Genealogy

Illinois-wide genealogical events, classes, projects, databases, publications and more vital information.

Each year, IDPH records about a half million vital record events (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, adoptions and abortions) as mandated by state statutes and federal uniform data collection requirements.

Genealogists find the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library essential to their research. Records of interest to genealogists may be found in all of the Library’s collections.

This map was developed by the Local and Family History department staff of the Newberry Library. The map allows visitors to research the history of a particular address or Chicago neighborhood.

This organization provides storage and other services for inactive records created or received by Federal agencies in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Another great website for obtaining copies of many vital records from Cook County, IL at a much more reasonable price.

An especially great resource for Chicago city and telephone directories.

The Cook County Clerk’s office has available naturalization records from 1871-1929, probate records from 1871-1975, divorce cases from 1871-1986 and much more. Take a few minutes and access the records/archives section. (We would suggest using Chicago Genealogy resource when possible for requesting copies of vital records, as they are less expensive.)

This site is sponsored by the State of Illinois. You can search marriage and death indexes for a family member’s name. They also have a number of databases for military records. It also lists the records held at the regional archives depositories in the state of Illinois.

Online searchable death index for Chicago and Cook County, Illinois.

Photographs, slides, glass negatives, oral histories, manuscripts and letters, Federal government documents, postcards, posters, videos, newspapers, maps, and much more.

The Illinois State Historical Society was founded to encourage research and writing on subjects of Illinois history, encouraging everyone from University scholars to local historians to take an active part. The mission of the Society is to foster awareness, understanding, research, preservation, and recognition of history in Illinois.

The Newberry Library is located here in Chicago, Illinois. If you ever have an opportunity to visit the library, it is well worth the “field trip!”

This is an index to over 240,000 obituaries and death notices found in the following newspapers from the period January 1, 1985 to the present: Beverly Review, Blue Island Forum, Blue Island Sun Independent, Daily Southtown, Oak Lawn Independent, Reporter, Southtown Economist, SouthtownStar, Southwest Courier, Southwest News-Herald, and the Star. Although designed as a name index, many of the entries will also include maiden name, date of death, and place of death, in addition to name, date, and page citation of the newspaper.

This database is made possible by a collaborative effort between the Frankfort Public Library District and the Frankfort Area Historical Society. The database currently holds 2,187 obituary index records and counting.

The Research & Geneological Room contains 70,000 documents concerning Will County history including: plat maps, obituaries, mortgages, chattel mortgages, historical architectural surveys, Civil War histories, African-American database and more. Some files available for download.

Archives serving south Cook and east Will counties, Illinois including Chicago's Roseland/Pullman neighborhoods.

The Joliet Area Historical Museum occupies the space formerly known as the Ottawa Street Methodist Church at the intersection of Cass and Ottawa Streets in downtown Joliet. Since its opening in the fall of 2002, the museum's main exhibition gallery serves as an introduction to the many stories of the Joliet area and its people.

The Genealogy/Local History collection, housed at the Ottawa Street Branch, includes books about Joliet and/or Will County history, Joliet newspapers on microfilm from 1846 to present, Will County directories in print (1859-60 and 1872-73), Joliet city directories from 1875 to present (in print and/or on microfilm), Joliet telephone directories as far back as 1908, Will County atlases and plat books, Joliet high school yearbooks, Printed obituary indexes (1915-18 and 1976-2012), and funeral brochures for African-Americans of Joliet and Lockport Illinois (1968-2012). The library also offers access to the Ancestry Library Edition and Heritage Quest databases, and an online index of obituaries published in the Joliet Herald-News from 1976 – 2012.

This page comes highly recommended by a Boy Scout working on his Genealogy badge. Thanks, Isaac!