The Courts

Courts at the city, county, regional, state, and federal levels heard cases involving St. Clair’s residents.

Cases ranged from childhood guardianship appointments, divorce, and indigent care, to naturalization and criminal cases, for example.

In the county’s formative years, the County Commissioners/board of supervisors created and named new townships, approved ferry rates, and changed the boundaries of road districts. Judges of the local court heard cases about vagabonds, limited criminal offenses, and legal disputes involving monetary damages under the legal limit, for example.¹ The County Courts created during the territorial period lasted until 1964.² Read about the various courts and records each kept at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository website.

On this website

• The Circuit Court index 1819-1840 in addition to 13 sample cases and a contemporary legal dictionary.
• About DECLARATION and NATURALIZATION papers: a guide through the labyrinth for the four (4) courts that handled this process.
• Naturalizations in the Circuit Court: An index 1906 –  circa July 1918

On the SCCGS member website

• Declaration Record of the County Court, St. Clair County, Illinois 1864-1906 (Names and date)
• Naturalization Record of the County Court, St. Clair County, Illinois 1864-1906 (Names and date)
• Probated Will index 1772-1964 (Names, year probated, microfilm number, case file number, court book and pages in which recorded;  also includes an index to wills recorded but not probated)
• Estate index 1772-1964 (Names, year probated, microfilm number, case file number, court book and pages in which recorded)

In the Quarterly

Use the site search to identify article titles with words or part of a word, e.g., as court, divorce, or naturalization. 

For example, these articles appeared:

• “User’s Guide to Board of Supervisors Proceedings Files, 1819 to circa 1882,” in Quarterly Volume 16 Number 1 (1993).
• “St. Clair County Circuit Court Case Files Index 1790-1818,” in Quarterly Volume 16 Number 2 (1993).
• “St. Clair County Territorial County Court Minutes “Index” Record of the Orphan Court 1796-1817,” [a table of contents] in Volume 19 Number 2 (1996).
• “Probate index 1770s-circa 1960,” [Name and year only for intestate cases, the majority died without a will] in Quarterly Volume 18 (1993). Includes some guardianships during the 1870s.

Books and microfilm

Probated and Unprobated Will Index 1772-1964 is on the member website and is one of several books in our collection at the library. SCCGS holdings include microfilm of the original probated wills, the will record, probate case files (mostly intestate cases), and records of miscellaneous courts spanning the county’s existence.

See also the chapter on Courts in St. Clair County Research and Resources: A Genealogist’s Guide and updates on our member site.

Offsite – a select list

St. Clair County Circuit Court chancery case file index (1815-1870), courtesy IRAD. This equity court heard cases for divorce, injury, wills, assignment of dower, real and personal property foreclosures, and partitions of real estate.

East St. Louis City Court Naturalization Papers Index (1874–1906), courtesy IRAD.

Circuit Court Naturalizations 1906–1945, courtesy of FamilySearch

Cases before the Supreme Court of Illinois in Illinois Reports 1819 to 1831. The Illinois Supreme Court heard cases appealed from the Circuit Court level. [Link unavailable.]

1. “Justice of the Peace,” Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) System, Illinois State Archives, posted 9 May 2018.
2. “County Court,” Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) System, Illinois State Archives, posted 9 May 2018.