Pioneer Certificates




PIONEER CERTIFICATE INSTRUCTIONS

To qualify, applicants must document a pioneer ancestor's residence in either Will or Grundy County prior to 1899 and show descent, through each generation, from that ancestor to the individual for whom a certificate is desired. (The individual receiving the certificate need not be a resident of either county.)



STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
  1. Print out these four pages. (They must be printed individually)

  2. Complete and sign the 3 application pages.

  3. Make photocopy of any record showing pioneer's earliest known residency in the county (examples - census record, land record which specifically indicates residency in the county, personal property tax record, local histories, etc.)

  4. Make photocopies of documents showing relationship of each subsequent person on lineage chart to the individual immediately preceding it on the chart (examples - birth, marriage or death record; church or school record; obituaries or other newspaper articles; census record showing relationship to head of household, etc.)

  5. Return the application forms and related material, together with a $5.00 filing fee, to WGGS PIONEER CERTIFICATE COMMITTEE, P. O. Box 24, Wilmington, IL 60481-0024.

  6. NOTE: The name of the pioneer and the name of the descendant will be on the certificate. Please print them exactly as you want them shown there.






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