Editing Greene County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Greene County is named in honor of General [[Nathanael Greene]], a hero of the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA143|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|publisher=Govt. Print. Off.|author=Gannett, Henry|year=1905|page=143}}</ref> In 1821, three years after Illinois became a state, Greene County was established, being carved out of what was previously Madison county and St. Clair county before that. Over the course of the next 18 years four more counties were formed out of what was once Greene Country. These include Scott, Morgan, Macoupin and Jersey counties. This left Greene county with approximately 546 square miles of land located in western-central Illinois near the Illinois River, which was an important resource that provided both a means for travel and to ship goods. Like much of southern Illinois the earliest settlers in the county came from Southern states such as North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. By the time of the Civil War, 1860, the population of Greene County had grown to 16,093 and 10% of the adult population had been born in the Northeast, 15% were foreign born, 25% were born in Southern states, and almost 50% had been born in the Midwest. Of the population born in the Midwest many could still trace their roots to the South, with almost 80% of them having parents born in a Southern state.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/987445234|title=Greene County, Illinois : history & families|others=Francis, Charles A., Greene County Historical Society (Ill.).|year=2016|isbn=978-1-942613-43-5|location=Morley, Missouri|oclc=987445234}}</ref>
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File:Greene County Illinois 1821.png|Greene County from its creation in 1821 to 1823, including unorganized territory temporarily attached to it.<ref>White, Jesse.  ''Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties.'' State of Illinois, March 2010.  [http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publications/ipub15.pdf]</ref>
File:Greene County Illinois 1823.png|Greene County between 1823 and 1825
File:Greene County Illinois 1825.png|Greene between 1825 and 1829
File:Greene County Illinois 1829.png|Greene between 1829 and 1839
File:Greene County Illinois 1839.png|Greene in 1839 after the creation of Jersey County reduced Greene to its current size
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