About Membership

All members are expected to adhere to the SCCGS Bylaws and the Code of Ethics (see tab above). We encourage you to follow our sister society’s Genealogical Guidelines. SCCGS members are invited to volunteer on a project of choice.

Application online

  • Apply securely online, expires December 31 (see footnote). Member site access is usually activated between 1st and 15th of the following month after processed by SCCGS volunteers. 

Apply by mail

  1. Click, fill, and print. If you experience problems, download the application first. Annual membership expires each December 31 (see footnote).
  2. Mailed-in applications takes 4-6 weeks after the application is received.¹ Member site access is the last step in that process.
  • New memberships are accepted year-round but all expire December 31.  Online membership applications receive member site access faster than by mail. Renew/reapply early enough for uninterrupted member site access.

Welcome, and thank you for your patience as we complete your application.

Mailed memberships take 4-6 weeks to completely process, member site access is the last step in this process. Volunteer on a project of choice, donate articles or finding aids  for our publications or member website, and preserve your research in print form at the library.

New members receive:

  • from our Membership chair, a welcome letter, membership card, and your membership code number
  • an email from SCCGS via WordPress with link to the member website after access is enabled,
  • all the other Benefits for members in good standing (see Benefits tab),
  • member site access (individuals only, not libraries and other societies).

See also the above tab, Member site access FAQs.

 

Renewing members receive:

  • uninterrupted member site access if the application is mailed before or early November.
  • all benefits for members in good standing.
  • a membership card if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is mailed to SCCGS.
  • member site access (individuals only, not libraries or other societies).

Member site access FAQs

It takes 4-6 weeks to fully process applications. Member site access is granted a few days after the first Thursday of each month. Thank you for your patience.

Forgot your password? Do this

Current members

  • If “your account is inactive” when logging into the site and enough time has passed since you applied, please Contact our Membership Chair to confirm your application was received.

New members

When member site access is enabled, an e-mail from SCCGS will arrive similar to this [St. Clair County Genealogical Society – SCCGS] Your Username and Password.

  • The body of the message includes access and a long link to the Member Area. Click the link (or copy/paste it into your browser).
  • At the next screen, type (copy/paste) the username and password you received in the email. Once in the member website you may change the password (right margin) if desired.
  • Write down and save your passwordFailure to do so will require the process to be repeated.
  • Please do not share your password.  If all else fails, please Contact us with your phone number for help!
Important: If your e-mail account requires a permission, set it to allow WordPress (wordpress@members.stclair-ilgs.org) to pass through.
  • All e-mails sent from the member website are automated and appear similar to this example.
  • Once logged in, the public and member websites are both accessible – each must be searched independently.
  • Please LOG OUT of the member site when finished.

Forgot Username or Password?

The Login screen displays a Forgot Your Password link. Click it. Within minutes, an email from SCCGS will arrive at the e-mail address you provided to the Society. Be sure to check your spam folder. Follow the prompts. Once in the member site you may change your password to something memorable (see right margin to do so). If you still have problems, please Contact the webmaster. Back to top

Benefits

Members receive the Member eNews, and the SCCGS Quarterly (in digital format). A mailed option only for the Quarterly is available for an additional fee; send in free queries to be published on its pages. ♦♦ Option to purchase at reduced price: St. Clair Research and Resources: A Genealogist’s Guide ♦♦ Surnames you are researching are posted online to “Let’s Collaborate” (submit via the member site. SCCGS facilitates contact to protect your privacy). ♦♦ Members’ website access for individuals (sorry, institutions and societies do not have access).

Member website includes these resources

Consider joining SCCGS for the remainder of the year or donate to help support our endeavors.

  • March 2023 (updated): Birth abstracts (1878–1920, name and birthdate), an index to certificates filed at the courthouse
  • January 2023: Mount Hope Cemetery Lot Books. With these books the entire holdings for Mt. Hope Cemetery records acquired by SCCGS are now online for Members.
  • “Belleville Newspaper Abstracts “WPA file 1840–1940.” Digital documents. Locally known as the WPA newspaper card file, abstracts from articles in Belleville Newspapers about businesses, churches, civil leaders, clubs, court cases, farmers, military, pioneers, residents, and many other topics are the gateway to ancestral and historically significant research. The Society has digitized nearly 99,000 cards for the benefit of its Members and created an index to all names and businesses shown on those cards! (live 2 May 2022).
    • 3 August 2022: a cross-reference to the “Belleville Newspaper Abstracts (WPA file) 1840–1940.” This index adds 900,000 names found within the abstracted information on each WPA card, i.e., all associates, businesses,  clubs, locations, occupations, relatives, and more. We are delighted to share this with our members – annual dues supports these special projects.
  • Mount Hope Cemetery Lot Cards and Sexton’s books (live June–December 2022). An index to burials. Consider joining SCCGS for the remainder of the year to help support our endeavors.

Birth, marriage, death – vital records

  • Birth abstracts (1878–1920, name and birthdate), an index to certificates filed at the courthouse. Know before you order a copy of the original from the courthouse.
  • Marriages 1845-1869 published by Buecher
  • Marriages – from the Millstadt Enterprise 1950–1997
  • Death Records of the St. Clair County Poor Farm and Hospital 1854-1916 compiled by Bechtoldt, et al. (free book)
  • Death and Stillbirth certificates recorded at the courthouse 1877-1917 Name, date of death, date filed, certificate number. Know before you order a copy of the original from the courthouse. (updated May 2024)

Court

  • Declarations and naturalizations filed in County Court (1864-1906)
  • Index to St. Clair County, Illinois Probated and Non-probated Wills 1772 – 1964 (free book)
  • Index to probate case files (estates) 1772-1960s.

News

  • Digital images of the Belleville-News Democrat 1901-2002 – remote access.
  • 400 family-focused obituaries of St. Clair countians with digital image
  • 1890 business and personal tidbits from the newspaper
  • 1914 Biography and Business index to the Post und Zeitung
  • 1926 Daily Advocate news abstracts (in addition to vital stats on our public website)
  • 1941 Farm Families Competition with news article

Other resources

  • 1870 Historical Review of Belleville
  • Bible records
  • Early Family Files — compiled data on 125 St. Clair County families with roots principally along the eastern seaboard, Kentucky, and Tennessee before 1850.
  • Index to International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) applications, member rosters, and visitor registers (Belleville, West Belleville, and Millstadt).
  • St. Clair County Medical Society applications 1920-1957.
  • St. John Orphanage history
  • St. Peter’s Catholic Church (Belleville), burials 1859-1909
  • The Classroom
    • Builds upon chapters in St Clair Research and Resources: A Genealogist’s Guide, introduces new resources as these become available.
    • Virtual presentations to the most recent lectures.
  • Quarterly Volumes 1–8; and recent issues published through 2023  (Table of Contents)

All content on the Society websites is Board approved.

SCCGS Bylaws

All members are expected to follow these BYLAWS (rev. 2021) to remain a member in good standing.

Code of Ethics

All members of the St. Clair County Genealogical Society are asked to follow this time-honored Code of Ethics:

In order to protect the integrity of public records and library materials, I am ethically bound and hereby agree:

  1. That I will treat with the greatest of care and respect all public records and library materials which may be made available for my use.
  2. That I will speak with courtesy to all employees of a vital records office, or of a public library, when requesting to see any vital record or library materials, and that when finished with such a record or material, I shall express my thanks to the person attending to my requests.
  3. That I will not tear, erase, mark or remove any public record or library book, and will refrain from mutilating, defacing or otherwise destroying any part of such public record or library material.
  4. That when finished viewing any public record or library material, I will return it to the proper or designated place.

Return mail policy

Members shall reimburse the Society for postage it paid for returned regular publications that are requested to be remailed, plus the cost of remailing.

  • The Quarterly is posted on the member website. If you paid to receive printed issues, it will be held for one month and then returned to the general circulation (effective April 2014; updated 15 August 2022).

Reasons for this decision: The Post Office regulations.

To change your mailing address from the member website, click Account on the main menu tab there, or click Contact on the main menu above.


  1. SCCGS is run by volunteers. Why does it take 4-6 weeks to process your application and get member site access? Several committee volunteers handle each application from its arrival at the Post Office (about twice a month) or quicker if ordered online, with delivery to the treasurer. Once properly entered into our financial records the application reaches the membership chair who creates a report around the first Thursday of each month. This report is delivered to the member website assistant who enables access. We ask your patience in the interim and urge you to thoroughly glean all you can from the public site including the combined article title and Quarterly surname search.

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St. Clair County Genealogical Society, PO Box 431, Belleville, IL 62222-0431.
E-mail: sccgsoffice@stclair-ilgs.org  Privacy policy and Use Agreement.
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Information may be linked to but not copied. Authorized by SCCGS Board of Directors. Contact Us.