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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Collinsville (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Collinsville. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Collinsville is primarily located in Madison County. A portion of Collinsville extends into Saint Clair County.

To see how the shape of Illinois' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Madison County: Bond, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Montgomery, Saint Clair, Saint Charles (MO), Saint Louis City (MO) & Saint Louis (MO).

Below are the counties that are near Collinsville. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Collinsville:

  • Madison County     (The home county of Collinsville)
  • Bond County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.
    • Pierron
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Pocahontas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Ripley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Old Ripley is located in Bond County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Ripley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
  • Clinton County
  • Jersey County
  • Macoupin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.
    • Bunker Hill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Staunton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Brighton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Miles Station
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Wilsonville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Dorchester
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Sawyerville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Benld
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Mount Clare
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Mount Clare is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Clare
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
    • Royal Lakes
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Royal Lakes is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
      • Royal Lakes has also been known as:
      • Royal Lakes village
    • White City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • White City is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 230 people
  • Monroe County
  • Saint Clair County
  • Washington County
  • Jefferson County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.
    • Arnold
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Arnold is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,145 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arnold <1>
    • Flamm City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Flamm City is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flamm City
    • Maxville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Imperial
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Kimmswick
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Murphy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Murphy is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
  • Saint Charles County (MO)
  • Saint Louis City (MO)
  • Saint Louis County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.
    • Glasgow Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Glasgow Village is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow Village
    • Riverview
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Riverview is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,821 people
    • Bellefontaine Neighbors
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Bellefontaine Neighbors is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellefontaine Neighbors
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,297 people
    • Spanish Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Spanish Lake is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish Lake
    • Moline Acres
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Moline Acres is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moline Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,339 people
    • Castle Point
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Castle Point is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Point
    • Flordell Hills
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Flordell Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flordell Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 800 people
    • Jennings
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Pine Lawn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Pine Lawn is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Lawn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,579 people
    • Beverly Hills
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Beverly Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 551 people
    • Country Club Hills
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Country Club Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Country Club Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,245 people
    • Dellwood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Dellwood is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,994 people
    • Glen Echo Park
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Glen Echo Park is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Echo Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Collinsville, see our County-by-County Page for Collinsville.

Cemeteries Near Collinsville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Collinsville.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Collinsville - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Collinsville covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Collinsville had a population of 3,498 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Collinsville had a population of 24,217 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Collinsville, with the one closest to Collinsville listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Collinsville. See our List of 1890's Communities around Collinsville.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Collinsville ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 604 newspapers that have been published in the area around Collinsville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Collinsville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Collinsville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Collinsville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> of Collinsville.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Collinsville:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Collinsville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Collinsville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.