Jasper County
Genealogy

Welcome to the Jasper County, Illinois Genealogy web site


This county is adoptable.
See this webpage for more information if you are interested.

For corrections, suggestions, etc. contact ILGenWeb State Coordinator.


This site is part of the ILGenWeb Project which is a part of the USGenWeb Project. 

Jasper County NEEDS VOLUNTEERS to do lookups.  If you own or have access to any Jasper County reference books (such as census, cemetery, marriage, obituaries, newspaper abstracts, etc.) and would be willing to do lookups for other Jasper County researchers, then please wait for a new County Cordinator to provide his/her email address.


Do You Know Why.......

Do you know why.............I provide links to so many places instead of posting the information here?  It's because I want the people who do the work to get the credit for it.  If I posted it here, even though I put their name on it, it could be construed that I did the work when I actually did not.

As someone whose work has been "stolen" and posted on other sites without credit, I am extremely sensitive to this issue. I would rather be criticized for providing links than let anyone think I am "stealing" their work.

So now you know why............


MAILING LIST FOR JASPER COUNTY

You can subscribe to the list in mail mode by sending an e-mail message to:
"IL-JASPERCO-ROOTS-L-request@rootsweb.com" (without the quotes) that contains only the word "subscribe" in both the subject line and in the body of the message (without the quotes).

After sending your subscription request to the list you will receive a message with the subject of “Complete your Subscription to IL-JasperCo-Roots-L” letting you know that we received a request to subscribe your email address to the mailing list and asking you to click on a link that will lead you to the confirmation page.  The confirmation page has two options, “Cancel my subscription request” and “Subscribe to list IL-JasperCo-Roots-L”.  On this page you also have the choice of selecting whether you would like to receive digests.


JASPER COUNTY HISTORY

Jasper County was formed in 1831 from Clay and Crawford counties and approved on December 19, 1834.  It was named after American Revolutionary War hero Sergeant William Jasper from South Carolina.  In 1776 (in the defense of Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina) when the staff of the American flag was shot away, Sgt. Jasper erected a temporary staff, and waved the flag at the British until a new staff could be erected.  He later was killled at Savannah in 1779.  He also saved American prisoners of war from certain death at the hands of British soldiers.

At the time Jasper County was formed, it was primarily an agricultural community, and it remains so today.  As of January, 1996 there were 772 farms (average farm size is 334 acres).  Crops are primarily corn, soybeans, and wheat. Other agricultural pursuits include beef cows, dairy cows and hogs/pigs.  Jasper County has an area of approximately 508 square miles, and its shape is almost square.

The average yearly temperature is 53 degrees; the warmest month is July; the coldest month is January.  Jasper County receives approximately 42" of rain per year and about 15" of snow each winter.  As of the 1990 census, the Jasper County population was 10,561.

Newton is the largest and oldest town in Jasper County.  Because it was located in the center of the county, it was named the county seat in 1835.  It was named after Sergeant Newton, who was also a defender of Fort Moultrie, South Carolina.  As of the 1990 census, the population of Newton was 3,141.  Other towns in Jasper County are Advance, Bogota, Boos, Brookville, Falmouth, Gila, Hidalgo, Hunt City, Island Grove, Latona, Lis, Plainfield, Point Pleasant, Rafetown**, Rose Hill, Ste. Marie, Shamrock, West Liberty, Wheeler, Willow Hill and Yale.  (If you know of any that I've missed, please let me know so that I can add them).

** Rafetown was originally known as Embarrasville.  It was then renamed for Dr. Jacob Raef.  Somehow in the 1960's, the spelling became "Rafetown".  On June 25, 2009, the US Board on Geographic Names officially approved the changing/spelling of the name to RAEFTOWN. 



JASPER COUNTY SPECIAL EVENTS

If you know of anything that is genealogy-related that you would like included here, please contact me.  This means genealogy workshops, genealogy seminars, family reunions, school reunions, family anniversaries (particularly 25th and 50th anniversaries), church picnics, genealogy software classses, (anything related to genealogy), genealogy society meetings, genealogy software user group meetings, historical tours, etc.

If you wish to have your family reunion shown in this section, send me the information (use the link above) so that I can add it. Don't you think this would be a good way to reach those long-lost cousins? Perhaps they would attend......(it's worth a try, don't you think?)



JASPER COUNTY
Surnames/Queries

Submit Queries  -- In addition to submitting a query here, you may find it helpful to post your query to the Jasper County Mailing List (see instructions above).  Subscribers to this mailing list will receive your posting minutes after you hit "send".  This may give you a faster response. Your query will be posted to the GenWeb page when I do the next update.  You will note that the queries are dated from January 2007 to present (when I resumed administering this county).  Older queries were not able to be edited for change of email address, etc.  If you had a query dated prior to January 2007, please resubmit your query with current information so that I can post it.

 Read Queries

 Submit Surnames  -- If I am notified that an email address associated with a surname is no longer a valid address, I will remove the entire surname entry.  If you find that this has happened, you must resubmit your surname with a current email address.

Surnames - A-C
Surnames - D-F
Surnames - G-I
Surnames - J-L
Surnames - M-O
Surnames - P-R
Surnames - S-U
Surnames - V-Z

Good Stuff About Jasper County


Reference & Lookup Volunteers  Information about the Jasper County Clerk's office is included in this section.
Facts - Findings An Alphabetical List of Cemeteries (including nearest town and the township); Tips and Hints to Make Your Research Easier; Meanings of Old Tombstone Carvings; Importance of Military Records, etc.)  This section includes the new list of Civil War veterans (both North and South) that are buried in Jasper County.
Then and Now ... (Includes Diseases/Causes of Death; Occupations; Time Line for Jasper County; and The New Time Line for Wars, Epidemics and Natural Disasters)
Civil War Regiments/Companies of Illinois
Political Graveyard - Jasper County
Veterans Affairs National Cemetery System

USGenWeb Sites for Surrounding Counties 

Clark County, Illinois
Clay County, Illinois
Crawford County, Illinois
Cumberland County, Illinois
Effingham County, Illinois
Richland County, Illinois

Illinois County Boundaries 1790-Present
ILGenWeb

Some Other Good Genealogy WWW Links 


USGenWeb Project
ILGenWeb Project
Illinois On-Line Data Bases
Illinois State-Wide Index to Marriages
Illinois City-County Locator
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Find Phone Numbers
Inflation Calculator (calculates what land purchased in the past is worth today)
Illinois County Boundaries 1790 - Present
ILGenWeb Map
Illinois State Genealogical Society
Illinois Public Domain Land Sales
Illinois Section of USGenWeb Archives
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - Illinois
Color Landform Atlas: Illinois
Ordering Illinois Vital Records - U.S. Vital Records Info.
Ordering Illinois Vital Records - VitalChek

For corrections, suggestions, etc. contact ILGenWeb State Coordinator.

Copyright by IllinoisGenWeb Project
1997-2023 All rights reserved.

Last updated on 21 Apr 2023