Jeffersonville is a village in Wayne County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. The population was 366 at the 2000 census. Although its official name is Jeffersonville, the village is known locally as Geff, with that spelling appearing on local road signs, the US Post office, and many official documents. "Geff" is pronounced as though it were spelled "Jeff". The name change is said to have been made during the 19th century by the railroad, in order to distinguish the village in Illinois from

Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio Riv ...

History

Burton Hawk and his brother ran a sawmill near Geff and Fairfield. William Edwin Hawk was married to Alice Mathews, also of Fairfield. His sister, Mary Adeline, was married to Dr. Dade A. Hilliard. Mellie Ann Gray was the daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Gray. She married Burton Hawk on October 31, 1894. Burton and William's parents, Eliza Jane and David Hawk ran a general store and his son Hamby ran it after David's death in December 1916. They eventually all dispersed to Tonica, Marseilles, Lostant or Springfield Illinois.Rootsweb.com and genealogy.com Also, according to genealogytrails.com, David Hawk was a "Dealer in Staple and Fancy Groceries". "One of the most important business of any town larger or small, is the grocer and Mr. Hawk fills this capacity in Jeffersonville. ...in 1865 he and his wife Eliza moved to Wayne County. He began the grocery business in Jeffersonville in March 1901. He has the only exclusive grocery store in town, and makes a point to keep everything the people want in his line.... a gentleman to deal with."

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Jeffersonville has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 366 people, 156 households, and 99 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 171 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.81%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.37%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.55% Native American, 0.27% from other races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.46% of the population. There were 156 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.98. In the village, the population was spread out, with 28.1% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $25,521, and the median income for a family was $28,500. Males had a median income of $25,521 versus $16,458 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $11,882. About 15.4% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.7% of those under age 18 and 21.1% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Clyde W. Robbins, farmer and politician *

Shelton Brothers Gang The Shelton Brothers Gang was an early Prohibition-era bootlegging gang based in southern Illinois. They were the main rivals of the famous bootlegger Charles Birger and his gang. In 1950, the ''Saturday Evening Post'' described the Sheltons a ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

gangsters, brothers Carl, Earl, and Bernie were born and raised in "Geff" Jeffersonville.

References

{{authority control Villages in Wayne County, Illinois Villages in Illinois