Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriage and Death Indexes, 1833-1889

This database contains Cook County marriage (1833–1871) and death indexes (1856–1889) created by Sam Fink.

About the Indexes

Sam Fink compiled these indexes from marriage and death notices in Chicago newspapers, plus Cook County death records. Marriages cover the years 1833–1871. Death records are extracted from newspapers for the years 1856–1889 and from Cook County death records as well for 1878–1884.

Marriage entries include names, marriage date, and source. Death entries extracted from newspapers include name, death date, and source. Fink’s indexes were extracted from 10 newspapers. He used the following codes to indicate the source for an entry:

• Chicago Tribune (*)
• Chicago Times (%)
• Chicago Evening Journal ($)
• Chicago Democrat (#)
• Chicago Democratic Press (#)
• Chicago Evening Post (?)
• Chicago Record-Herald (")
• Chicago Daily News (@)
• Chicago Examiner (¢)
• The Inter-Ocean (:)

When the death entries came from Cook County death records, they list only a name and a volume and page number.

Some entries may include an (m) or (f) for male or female when a first name is missing or only initials are given.