Cook County Death Index, 1871-1916

About this index
The Cook County Death Record Index, 1871-1916 is an alphabetical-by-surname index to deaths that occurred in Chicago and Cook County during those years. Thanks to many hard-working volunteers, all of the entries on the microfiche index are now included in the online pre-1916 Illinois Statewide Death Index.

Why search this index?
If you find an entry in the Death Record Index, you can use the identification number number to locate a Chicago or Cook County death certificate.

Information included in the index
 deceased's name
 deceased's age (not always given)
 date of death
 place of death (whether Chicago or Cook County)
 identification number

Search tips

1) If you are having trouble finding a name in the pre-1916 Illinois Statewide Death Index, try Stephen Morse's One Step search page. It allows you to search using any combination fields such as first name (part or all), surname (part or all), city, county, age at death, year of death, volume, page, and certificate number.

2) If you can't find an entry in the online index, try scanning the microfiche index. This seems to be an effective way of picking up entries where the surname spelling is just a little bit "off." It can also help you to find spelling variations that you might not otherwise think of.

3) If you can't find an entry in the online or microfiche index, try searching the Chicago Death Index, 1871-1933. I have found a number of entries there that weren't in the online/microfiche index. This index provides a register number which can be used to search for later deaths, but it also provides a death date which can be used to scroll through certificate films for earlier deaths (see #4 below). This index is also useful because it includes entries for out-of-town deaths when the people were buried in Chicago and also includes some stillbirths.

4) If you have a death date for a pre-1916 death but can't find the name in the index, it is possible to skip that step and scroll through the death certificate film for that month/year/surname letter. I have had success with this approach a number of times.