Piatt County Historical & Genealogical Society

05/03/2026

Our library hours in MAY are:
First two Mondays
4th & 11th – 1 to 8 PM [extended hours]
Monday 18th – 1 to 4 PM
Wednesdays 6th, 13th, 20th, & 27th – 1 to 4 PM
CLOSED on Memorial Day - Monday, May 25

Surprise your mom with some family history facts from our library. We'll help you find things in our archives that are not available online.

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04/29/2026

A reminder that April 30th is the deadline for turning in your story or information about Revolutionary War soldiers. After April 30th we will accept stories but they won't make it into the Summer Quarterly. If there is room we will place them in the Fall Quarterly. No matter, what we will add your stories or information to our archives! Thanks to those who contributed so far!

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04/13/2026

PLEASE HELP US -- We will be featuring stories about Revolutionary War Soldiers in our Summer Quarterly newsletter. Sam Olney is the only known Piatt County Rev. War soldier buried in Piatt County. We know that other Piatt County families had ancestors who were in the Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783). If your family has a soldier from that war, please share your stories. Even if you only have a name and a few details, please share. The soldier does not need to have lived in, died in, or been buried in Piatt County. Simply an ancester connection with family ties to Piatt County is all we need. Please submit stories or information to us by April 30th. We'll try to get as many stories in the Quarterly as possible. All information will be saved in our war history archives. THANK YOU!! Send stories to [email protected]

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04/03/2026

We have an update on Kay Gilbreath's graveside service. The service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Monticello Township Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Piatt County Historical and Genealogical Society. Here is her updated obituary with more information:

Kay F. Gilbreath, 86, Summerville, SC, formerly of Monticello, passed away at 700 a.m., Thursday, September 18, 2025, at the Lowcountry Community Hospice House, Summerville, SC. Kay was born on October 16, 1938, in Decatur, IL. She was the daughter of George and Lucille Shipman Palmer. She married W...

04/03/2026

Our library hours in April are:
First two Mondays
6th & 13th – 1 to 8 PM [extended hours]
Mondays 20th & 27th – 1 to 4 PM
Wednesdays 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, & 29th – 1 to 4 PM

Stop by and find out more about the amazing things we have that are not on the internet.

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03/11/2026

We added 3 things to our Youtube channel last night. We hope you enjoy them!

History from the Air: Illinois Historic Aerial Photographs
slides - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUzlwQ23wM

Elmer Priebe's Career at Allerton
video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz-CCDig2QM
slides - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGsECHOkl4

No audio - just a slideshow.This slideshow pairs with the "Elmer Priebe's Career at Allerton" program video - presented by Roger Wisegarver, held on March 3,...

03/10/2026

Time eluded us this past weekend to get our Spring program onto our Youtube channel. Please bear with us as we work to prepare the video and the separate slide show for Youtube. Our next goal is to have it ready on Wednesday this week. Sorry to make anyone wait.

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03/04/2026

We managed to record the program about Elmer Priebe. It has some glitches and microphone issues but the content is there. We will share it on our Youtube channel this weekend. Thanks to all who braved the rain and thunder and came out to learn about Elmer.

03/03/2026

We still need a videographer to film our program tonight. Please reach out if you can help!

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12/05/2025

Our Winter Program went well on Tuesday. We don't have a recording of it but we have a slideshow from the "History from the Air" portion of the program. We'll add a few helpful notes to some of the slides and have it available on our Youtube channel in the next week. We'll keep you posted on when we upload it. Thanks go to Gene Schnierle for his little known history facts, thanks to those who were able to attend, and thanks to our volunteers who provided the refreshments!

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12/01/2025

Library hours update for today:
We will only be open from 1 until 4 pm today, with no extended hours. If the weather turns bad before 4 pm we will close early. Watch this page for more information about today's hours.

DECEMBER hours:
Today - 1 to 4 (or earlier)
Dec 3 - 1 to 4
Dec 8 - 1 to 8
Dec 10 - 1 to 4

Winter Break:
Last half of December - by appointment only
January - by appointment only

Please email us to make appointments. [email protected] Our phone is not monitored daily. It is typically only answered during our library hours. But, if you don't mind waiting for a reply, you could also make an appointment by phone. 217-762-9997

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