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Office: White County Sheriff’s Office – 108 North Main Cross Street, Carmi, IL 62821 | (618) 382-5321 | Fax (618) 382-5323; Sheriff Doug Maier. Jail capacity 77 beds.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-64 and SR-1 serve Carmi, the county seat and largest city, along the Little Wabash River, in the region of southern Illinois known as “Little Egypt.”
Notes: White County was organized from Gallatin County in December 1815, named for Captain Leonard White, a Gallatin County legislator credited with the idea of extending the Illinois-Wisconsin border a few miles north of Lake Michigan’s southern tip; White was killed in 1811 at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Carmi was founded in 1814 and incorporated in 1816, taking its name from a biblical figure, nephew of Jacob.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: White County Courthouse – 301 East Main Street, Carmi, IL.
Notes: The county’s very first courthouse was the log cabin of John Craw. A pioneer house-sized structure known as the Robinson-Stewart House served as courthouse from 1815 until 1828 and still survives in Carmi today, marked by a historical plaque reading “Carmi’s Oldest House.” A genuine personal connection ties Carmi’s founding to law enforcement: Daniel Hay, elected the very first sheriff of White County in 1818 (serving three two-year terms), was also a co-founder of Carmi itself; he went on to serve two terms in the Illinois State Senate, worked as a federal pension agent for eleven years, ran a hotel and ferry, co-founded a local store with his son, and was later elected as a delegate to Illinois’s 1848 Constitutional Convention.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: White County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via whitecounty-il.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Carmi Public Library (Carmi) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Robinson-Stewart House (“Carmi’s Oldest House”), the White County Courthouse, and downtown Carmi’s historic square are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, personal connection between Carmi’s founding and the county’s very first sheriff, Daniel Hay, is among the standout local historical facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: White County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via whitecounty-il.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via whitecounty-il.gov; White County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: White County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via whitecounty-il.gov.
NOTES: White County is the eighty-ninth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, personal connection between Carmi’s founding and the county’s very first sheriff, Daniel Hay, is among the standout local historical facts covered in this project. 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 White County County
White County is southeastern Illinois’s Little Wabash River and oil field county – the river bottomland corridor and the petroleum production that brought 20th-century economic diversification to the county’s agricultural landscape define a community where Carmi serves the surrounding farming and former oil-producing communities near the Indiana and Kentucky borders.
Carmi (the county seat, population ~4,600) is White County’s governmental hub on the Little Wabash River, a southeastern Illinois small city on IL-1 whose oil heritage, Little Wabash River access, and agricultural service role anchor its identity in the rural southeastern Illinois interior.
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White County Supervisor of Assessments at 301 E. Main Street, Carmi, IL 62821, phone 618-382-8122. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
White County Circuit Court at 301 E. Main Street, Carmi, IL 62821, phone 618-382-7211, 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)
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-7211
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-2321
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-7211
Genealogy
County-level record sources
White County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The Robinson-Stewart House, White County’s first courthouse (1815-1828), still stands in Carmi as a significant local historical landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated White 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
White County Circuit Clerk (Second Judicial Circuit) 301 East Main Street, Carmi, IL 62821 (618) 382-2321
White County was established in 1815, named for Isaac White, during a period of rapid settlement in southern Illinois after the War of 1812. Its seat, Carmi, sits on the Little Wabash River; the pioneer-era Robinson-Stewart House, in use as a courthouse from 1815 to 1828, still survives in the city.
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 White 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 White 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
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-4417
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-7211
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
301 E. Main St., Carmi, IL 62821
(618) 382-7211
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
White County Health Dept
(618) 382-4203
IL DCFS — Carmi
(618) 382-4112
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
White County Medical Center
whitecountymedicalcenter.com (Carmi)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: White County Health Department – confirm current contact via whitecounty-il.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Carmi
Population: 13,500
Area: 496 sq mi
Established: 1815
Public Records
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