Pike County, Illinois - USGenWeb site
The definitive history of Pike County, Illinois is known as the Jess M. Thompson History of Pike County Illinois (short title). It consists of 193 chapters in a book published in 1967 by the Pike County Historical Society which was produced from the series of weekly articles written by Mr. Thompson from 1935 to 1939 and published in the Pike County Republican, of which he was a contributing editor. Its full title is: "History of Pike County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens. / History of Illinois, embracing accounts of pre-historic races, Aborigines, French, English and American conquests, and a general review of its civil, political and military history. / Digest of State laws"
The book is available online in various forms.
An "early" transcription ca. 2001 and still available June 2012 is: Jess M. Thompson Pike County IL History Chapters.
Each chapter is listed by number in a matrix. There is also an index link listed, but as of June 2012 it gives a database coding error.
An index to the book was separately at: Index to Pike County History by Jess M. Thompson
However, as of June 2012 it is broken ("Not Found" error) and I do not know its replacement. It probably was shuffled during the Great Rebellion when Ancestry.com decided to start advertising on USGenWeb sites and they all left for other hosting services. It may be the same as the above broken link giving the database error. Will follow-up in a week or so.
Since the above was prepared, the book has been scanned online: Archive.com Main: Pike County History by Jess M. Thompson
It is presented in various online formats including PDF, EPUB and text. However, the text version is the apparent result of an OCR scan, so there are numerous character interpretation errors. It is, however, text-searchable, but be flexible in specifying search terms.
Another is the "1880" Pike County History by Chas. C. Chapman & Co. Full title: History of Pike county, Illinois; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens. History of Illinois ... Digest of state laws ..
It is presented in various online formats including PDF, EPUB and text. However, the text version is the apparent result of an OCR scan, so there are numerous character interpretation errors. It is, however, text-searchable, but be flexible in specifying search terms.
Over the decades, families routinely migrated among these counties, including those in Illinois. My own ancestors and relatives also lived at various times in Lincoln, Pike (MO), Calhoun, Jersey and Pike (IL). At one time there was even a ferry boat (Hamburg Ferry) that provided regular trips between the shores (not sure when it began or if still in service).
Links and brief information about surrounding counties is posted on the (TBA) Pike County, Illinois USGenWeb site. These sites vary as to quantity and quality of genealogical data. Include a couple especially useful links.
A few notes and key links. Information about "Pritchard" photographer of Louisiana, Missouri.
Note that the City of St. Louis separated from St. Louis County in 1876. Records are maintained separately.
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