Our genealogy collection focuses primarily on Edgar County. To extend our genealogy resources beyond Edgar County, the library subscribes to:

Ancestry Library Edition (in-library only) offers unique, full-text primary sources, including census, birth, marriage, and death records for the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.; military records; immigration, emigration, passport, and naturalization records; passenger lists; and probate records and more. Search on library computers or your laptop while in the library.

On our shelves:

Census Records
Edgar County (microfilm) 1830-1930 and (print, indexed) 1850 - 1880
U.S. census index and images, 1790-1930, on AncestryLibrary.com, available in the library

Paris Beacon-News on microfilm   1989 to date; obituaries indexed 2006 to date. Earlier years (prior to 1955) on microfilm at Edgar County Genealogy Library.
The Story of Paris and Edgar County, six volumes of transcribed items from 1849-1907 issues of the Beacon, indexed by name and subject.

Cemetery record listings* for most of Edgar County’s cemeteries, organized by townships.  A separate countywide index by last name only (no first names) is available.  
*Our newest cemetery records are 1982.  For more recent listings, contact Edgar County Genealogy Library.

Death records listing for 1877-1925 (not comprehensive). Illinois Statewide Death Index is online pre-1916 and 1916-1950

Marriage record index for Edgar County, 1823-1914.  Indexed by bride and groom.  Other information such as parents’ names usually included. Basic information (bride/groom, date) online at Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763-1900 .

Probate index to records at Edgar County Courthouse 1829-1910.
City Directories beginning with 1892 and continuing sporadically through 2010. (Children’s names included in 1962–1999 listings)
Paris telephone books 1949 to date, some missing years
Paris High School yearbooks since 1910.

County histories for Edgar, Crawford, Cumberland, Jasper, Richland, and Clark counties in Illinois and Vigo in Indiana.  Only the Edgar County histories are indexed.
Edgar County plat books and atlases: 1870, 1894, 1910, 1945, 1970, 1979, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2005

Family histories and histories of some local churches, businesses, and communities

Military:  Civil War Soldiers from Edgar County; So Proudly We Hail (reproduced clippings about local WWII servicemen and women); index to discharge records; A History of Aviation and Aviators in Edgar County, Illinois 1911-2006.

Questions?  Contact us.
See also Edgar County Genealogy Library