Cook County Marriage Licenses, 1878-1916
About these recordsMarriage licenses were issued to a couple by the county clerk, completed and signed by the person who performed the ceremony, and then returned to the county. Occasionally there is a microfilmed note that says a license wasn't returned. This could indicate that the marriage never took place or that the document was never returned to the county. Neither the licenses nor the applications from this time period include parent names.
Indexing
Some marriage licenses before 1900 are indexed in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index and many marriages for the 1890s are included in the International Genealogical Index at www.familysearch.org. If you don't find an entry in either of those databases, search the Cook County Marriage Indexes (marriage registers) to find the marriage date and license number.
Licenses for 1917-1920 have been filmed, but there is no index available and it would be difficult to guess which film to order/search for the license.
Format
709 microfilm reels (includes index reels)
Arrangement
Licenses are arranged by license number which means that
they are in chronological order according to when they were issued. After 1893,
Chicago and Cook County (outside the city) licenses are separate within each 100
numbers on the films. The Cook County licenses come first, followed by the
Chicago licenses.
Example:
234300 Cook
234301 Cook
234305 Cook
234307 Cook
(Note how the 234300s
begin again)
234302 Chicago
234303 Chicago
234304 Chicago
234306 Chicago
234308 Chicago
FHL Catalog
View Entry
Information generally found on these records
groom's name, age and residence
bride's name, age and residence
date the license was issued
marriage date and place
name of the person who performed the ceremony
Sometimes a church name is given and occasionally witness names are recorded in the bottom margin of a license. Some licenses provide a space for a parent to sign if one of the individuals was underage.
Search tips
Although the early Cook County marriage licenses do not provide parent names, they can provide valuable clues for further research. For example, many times a church name is given, or if not, a priest's or pastor's name can often be matched to a particular church for a particular time period using city directories.