Will County ILGenWeb

These pages are a part of the ILGenWeb Project. They provide a resource for genealogists searching in Will County, Illinois. You can post queries about surnames you are researching, see who else might be researching the same names as yourself, ask volunteers to do reference look-ups, volunteer to do reference look-ups, 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.

History of Plainfield Illinois, 1907

This was one of the first of the townships in the county to be settled, if not the very first. It is said that Rev. Jesse Walker, better known to the pioneers of the county as “Father Walker,” established an Indian mission upon the bank of the Dupage river, in what has since been known as Walker’s Grove, in 1826, and that he made his home there until 1831, a period of five years. Father Walker was an itinerant Methodist preacher, whose home was always where he did his work, and as it is an established fact that he went … Read more

History of Peotone Illinois, 1907

This is another of timberless townships, and hence very lately settled. At the time of the organization of the different townships in the county into voting precincts, in 1850, Peotone could not be so organized for the reason that there were but two actual voters in the township at the time, and therefore it had to be included with Wilton, and the two called one township. And it was not until 1858 that they could be separated into two townships, so as to have each constitute a voting precinct. That year the township had just twenty-five voters, and it was … Read more

History of New Lenox Township, Illinois

Greetings from New Lenox, Illinois

New Lenox is what was formerly known as the Hickory Creek Settlement, although the settlement extended into and at first included that in Frankfort. But the settlers there not long after gave their settlement the name of Chelsea and by that name it was known until the Rock Island road went through the township, and then Chelsea ceased to exist and it was thereafter Mokena. New Lenox was one of the first settled townships in the county and no township had more substantial or a better class of inhabitants. The township was originally heavily timbered along Hickory creek, in fact, … Read more

History of Monee Township, Illinois

1909 Plat Map for Monee Illinois

This township had not a white inhabitant until after the trouble with the Indians was over. There were settlements to the east over in Crete, and to the northwest up in Frankfort, but the township of Carey, as Monee and Will were then called, could not boast of a single white man until the year 1833. During that year John S. Dilly, John M. Chase, S. W. Cooper, S. W. Gaines, Nicholas Young and Aaron Bonnell came into the township from Ohio, and they constituted the pioneer settlers of the township. There was but one grove of timber in the … Read more

History of Manhattan Township, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County MANHATTAN. When Will county adopted township organization in 1850 there were not enough inhabitants in the township to make a voting precinct, for it took twenty-five voters for a precinct, and so the township was added to Green Garden and they were … Read more

History of Jackson Township, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County JACKSON. This was one of the very earliest of the townships in the county to be settled. It is claimed that six families left Parke county, Indiana, in February, 1829, and made their way into Jackson township, or to what was afterward … Read more

History of Homer Township, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County HOMER. Homer was one of the first settled of all the townships in the county, and yet for years after being settled it was not known as Homer, but simply “Yankee Settlement.” In those days had a person inquired the way into … Read more

History of Lockport Township, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County LOCKPORT. The present towns of Lockport and Homer formed what was known in 1836, when the county was organized, as Canal precinct, and they were missioners’ term in 1850, when they were separated into two voting precincts, and each was entitled to … Read more

History of Green Garden Township, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County GREEN GARDEN. This is one of the townships in the county that had not a tree in it of any size when it was organized as a township in 1853. It was all clean, rolling prairie, with a small stream or two, … Read more

Historical Summary of Will County, Illinois

  Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers of Will County HISTORICAL DEDICATION To the Will County Pioneers’ Association: To you, the pioneers and early settlers of the county, who have witnessed the wonderful improvements made since you first beheld its fair surface, and who have with willing hands, and brave hearts, exerted … Read more