Source Information

Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data:

“Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871–1920.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010. Illinois Department of Public Health records. "Marriage Records, 1871–present." Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.

About Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920

This database contains an index of details extracted from Cook County, Illinois, marriage records.

What’s in the Index

This index was extracted from Cook County marriage records held by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Marriage licenses were not required in Illinois until 1877, though Cook County recorded marriages back to 1871, the year of the Great Fire, which destroyed Cook County records.

While details vary based on date, information required on the original, or whether the form was filled out completely, entries in this index may list

  • name
  • age
  • gender
  • race/ethnicity
  • marital status
  • previous spouse’s name
  • father’s given name
  • mother’s name
  • paternal grandmother’s name
  • maternal grandmother’s name
  • spouse’s name, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, birthplace, father’s name, mother’s name, previous spouse’s name
  • marriage type
  • intended marriage date and place
  • marriage date and place
  • FHL film number

The FHL film number refers to a microfilm copy of the source held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.