not available for paid research, however may be consulted regarding the effective use of the University of Illinois Library for genealogy research.

Feel free to contact Carolyn Adams, mainadams1@comcast.net CCGS Research Chairman, if you have any special questions or concerns.
Birth and Death Records Index:

Use the links below to access the Champaign County Vital Records Indexes. The indexes will open to a new window on your browser. Use the 'Find' function on your browser to locate the desired information.
Board Members for June 2008 - May 2009
  Officers: (elected)
 
Office Name Email
President Candace Wilmot cwilmot@uiuc.edu
1st Vice President, Programs Carolyn Adams mainadams1@comcast.net
2nd Vice President, Membership Shirley Shore shirleyshore@yahoo.com
Treasurer Ellie Tewksbury etewksba@uiuc.edu
Recording Secretary Martha Dwyer jamitchell5@insightbb.com
Corresponding Secretary Lorraine Glasa ljglasa@netscape.net

Directors: (elected)

Office Name  
Library Liaison Mary Grace Bowen mgbowen1@juno.com
Historian Candace Wilmot cwilmot@uiuc.edu
Research Carolyn Adams mainadams1@comcast.net

Standing Committees: (appointed)

Committee Name Email
Acquisitions Open  
Editor of the Newsletter Candace Wilmot cwilmot@uiuc.edu
Editor of the Quarterly Joan Black Lund
Karla Gerdes (assistant)		 jblgene@sbcglobal.net
kjeanne1@juno.com
Mailings Nancy Sanden Bowlernaps62@aol.com
Back Issues Candace Wilmot cwilmot@uiuc.edu
Pioneer Certificates Nancy Sanden Bowlernaps62@aol.com
Publications Nancy Sanden Bowlernaps62@aol.com
Hospitality Open  
CCGS Research Site

The research site for the CCGS is in the Champaign County Historical Archives which is located in the Urbana Free Library. The Archives is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday; open Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The collection emphasizes the history and genealogy of Champaign County from its beginning in 1833 to the present, but also includes a large selection of books from other Illinois counties and from those states east of the Mississippi River.

The Local History Online index database on The Urbana Free Library website contains 3,000,000 names that are extracted from Champaign County, Illinois, records that are located in the Archives. Those records are original documents either on paper or on microfilm. 

However, not all records available in the Archives are indexed in that database. The Archives has in-house all Illinois Death Certificates (1916-1945) microfilms which contain any Champaign County deaths. The entire microfilm collection of Illinois State Death Certificates (1916-1950) is currently 1227 microfilm.  The Archives, as the official county historical repository, was able to obtain every reel (1916-1945 only) which contained any Champaign County death certificates. The Archives has about two-thirds of the total microfilm collection. It means that we have all Champaign County Death Certificates on microfilm, in the Archives, from 1878-1945. Some of these death certificates are not listed in the online index database (records from 1912-1945 primarily).

The Champaign County marriage records (licenses from 1833-1916, marriage applications through 1975) are only partially indexed on the Local History Online index database. They still need to be located during an in-house search. The marriage applications are currently being entered and the call for volunteers to do the data entry work has gone out. Progress so far is slow, but steady.

Additionally, the Archives has a paper photocopy of the backup copy volumes of Champaign County Birth Records from 1900-1918 and so far, only a few of those names are on the index database. The photocopies are available in the Archives, and the CCGS index to these records is on the website soon.

The Champaign County deed records are available in the Archives on microfilm--both the Grantee and Grantor Indexes that index land deeds from 1833-1928, and the microfilm copies of Deed Volumes A-Z and Deed Volumes 1-76--and those records are not indexed on the Local History Online index database. The deeds are another record that could be researched. For these, or any other record, please see Research Services Available From CCGS Members on this website.
CCGS Newsletter


The Champaign County Genealogical Newsletter is mailed to members the first week of February, May, August and November each year. It contains information about the Society and about other genealogical groups and meetings. It also contains news from the Champaign County Historical Archives. Queries and genealogical questions are published in The Quarterly, not in the newsletter.

If you have notices of any meetings or events which would interest the members of CCGS, contact the CCGS Newsletter Editor:

Candace Wilmot
1806 Myra Ridge Court
Urbana, IL 61802
email: cwilmot@uiuc.edu

Please submit materials by leaving them at the Historical Archives, mailing Candace, or by sending email to cwilmot@uiuc.edu. Deadline, if possible, by the 20th of January, April, July, and October.
CCGS Quarterly


The Quarterly of the Champaign County Genealogical Society is published in March, June, September and December. It contains 36-pages of genealogical material and previously unpublished county records. The four issues are included with your membership to CCGS. Back issues of the quarterly are $4.00 + $1.50 for postage and handling each by writing to CCGS, c/o Champaign County Historical Archives, 210 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3283. Refer to the Quarterly Subject Index for a listing of topics covered in the CCGS Quarterly.

Submissions to the quarterly are encouraged. These may include family genealogies, indexes previously unpublished, and genealogical and historical articles. If you wish to submit material for publication to the quarterly, please contact the editor, Joan Lund at jblgene@sbcglobal.net.QWEW

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