The parish of St. John the Baptist, Johnsburg, Illinois, was organized in 1841 by a small group of newly-arrived German immigrants: Nicolaus Frett, Nicolaus Adams, Jacob Schmitt, and Johann Baptist Muller.  The headstone of Nicolaus Frett, one of the first persons to be buried in St. John's Cemetery, gives their exact date of arrival as August 2, 1841.  They were joined the following year by other immigrants from the same area of Germany -- the Eifel region of the Rhineland.

The first priest to come upon what was then called "Miller's Settlement" was the Rev. Fr. Fisher who had lost his way returning from Wisconsin and was brought to the settlement by friendly Indians.  From 1842 until 1852 the parishioners of St. John's were served by visiting priests sent from the diocesan headquarters at Vincennes, Indiana, to care for the sacramental needs of Catholics in northern Illinois and Wisconsin.  With the appointment of Rev. T. B. U. Jacomet in 1852, St. John's acquired its first resident pastor and the official record keeping of the church was begun.

It is evident from the Baptismal and Marriage records that settlers from other communities without the services of a parish priest came to St. John's for these sacraments.  Names common to the "Irish Prairie" are often seen.   Also present are names from the German settlement at Fremont Center and the settlements in Grant and Wauconda Townships in western Lake County.

The following records represent a translation from the Latin of the Baptismal, Marriage and Death registers from the earliest existing parish registers in 1852 through October 1868 for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Johnsburg, Illinois. Misspellings and omissions which occur throughout the records are due to inconsistencies of the recording priests.   In many cases a name is spelled two or more different ways in the same entry.  Spellings of non-German names are particularly unconventional as these were often spelled phonetically by the priest.  In some cases the translators have suggested a more correct version of a name by placing it in parentheses after the questionable spelling.  All material in parentheses is that of the translators.  Illegible words, letters, and numbers have been underlined; blank lines have been used to indicate omissions.

The place name Rhenana Borussia which appears frequently in the records has been explained by John Blocker of Hazel Crest, Illinois, as follows: The expression means, in English, Rhenish Prussia. Borussia is the ancient Latin-Germanic term for Prussia. Rhenana refers to the western or Rhenish portion of Prussia, formerly known as the Rhineland and ruled by Prussia after 1815.

[Note: All umlauts have been eliminated from record listings due to scanning problems.  The reader should check all possible variant spellings of a particular name when searching for an ancestor.  Example: Miller, Muller, Mueller; Benoelken, Bennoelken, Benolken, Bennolken, Bennelken, Benoelkin, Benoken, Boenoelken, Bannelgen.]

See also Surname Index to Early Records of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Volume I, 1852-1868

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The following records represent a translation from the Latin of the Baptismal, Marriage and Death registers from the earliest existing parish registers in 1852 through October 1868 for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Johnsburg, Illinois. Misspellings and omissions which occur throughout the records are due to inconsistencies of the recording priests.   In many cases a name is spelled two or more different ways in the same entry.  Spellings of non-German names are particularly unconventional as these were often spelled phonetically by the priest.  In some cases the translators have suggested a more correct version of a name by placing it in parentheses after the questionable spelling.  All material in parentheses is that of the translators.  Illegible words, letters, and numbers have been underlined; blank lines have been used to indicate omissions.

The place name Rhenana Borussia which appears frequently in the records has been explained by John Blocker of Hazel Crest, Illinois, as follows: The expression means, in English, Rhenish Prussia. Borussia is the ancient Latin-Germanic term for Prussia. Rhenana refers to the western or Rhenish portion of Prussia, formerly known as the Rhineland and ruled by Prussia after 1815.

See also: Surname Index to Early Records of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Volume I, 1852-1868

KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS