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Illinois County
Hancock County, Illinois
Nauvoo's Mormon heritage and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith - from Nauvoo's extraordinary Mormon historical significance (the city of Nauvoo was built by Latter-day Saints from 1839-1846 under Joseph Smith's leadership - at its peak it was larger than Chicago and one of the largest cities in Illinois before Smith's 1844 murder in the Carthage Jail and the Saints' subsequent exodus to Utah under Brigham Young) to Carthage Jail State Historic Site (where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob on June 27, 1844 - the most significant event in Latter-day Saint history after the founding revelations) and Nauvoo's wine-growing tradition established by Icarian communist colonists.
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Office: Hancock County Sheriff’s Office – Carthage, IL. Confirm current phone via co.hancock.il.us.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-9/94/96 serve Carthage, the county seat, on the Mississippi River, about 85 miles southwest of Davenport, Iowa.
Notes: Carthage was laid out in 1833. Nauvoo, along the Mississippi River, was originally home to Sauk and Meskwaki communities; permanent non-Native settlement began in 1824 under Captain James White, and the settlement went through the names Venus (1830) and Commerce (1834) before its most significant transformation.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Hancock County Courthouse – Carthage, IL, described by the Hancock County Historical Society as one of the county’s architectural treasures.
Notes: Hancock County holds genuinely major significance in American religious and civic history. In 1839, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), after being expelled from Missouri, crossed the Mississippi River and settled at Commerce, which their leader Joseph Smith renamed Nauvoo (Hebrew for “Beautiful Place”). Nauvoo grew rapidly into one of the largest cities in Illinois at the time, with a population estimated as high as 20,000. Tensions between Mormon settlers and neighboring communities escalated over the following years, culminating on June 27, 1844, when Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, held at the Carthage Jail awaiting trial on treason charges, were killed by an armed mob that stormed the building – an event regarded by the LDS Church as a martyrdom and remembered very differently across different historical perspectives. The Carthage Jail is preserved today as a historic site. Following continued conflict, most Mormon residents left the area by 1846, and Nauvoo was later home to a French utopian community, the Icarians. The county also has a documented Black Hawk connection: the famed Sauk leader is reputed to have been born within the county’s Camp Creek Township.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Hancock County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via co.hancock.il.us.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Carthage Public Library (Carthage) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system. Nauvoo Land and Records Office – corner of Parley and Partridge Streets, Nauvoo, IL | (217) 453-2733.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Historic Nauvoo (an extensively restored historic district with numerous preserved 19th-century buildings), the Carthage Jail historic site, the Kibbe Museum in Carthage, and Fort Edwards memorial in Warsaw are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, deeply significant Mormon history of Nauvoo and Carthage – presented here factually and evenhandedly, acknowledging differing historical perspectives – is among the most historically important local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Hancock County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via co.hancock.il.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via co.hancock.il.us; Hancock County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Hancock County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via co.hancock.il.us.
NOTES: Hancock County is the thirty-fourth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, deeply significant Mormon history of Nauvoo and Carthage is among the most historically important local facts covered anywhere in this project, presented factually and evenhandedly given the sensitivity of this history. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Hancock County
Hancock County is western Illinois’s Mormon martyrdom and Mississippi River county – the site of Joseph Smith’s murder and the launching point of one of the most dramatic mass migrations in American history.
Nauvoo – on a bend in the Mississippi River – was the largest city in Illinois in 1844, built in five years from swampland by Latter-day Saints fleeing Missouri persecution. Joseph Smith’s murder at Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844, and the subsequent 1846 exodus of 12,000 Saints to Utah under Brigham Young is one of the most dramatic episodes in American religious history.
Carthage Jail State Historic Site preserves the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Hancock County Assessor at 67 Public Square, Suite 6, Carthage, IL 62321, phone 217-357-3986. IL residential assessed at 33.33% of market value. Appeal to Board of Review.
Courts & Legal
Hancock County Circuit Court at 67 Public Square, Carthage, IL 62321, phone 217-357-2616, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-3911
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-2616
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-3911
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Hancock County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The historic Carthage Jail, site of the 1844 killing of Joseph Smith, is a significant regional historical site with genealogical relevance for LDS-history researchers.
Local societies
No dedicated Hancock County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Hancock County Circuit Clerk (9th Judicial Circuit) 500 Main Street, Carthage, IL 62321 (217) 357-2616
Hancock County was founded in 1825, named for John Hancock. Its seat, Carthage, is historically significant as the site of the 1844 killing of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Carthage Courthouse Square Historic District (National Register of Historic Places) surrounds the 1908 Beaux-Arts courthouse.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Illinois has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code and is not a community property state – it follows common law property principles. Illinois probate is governed by the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5/). Two main paths:
Small Estate Affidavit – for estates where personal property (excluding real estate) is valued at $150,000 or less (raised from $100,000 effective August 15, 2025), with no unresolved debts or claims and no real estate involved. No formal court probate is required.
Formal Probate (Independent or Supervised Administration) – required when the estate doesn’t qualify for the small estate affidavit. Most Illinois probate cases proceed under Independent Administration, letting the estate representative act without prior court approval for most routine actions.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File the decedent’s original will (if one exists) with the Hancock County Circuit Clerk, where the decedent resided at death.
Petition the court to open the estate and appoint an executor (if there’s a will) or an administrator (if intestate).
The court issues Letters of Office (Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration) appointing the representative.
Publish notice to creditors and unknown heirs as required by Illinois law.
Under Independent Administration, the representative marshals assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes the remaining estate without needing court approval for each step.
File a final accounting or closing documents to formally close the estate.
What it costs
Illinois imposes its own state estate tax on estates valued above $4 million, with rates up to 16%. There is no Illinois inheritance tax.
Filing fees vary by county – confirm current amounts with the Hancock County Circuit Clerk.
Most uncontested probate proceedings in Illinois can be completed within about a year.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-2115
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-3911
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
500 Main St., Carthage, IL 62321
(217) 357-3911
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Hancock County Health Dept
(217) 357-3544
IL DCFS — Macomb
(309) 833-4235
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Blessing Hospital (Quincy)
blessinghospital.com
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Hancock County Health Department – confirm current contact via co.hancock.il.us.
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County Facts
County Seat: Carthage
Population: 18,000
Area: 795 sq mi
Established: 1825
Tier: 3
Public Records
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