Death certificates for the state of Illinois, 1916-1945, excluding Chicago with the exception of stillbirths; index, 1916-1938; internet index, 1916-1950

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HOW TO USE THE INDEX: Find the name of an individual in the alphabetical name index on microfiche. (#6016862; this index is on 191 microfiche and runs from 1916-1938. There is no index for 1939-1945.).

Note the locality; year, month and day of death; the filing date; and the certificate number. Certificate numbers in the index are 7 digit numbers that begin with a code number for the location. This initial number and any zeros that immediately follow it are not used as certificate numbers found on the certificates. Therefore, ignore those numbers.

Return to the list of films in this catalog record. Find the year of death. Then find the film with the appropriate certificate number for that year. (Be sure you are in the right year because certificate numbers are repeated yearly.) .

When looking at a roll of film, note that: (1) County names are in all CAPITAL letters. Example: ROCK ISLAND, 240-276; (2) Cities, with a population over 10,000, are found on a certificate and appear in regular type. Example: Moline City, 236-255; (3) Counties are spelled as they used to be. Example: Du Page instead of DuPage; (4) Sometimes there will be no locality on a certificate at all. You will have to rely on dates and certificate numbers.

Certificate numbers are: (1) often in the upper-right-hand corner of the death certificate when cities are listed; (2) often in the upper-left-hand corner for county records (3) sometimes at the top & in the middle of the certificate; (4) generally arranged by day, month and year of the event.

There may be some confusion because other numbers are found on certificates. When more than one number is found, use the number that is in the related sequence of your certificate number.

Certificates were organized in different ways by different clerks. Some are organized by certificate number, some by locality, others by dates of death, and yet others by dates of filing.

Can't find a certificate? Here are some facts and suggestions: (1) Simply go by month and year. (2) Search the month after the month of death, especially if the file date is a later month than the date of death; (3) Search the miscellaneous certificates at the end of each year. Most of these are arranged alphabetically by the name of the locality (i.e. city, county). Be sure to check through all of them because some may be grouped separately at the end; (4) 1919-1921 certificates were arranged chronologically and alphabetically by county and city; (5) Many 1935-1936 certificates are out of order. Try the event date, the file date, or the locality by city; (6) Sometimes only the middle numbers of the index certificate numbers were used; (7) The certificate numbers for the year 1943 may not be correct.; (8) In the index, Lake County was sometimes mistakenly used for LaSalle County & vice versa.

STILLBIRTHS do not have certificate numbers. For the most part, they are grouped together for each year. 1916-1917 stillbirths are found at the end of each year's certificates. After 1917, stillbirths are found at the beginning of each year with one exception: CHICAGO STILLBIRTHS, 1916-1922, are found at the very end of this catalog record's list of films.

Full-name index on microfiche.

IMPORTANT: You may directly access individuals you are looking for using the internet. See the following Illinois State Archives website (as of 2002): http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/genealogy/forms/idphdeathsrch.html. This index runs from 1916 to 1950. The column headings for hits on the site include: Last Name; First Name; Middle Name; Sex/Race; Age; Cert.#; Death Date; County; & City. For tips on using this Illinois State Archives database, as well as the microfiche index described below, see: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/idphdeathindex.html#t\.

Microreproduction of original at the Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

An index for Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths is available online, click here

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