Chicago Birth Certificate Lookups, 1878-1922
About these records
The Chicago birth certificates, sometimes titled "Return of a Birth," were filled out by someone who attended the birth, usually a physician or midwife, and returned to the county clerk . Some certificates mention a penalty fee for not filing a birth report, but even so, many early Chicago and Cook County births weren't registered and in many cases there may not be a birth certificate to find.
Indexing
The birth certificates are indexed in the Cook County Birth Index, 1871-1916, but the index does not cover 1917-1922 and the Family History Library Catalog doesn't indicate which months are included on which films for a particular year. The only way to find a certificate on the later films would be to guess the reel, check to see if it included the certificates for the right month/surname letter and then scroll through. It could become costly and time-consuming to do it by ordering films through a Family History Center, but would be very do-able at the Family History Library in Salt Lake.
Many Chicago births also appear as extracted records in the International Genealogical Index. For more information about how to use the IGI as an index to Chicago births, please visit this page.
Format
906 microfilm reels
Arrangement
Certificates are arranged numerically by a certificate number that can be found in the Cook County Birth Index or the Chicago Birth Registers.
FHL Catalog
View Entry
Information generally found on these records
register number
child's name
child's sex
no. of child of this mother
race or color
place of birth (street address)
father's nativity and age (may have more specific birthplace than the birth register entry)
mother's nativity and age (may have more specific birthplace than the birth register entry)
father's name
mother's name (maiden name is generally provided)
mother's residence, if other than place of confinement
father's occupation
name of party attending and making return
Search tips
There may be two or more repeating sets of certificate numbers within a single year. When this is the case, it's likely that the first group is for Jan-Jun and that the second group is for Jul-Dec (or Jan-Apr, May-Aug, Sep-Dec, if there are three divisions), however this rule doesn't always hold true. During the teens, for example, December birth certificates are sometimes found in the first group of films for the following year and when this happens, all of the months may shift, meaning that an April certificate might fall into the second group of certificate numbers rather than into the first.