McDonough County Obituary Resources:

Recent Obituaries:

The following two Macomb papers are nearly comprehensive for McDonough County residents. They have archived obituaries on-line beginning in approximagely 1999.

Macomb Eagle (weekly) - http://www.eaglepublications.com/

Note that this is a "new" Macomb Eagle (originated in 1999) published by Eagle Publications. An older Macomb Eagle was published in the late 1800s.

Macomb Journal (daily) - http://www.macombjournal.com/

The Macomb Journal is the longest running paper in the county. It has been published continuously (under various names) since 1855.

The McDonough Democrat (Bushnell) and Western Illinois University's student newspaper, the Western Courier, are the only other McDonough County newspapers published now. The Colchester Chronicle and the Blandinsville Star-Gazette both ceased publication in the spring of 2001.

The Peoria Journal-Star (a larger, regional paper published in Peoria, approx. 70 miles from Macomb) also includes many McDonough County obituaries.

See also the resources below for additional possibilities.

Older Obituaries:

(1) McDonough County Genealogical Society (MCGS), Macomb, IL

(a) On-site research

• Large obituary card file (occupies roughly 25 cubic feet)
• Microfilm of and other local newspapers (additional microfilm of smaller county newspapers can be viewed in the Archives at the WIU Library in Macomb and of the Macomb Journal at the Macomb Public Library in Macomb).
• 7 vols. of newspaper abstracts from the Macomb Journal (1880-1900) by Pease (see MCGS publications)
• Various obituary scrapbooks

(b) Research by mail

MCGS provides by-mail research services providing access to above items (see MCGS Research Services)

(2) Interlibrary Loan and Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, IL

(a) On-site research & research by mail

ISHL has a large collection of Illinois newspapers on microfilm. They do provide some research services from their microfilm collection. Also, the microfilm are available by Interlibrary loan. For ordering details, see ISHL's web site.

IL-OBITS mailing list - A mailing list for the posting of obituaries from Illinois newspapers.