Tazewell County
Research Services

General Surname Search

For a $12.00 donation (nonrefundable) we will search the following holdings for one surname and send you the results:

1. 1850 and 1860 Tazewell County census
2. Tazewell County Marriage Records of 1827 - 1892
3. Cemetery Records for all known Tazewell County cemeteries
4. Tazewell County history books (1879, 1894, and 1905)
5. Probate Record Index through approximately 1933
6. Land Plat and Atlas Biography Sections (1864, 1873, and 1891)
7. Early Land Records index (1827 - March 1838)
8. Tazewell County Public Domain Land Records (first owners of land)
9. Naturalization Records
10. Surname Index

For example, a “Smith” surname search will include everyone with the surname “Smith” listed in the above ten resources.

If you are sure you have ancestors in 1820-1900 Tazewell County, this service is almost guaranteed to give you results!

	Pekin Public Library & TCGHS Obituary Files
We will search the TCGHS obituary files and make one trip to the Pekin Public Library to check the newspaper obituary file index for a fee of $5.00 for the first obituary and $2.00 for each additional obituary ordered at the same time.  However, not all obituaries are in the index. Pekin Times obituaries are available beginning about 1916. An exact date of death is needed to search for an obituary not in the index.  We can not do full years searches.

Limited research will be performed at the Tazewell County courthouse for a donation of $5.00 plus copy charges and/or applicable document fees as described below.

Please specify the records you wish searched:

• Non-certified copies of Marriage, Birth, or Death records prior to 1916 - $10.00 include $5.00 TCGHS donation plus $5.00 document fee.  You must purchase certified records as priced below for dates starting in 1916.  Please be aware that birth and death records were not always recorded prior to 1916.
• Certified Birth records (beginning in 1878) - $19.00 includes $5.00 TCGHS donation plus $14.00 search fee to county.
• Certified Death records (beginning in 1878) - $21.00 includes $5.00 TCGHS donation plus $16.00 search fee to county.
• Certified Marriage records (beginning in 1827) - $19.00 includes $5.00 TCGHS donation plus $14.00 fee to county.
• Probate Records - $8.00 - includes $5.00 TCGHS donation plus $3.00 for postage and up to three pages of copy.  We will bill you if there are additional pages to copy.
• Land Records - $10.00/hour plus copy charges and postage (usually around $3.00).  If it takes more than one hour or six copies, we will bill you for the difference.  We need the approximate date of land ownership and/or land description.
• Naturalization Records - $8.00 - includes $5.00 TCGHS fee plus $3.00 for postage and up to three pages of copy.  We will bill you if there are additional pages to copy. (Our society has extracted and published these records.  The documents give no more information than is find in our publications.)

Photo Service

We can now take cemetery photographs for you with a digital camera.  For a $10.00 nonrefundable donation, our volunteers will:

• Drive to a cemetery and find your ancestor's grave.
• Take a photograph of the cemetery entrance, a medium distance shot of the plot, and a close-up of the marker.
• Take photographs of any additional graves at the same cemetery for only $2.00 each.
• Send you your photos electronically attached to an email or posted on a website where you can download them at your convenience. Or, we can send them by mail on a CD-ROM or a black & white printed copy from an HP 4050 laser printer. Your choice of one, please!
• Color copies from an HP 895 inkjet printer are available for an additional $2.00/photo.

Photographs of other subjects will be taken at similar costs.  All proceeds from the Photo Service go into the society's computer fund.

Copy Service

We will copy pages from our newsletters, county history books, microfilms, etc. for $.25/page plus $1.00 postage & handling.

All Other Research

All other research requests not previously listed will be billed at $10.00 per hour which includes 3 copies.  One hour of research must be paid in advance.  Each additional hour will be billed at $10.00 per hour and 25¢ per page.  You must authorize any additional hours.  Otherwise, we'll only spend one hour on your request.

Drop us an email outlining your needs for an estimate of cost.

Make all checks payable to TCGHS and send research request (along with self addressed envelope and two (2) unaffixed stamps) to Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society, PO Box 312, Pekin, Illinois 61555-0312.  If you'd prefer paying online via PayPal we can send you an email invoice.

No research will be done until initial fees are received.  Research requests are processed by our volunteers as quickly as possible in first-come first-served order.  Please allow at least 8 weeks for response.