Welcome to Will County ILGenWeb
These pages are a part of the ILGenWeb Project. They provide a resource for genealogists searching in Will County, IL. Outside of the large amount of genealogical and history information concerning Will County, you can also post queries about surnames you are researching, see who else might be researching the same names as yourself, ask volunteers to do reference lookups, volunteer to do reference lookups, and get information on searching in Will County. My name is Dennis Partridge, and I am currently the host of Will County, you can contact me here, if you have any questions. I do not live in Will County, nor Illinois, but I will attempt to answer your research questions or point you in the direction of somebody who can.
About the County
Will County is located in northeastern Illinois, south of Cook County. Its county seat is Joliet, which is approximately 40 miles southwest of Chicago on the Des Plaines River.
Will County was formed on January 12, 1836, from parts of Cook and Iroquois Counties. It originally included land that is now part of Kankakee County, but its boundaries were finalized in 1852.
The county is named after Dr. Conrad Will, who was a member of the first Illinois Constitutional Convention and served in the Illinois Legislature until he died in 1835.
Will County is divided into 24 townships: Channahon, Crete, Custer, Du Page, Florence, Frankfort, Green Garden, Homer, Jackson, Joliet, Lockport, Manhattan, Monee, New Lenox, Peotone, Plainfield, Reed, Troy, Washington, Wesley, Wheatland, Will, Wilmington, and Wilton.
Information from 1854:
An 1854 US Gazetteer entry describes Will County as follows:
“WILL, a county in the E. N. E. part of Illinois, bordering on Indiana, has an area of 1236 square miles. It is intersected by the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers, branches of the Illinois. The surface is generally level, and lacks timber, except for small groves. The soil is very fertile, and much of it is used for farming. The soil of the prairies is a deep, sandy loam, suitable for Indian corn and grass. In 1850 the county produced 527,903 bushels of Indian corn; 230,885 of wheat; 334,360 of oats; 32,043 tons of hay, and 319,054 pounds of butter. It contained 14 churches, 3 newspaper offices: 3472 pupils attending public schools, and 200 attending other schools. Quarries of building stone are worked near the county seat. The Des Plaines River provides water power. The county is intersected by the Illinois and Michigan canal, by the Chicago branch of the Central railroad, the Chicago and Mississippi, and by the Chicago and Rock Island railroad. Named in honor of Conrad Will, for many years a member of the Illinois legislature. Capital, Joliet. Population, 16,703.”
Will County Genealogy
- Biographies
- Cemeteries
- Census
- Coal Mining
- Court Records
- Families – Family Group Sheets
- History – Churches, Cities/Towns, Newspapers, Photos, Schools
- Along Old Sauk Trail
- Churches
- Cities/Towns
- History of Will County, Illinois, 1878
- Monee Township
- Newspapers
- Past & Present of Will County, 1907
- Photographs
- Reed Township
- Schools
- The History of Joliet Series, by John Whiteside, The Herald News
- Land Records
- Links
- Maps
- Military
- Resources/Research Tools – Queries/Mailing List
- Vital Records includes obits
Related Projects
Be sure to visit ILGenWeb neighboring counties:
Cook DuPage Grundy Kane Kankakee Kendall Lake Co IN
The USGenWeb Project has grown into a national volunteer effort providing a website for each county in the US. – This project began in 1996 in Kentucky and continues to grow daily. – Volunteers coordinate the collection of materials and oversee the contents of their county pages. – This Will County IL website is affiliated with the ILGenWeb Project and the USGenWeb Project.
Special thanks to former Will County Coordinators: Ted Cash, 1998-2007; Deb Vieau Haines 2007-2014
Last Update: EST
Will County Coordinator: Dennis Partridge