Family Tree Template: Illinois Death Records

Monday, September 17, 2012

Illinois Death Records

The pre–1916 Illinois death index is an ongoing project coordinated by the Illinois State Archives. The sources for this index include original county clerks' death records, such as death registers and licenses. For each death, the index includes the name of the decedent, the date of the death, the name of the county where the death occurred, the place of death within the county, when possible; the age and sex of the decedent and a citation to the original record—volume and page number for death registers or certificate number for death certificates.Recordation of Deaths in Illinois

The first legislation in Illinois regarding recordation of births and deaths was enacted in 1819 at the second session of the First General Assembly. [Laws of Illinois 1819, p. 233) This law established medical societies to which all physicians were required to belong and made it the duty of every physician to keep a record of births, deaths and diseases occurring within the vicinity of his practice.