A little bit about  Marion County    In 1790, the land of Marion county, was still a part of the Northwest Territory. It was only 2 counties, St. Clair and St. Knox. The land remained divided between the 2 counties until 1801.  By 1813 the land was broken up into more counties and the land of Marion county was included in the new counties of Edwards, Jefferson, Crawford, and Fayette.   In 1818, Capt.Samuel Young and his 9 yr.old son were among the first settlers in the area. By 1823 , the same time as the BlackHawk War, Marion County was in it's completness and named Marion for General Francis Marion, of the Revolutionary War. There were nearly 2000 people living in the county.   What kept this County alive and prosperous, when others were struggling, was the convenience of the the Old Vincennes/ St. Louis Rd.(US 50) and the RailRoad. There are a couple of stories pertaining to the Vincennes road, that I will share with you at a later date. This road ran from Washington D.C. to San Francisco!   Marion County's rich soil was mainly used for farming.  A large portion of the county was underlaid with a thin vein of coal and Sandstone was also abundant. Later, in /around 1908, they struck Oil! sources:  History and Families of Marion County Illinois, Turner Publishing Co., Publishers of American History                 Historical Encyclopedia of IL, 1901
Marion County Courthouse Broadway(Rt.37) & Main St. Salem, IL 62881-0637 Telephone: (618) 548-3400	Marion County Population 2000: 41,691 County seat: Salem Named for Gen. Francis Marion
Records pertaining to Marion County:
Cherokee Claims         1st Tax Assessments in 1837          Salem Fire Department Mayors of Salem        Presidents of the Board of Trustees       Marion County Sheriffs      William Jennings Bryan
Marion County Is Bordered By These Neighboring Counties: JEFFERSON WASHINGTON WAYNE                         CLAY  (Adopt me!)                    CLINTON (Adopt me!)                    FAYETTE (Adopt me!)

Interested in Hosting your own County? then email Kim

Visit the Main Illinois Trails Website                  To see what other counties Illinois Trails has online, visit our                                                        county selection map                                                                                                               Other Helpful Links: research help         Illinois Events        Military Data          Census        Illinois State Data         Volunteer  At the Main Illinois Trails Page, you will find much more data

Updated October 2, 2008
web page created by
Deanna Heneghan