Almost every Illinois family reaches an immigrant — the ancestor who crossed an ocean and started over. Knowing which waves settled the state, and where, is the first step to finding the village they came from.
The people in this story fill our public-record database. Search a surname and filter to Illinois.
Search Illinois records →Who settled Illinois
Illinois was built by Germans and Irish first, then Poles, Italians, Swedes, and Eastern Europeans crowding into Chicago, followed by the Great Migration of African Americans from the South. Chicago became one of the great immigrant cities of the world, its neighborhoods sorted by nation and parish, while downstate filled with German and British farm families.
Ethnic and religious colonies
The newcomers rarely scattered — they clustered, founding tight national and religious colonies where the old language, church, and customs held for generations. Those enclaves still mark the map of Illinois, and they shape which records a family appears in.
Following an immigrant ancestor
The trail runs backward through naturalization papers, ship passenger lists, the immigration questions on the 1900–1930 censuses (year of arrival, naturalization status), and the church registers the immigrants brought with them — back to the village in the old country.
Finding your Illinois ancestors
- The 1900–1930 census immigration columns (year of arrival, naturalization) plus passenger lists and naturalization papers lead back to the old country.
- Census records (free through 1950) list occupation and residence — placing your family in a specific Illinois county and town, decade by decade.
- Death & cemetery records — search our Illinois database for the people in this story and the generations around them.
- The Illinois State Archives in Springfield holds the deeper collections — company, church, military, and county records.
- Newspapers on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America carried the obituaries, accidents, and milestones of these communities.
We work back from you to the ancestor who lived this history — census, vital, church, and cemetery records, written into a book and an interactive family site. Flat rate, no DNA test.
See how it works →Frequently asked questions
Who immigrated to Illinois?
Illinois was settled largely by Germans and Irish first, then Poles, Italians, Swedes, and Eastern Europeans crowding into Chicago, followed by the Great Migration of African Americans from the South.
How do I trace an immigrant ancestor in Illinois?
Use the immigration columns on the 1900–1930 censuses to find the arrival year, then naturalization records, passenger lists, and the immigrant church’s registers to reach the old-country origin.