Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection contains the following records:


 * Births/Christenings (1833-1899)
 * Deaths/Burials (1845-1899)
 * Marriages (1833-1899)

The Archdiocese of Chicago covers parishes in Cook and Lake counties. The records are 95% in English with the remaining 5% distributed in Czech, Latin, and German.

Record Content
The death and burial records include:


 * Date and place of internment
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Residence of deceased
 * Death date
 * Cause of death

How to Use the Record
To begin your search, you will need to know the following information:


 * Ancestor’s name
 * Type of event, such as the christening or baptism
 * Identifying information such as the approximate date of the event

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.

If you did not find the person you were looking for, you may need to search the collection by image. ⇒Select "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select "Parish or Town" ⇒Select "Record Type and Year Range" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

With either search keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use christening (baptismal) and birth records to identify a person’s birth date and place. These are an excellent substitute for civil birth records.
 * Use confirmation records to identify a person’s birth date and place and age. If only the age is given, use it to calculate the person’s death date.
 * Use death or burial records to identify a person’s birth date and place. Use age at the time of death or burial to calculate the person’s birth date. These are an excellent substitute for civil death records.
 * Use marriage records to identify a couple and the marriage date and place and to begin compiling a family group. These are an excellent substitute for civil marriage records.
 * Use church records in general to identify other family members who may have served as witnesses to an event.
 * Use the date of the event along with the locality to find the family in census records and land records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. Or, if the surname is unusual, you may want to compile entries for every person of the same surname and then sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * An infant’s christening usually took place within a few days or few weeks of the birth, depending on the religion. Some churches, such as the Baptists, baptized only adults not infants. Members of other sects blessed their infants when they were a few weeks or a few months old.
 * Many religions tested the church knowledge of those that had been baptized as infants and then confirmed them a member of that religion. Frequently, a person’s age at confirmation was between 14 and 20.
 * Church records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the minister, or a clerk appointed by the minister, who usually recorded an event at or very near the time it occurred.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names or for nicknames.
 * Check the records of other congregations in the area or nearby communities.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.

General Information About These Records
Church records in the United States began in the early 1600s. They can be found in the churches, church archives, or university archives. They normally included records of christenings, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in the world. Traditionally, Catholic records have been kept at the parish level, so a majority of records will be found at the church where the event transpired. Older Catholic records and records of defunct Catholic parishes have often been moved to archives, historical archives, or university libraries.

To know who were members, churches were required to record the date a person was baptized in the Christian religion. Many churches also recorded the date of birth along with the date of baptism. Churches were also required to record the burial and marriage dates of the members of the local congregation. Only some churches performed confirmations and were required to record the names of those that were confirmed members of the church.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

 * Many of the parishes in Chicago have the same name. This link provides you with excellent guidelines to assist you in ascertaining which parish your ancestors may have attended.
 * Archdiocese of Chicago's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives &amp; Records Center
 * Roman Catholic Churches - Origins and Neighborhoods

Related Wiki Articles

 * Chicago, Illinois
 * Illinois Catholic Church Records

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation