Vanessa WoodMy recent genealogy road trip was “bookended” with research in Nashville, Illinois (Washington County) and in Nashville, Tennessee. Before heading out I prepped for the trip so I knew what I was looking for at each location and I had reasonable expectations of what I would find. One stop in prepping for the trip was the Family Search Wiki. The wiki page for Washington County, Illinois said under Record Loss section, “There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.”1.
I had a great time at the Washington County Courthouse. The clerks were amazingly helpful and knowledgeable.
Image 1: Vanessa Wood, “Washington County, Illinois Courthouse,” photograph, 25 March 2025.
The clerks explained that the courthouse had experienced a fire and most of the records were saved. Whoa! That’s different than what was on the Family Search Wiki. The clerks pointed out that the dark edges on the deed indexes are not from use but they are smoke stains from the fire.
Image 2: Vanessa Wood, “Washington County Deed Index,” photograph, 25 March 2025.
I found a contemporary news report of the fire that listed the burned businesses and said, “The Court House also burned, but most of the records and papers were saved.”2 For future researchers, I have notified Family Search of the fire and in less than 24 hours, they updated the wiki page.
FEATURED IMAGE: Vanessa Wood, “Field Near Washington County, Illinois,” photograph, 25 March 2025.
- “Washington County, Illinois Genealogy,” wiki, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Washington_County,_Illinois_Genealogy: accessed 13 April 2025). The wiki was viewed in preparation for this post and to notify Family Search of the fire.
- “At Nashville, Ill.,” news, The Ottawa Free Trader (Ottawa, Illinois), 27 January 1883, page 7, column 3; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/47618230/ : accessed 13 April 2025).
