Welcome to
Marion County, Illinois
History and Genealogy

Volunteers Dedicated to Free Genealogy


Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online
for the free use of all researchers.


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Get the details on our Volunteer Page.
[A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage is required.]


We regret that we are unable to perform personal research for folks.
All data we come across will be added to this site.
We thank you for visiting and hope you'll come back again to view the updates we make to this site.


Marion County Information

Founded in 1823, out of Jefferson and Fayette Counties.
It was named in honor of Revolutionary War General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox".
The county seat is Salem, Illinois

Marion County, located near the center of the southern half of the state, with an area of 580 square miles; was organized in 1823, and by the census of 1900, had a population of 30,446. About half the county is prairie, the chief products being tobacco, wool and fruit. The remainder is timbered land. It is watered by the tributaries of the Kaskaskia and the Little Wabash Rivers. The bottom lands have a heavy growth of choice timber, and a deep, rich soil. A large portion of the county is underlaid with a thin vein of coal, and the rocks all belong to the upper coal measures. Sandstone and building sand are also abundant. Ample shipping facilities are afforded by the Illinois Central and the Baltimore & Ohio (S.W.) Railroads. Salem is the county seat, but Centralia is the largest and most important town, being a railroad junction and center of an extensive fruit trade. Sandoval is a thriving town at the junction of the Illinois Central and Baltimore & Ohio Southwest ern Railroads.
[Source: "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois", 1901]


Cities and Villages
* Alma * Central City * Centralia (part, including downtown)
* Iuka * Junction City * Kell * Kinmundy * Odin
* Patoka * Salem * Sandoval * Vernon * Walnut Hill

Census Designated Places
* Cartter * Fairman * Finney Heights * Glen Ridge * Helm
* Slap Out * Suburban

Marion County Courthouse
Broadway (Rt.37) & Main St.
Salem, IL 62881-0637

Many thanks to Deanna Heneghan
for all her hard work on this site!!!