Illinois Obituaries

Obituaries have been published in Illinois since the mid-nineteenth century. Obituaries may provide information such as the age of the deceased, birth date and place, names of living relatives and their residences, maiden name, occupation, death date, cause of death, and place of burial. Deceased family members are frequently mentioned. Obituaries may also mention previous places of residence, immigration information, religion, and any social organizations or activities in which the deceased was involved.

The "Obituaries" and "Newspapers" sections of the United States Research Outline list sources for finding obituaries and the newspapers that published them.

For Illinois, some obituaries have been published and indexed in genealogical periodicals that are available in the Family History Library. These are referenced in the "Places" section of the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) which is described in the "Periodicals" section. See the "Newspapers" section for additional sources and how to locate newspapers.

Obituary files may also be kept in local public libraries and by newspaper publishers.

Obituaries and indexes from a few individual newspapers can be found in the Family History Library Catalog by using a Place Search under:

ILLINOIS- OBITUARIES

ILLINOIS, [COUNTY]- OBITUARIES

ILLINOIS, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- OBITUARIES

Web Sites
http://www.ancestorhunt.com/illinois_newspaper_obituaries.htm

http://www.distantcousin.com/obits/il/

http://www.deathindexes.com/illinois/index.html

http://www.genealogybuff.com/il/