FrancoGene: Genealogy of Illinois

Origin of the State's name

Illinois was named by the Native tribe of the same name. Name would mean "men" in the tribe language.

History at a glance

The inside area of the North-American continent was firstly inhabited by Natives (called Amerindians or Indians) for 10 to 40,000 years.

French, who settled the St.Lawrence Valley (Quebec City, 1608, then Montreal, 1642), explored the continent looking for furs. In 1634, Jean Nicolet reached Michigan Lake (Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin). In 1657-58, Medard Chouart dit Desgroseillers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson explored the Superior Lake and the North of Mississippi River (Illinois). In 1669-70, Robert Cavelier de La Salle explored Ohio and Illinois. Earlier French posts are from that time, usually Fur Trade posts.

In 1763, after loosing the Seven Year war, the Northern area East of Mississippi to the Great Lake was a part of Canada becoming at that time a British colony and included in what was then called the Province of the Quebec Government. Many French crossed the Mississippi at that time to remain in a French country; however, Missouri became actually a Spanish territory at that time. In 1783, the area formed the American North-West Territory. Settlement is then similar to other places of the West.

Illinois became an American State in 1818.

Some French pioneers

Index of marriages of the French era:

[A-B] [C] [D-F] [G-K] [L] [M-Q] [R-S] [T-W]

Number of Franco-Americans in the State

1931	All	190,000
French Canadians	Total	Born in Canada	Parents born in Canada
1930	24,250	6,189	18,061
1920	15,512	4,032	11,480
1910	24,484	7,440	17,044
1900	27,109	9,102	18,007
1890	13,795	5,944	7,851

List of old French forts with records

Register: type and year of registers. Register: type (bms for b/baptisms, m/marriages and s/burials) and years with records. "rec" is a census.

Fort	Today	US state/ Province	Registers	Publication
Cahokia (Ste-Famille)	Cahokia, Co. St.Clair	Illinois	rec:1735,1752,1787 m:1735-1839 s:1784-1794	PFF 1
Kaskaskia (Notre-Dame de la Conception)	Kaskaskia, Co. Randolph	Illinois	rec:1726, 1752, 1787 bms:1695-1834	ANF:G1-412 NAC:F-597 NAC:C-2899 PFF 2
Prairie du Rocher (St-Joseph)	Prairie du Rocher, Co. Randolph	Illinois	bms:1761-1799	NAC:C-2899 PFF 2
Fort de Chartres (Ste-Anne)	Fort Cavendish, Co. ???	Illinois	bms:1720-1765	ANF:G1-412 NAC:C-2899 NAC:F-597 PFF 2 The village of Chartres in Colonial Illinois
St-Louis des Illinois	???	???	bms:1776-1800
Poste St-Philippe des Illinois (La Visitation)	?	Missouri ?	rec:1752 bms:1761-1765	NAC:C-2899 PFF 2

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