04 July 2008

Cook County, Illinois, Vital Records

Cook County, Illinois' vital records office has put free online indexes to its vital records. The site is http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/.

This is a great help to researchers. The website indicates that the database is "being updated" and to check back. It would be nice to know what time spans or years are currently covered in the index. Not knowing precisely what years are being searched is frustrating. It is very helpful to have the index at my fingertips.

Soundex options for searching are available. There is soundex "box" to check as there are on many sites. Instead the researcher should put the soundex code in the search box in place of the last name. To get the soundex code for a surname, visit the Rootsweb site.

Search the index, but before you pay the $15 per certificate fee, visit these two sites for their rates:

Their fees were less than $15 at the time of this writing.