One of the main goals for genealogists in searching historic newspapers is to find obituaries. Obituaries are a gold mine of information. They provide death dates and locations, funeral and cemetery information and sometimes more importantly – information about the relatives of the deceased’s family and extended family. This family name information is often not found anywhere else.
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists, a great number of indexes to death information and obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes or index lists provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the obituary clipping or transcription is even provided.
Below is a list of links to Illinois obituary indexes, an alternative means to newspaper searching to find obituary information. If the newspaper clippings are available, or if the obituaries are transcribed, they will be denoted. Please be aware that if you find a desired obituary in an index, that the holder of the actual obituary (e.g., library or genealogical society) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the obituary itself.
(Updated January, 2021; recently added links are in BOLD)
General U.S.
- Currentobituary.com index, 2001-2014
- Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-2016
- U.S., Selected Jewish Obituaries, 1948-2002
- United Methodist Church Annual Conference Journal Memoirs and Obituary Index
- United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014
- United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012
Illinois
- Adams County Obituary Indexes
- Alexander County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Algonquin Public Library Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Aurora Public Library Beacon Obituary Index
- Barrington Death and Obituary Indexes
- Belvidere Standard newspaper, Obituaries 1851-1899 (short transcriptions)
- Blue Island Sun Standard Obituary Index
- Bond County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Boone County Death and Obituary Index
- Boone County Obituary card file, ca. 1851-2007 (clippings)
- Brown County Obituaries (clippings)
- Bureau County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Burgess Township, Bond County, Cemeteries and Obituaries (transcripts)
- Cairo Newspapers Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Calhoun County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Canton Register, Obituaries and odds and ends, Jan. 5, 1899-Jul. 4, 1901 (transcriptions)
- Carroll County Obituary Indexes
- Cass County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Central Illinois Death Notices, 1848-1870 (transcriptions)
- Central Illinois obituaries, 1871-1880 (transcriptions)
- Champaign County Obituaries (clippings)
- Champaign County Obituary Index
- Champaign News – Gazette, Obituaries 1949
- Chicago, Polish Death and Obituary Index
- Clinton County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Coal City Obituary Index
- Coal City Obituary Index
- Coles County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Collinsville Herald Obituaries
- Cook County, Oak Park, Obituary and Surname card Index, 1883-1987
- Cook County, Obituaries, 1970-1990 (clippings)
- Cook County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Cook County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Cook County, Maywood Herald Obituary Card Index, 1885-2002
- Cook Memorial Public Library Obituary Index 1894-1999
- Danville Jewish Community Obituaries (clippings)
- Decatur Daily Review, Obituary card file from 1879-2007
- Decatur Public Library Herald and Review Obituary Index
- DeKalb County Death and Obituary Indexes (clippings)
- Der Christliche Botschafter of the Evangelical Church, Index to the subjects of obituaries, 1836-1866
- DeWitt County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- DeWitt County Obituary Index
- DuPage County Bloomingdale Public Library Obituary Index
- DuPage County Death and Obituary Index
- Dziennik Chicagoski, Index to Obituaries and Death Notices
- Edgar County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Edwards County, Obituary card file, ca. 1850-2007 (clippings)
- Elgin Area Obituaries, 1970-2011
- Elgin Genealogical Society Obituary Index
- Elgin Newspapers Death and Obituary Index
- Ford County Obituaries
- Franklin County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Frankfort Area Death and Obituary Index
- Fulton County, Fulton Democrat, Obituary Book with Index (clippings)
- Galesburg Public Library Obituary Index
- Glenview Death and Obituary Index
- Glenview Public Library Obituary Index
- Greene County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Greenville Obituaries 1881 (transcriptions)
- Grundy County Obituary Index
- Hamilton County newspapers, relationships, vital statistics, marriages, abstracted from obituaries and notices, 1858-1992
- Hamilton County, Obituaries 1926-1931
- Hancock County scrapbooks, ca. 1890-1984 (clippings)
- Hardin County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Hardin County, Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Henderson County Obituaries (transcriptions
- Henry County Obituaries
- Highland Park Obituary Index
- Illinois GenealogyBuff Obituary Files
- Illinois Obituaries – Obit City
- Illinois Prairie District Public Library Obituary Index
- Illinois USGenWeb Obituary Project
- Illinois.gov Obituary Index
- Indian Prairie Public Library Obituary Index
- Iroquois County Death and Obituary Index
- Iroquois County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jefferson County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jersey County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jo Daviess County Obituaries
- Joliet Herald-News Obituary Index, 1973-2012
- Jonesboro Gazette Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Kane County Obituaries
- Kankakee County Obituary Index
- Kendall County Record Death and Obituary Index 1991-2000
- Lake County Deaths and Obituary Index
- Lake County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- LaSalle County Newspaper Indexes
- LaSalle County Obituaries
- LaSalle County Obituary Index
- LaSalle County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Lee County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Logan County Obituaries
- Macon County Obituary Indexes
- Macon County, Decatur Public Library Collections, 1879-2007
- Macoupin County Obituaries
- Macoupin County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Macoupin County, Obituary card file, ca. 1880-2007 (clippings)
- Madison County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Mason County Obituaries and Funeral Codes
- McDonough County Obituaries
- McHenry County Death and Obituary Indexes
- McHenry County Historical Society Death and Obituary Index
- McHenry Plaindealer Obituary Index
- McLean County – Central Illinois Obituaries
- Melrose Park Death and Obituary Index
- Melrose Park Death Notices Index
- Mercer County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Monmouth Cemetery records and Obits (clippings)
- Monmouth review-atlas, Obits (clippings)
- Monroe County Obituaries
- Montgomery County Obituary Index
- Morgan County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Moultrie County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Mount Prospect Death and Obituary Index
- Mundelein Death and Obituary Index
- Nauvoo, Mildred Hooper Obituary Collection, ca. 1959-1981 (clippings)
- North Suburban Library Death and Obituary Index
- Oak Lawn Death and Obituary Index
- Oak Lawn Obituaries
- O’Fallon Progress Death and Obituary Index
- Ogle County Obituaries
- Ogle County/Byron Obituary Index
- Park Ridge Public Library Obituary Index
- Pike County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Pulaski County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Putnam County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Quincy Herald-Whig, Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, ca. 1959-1974
- Richland County, Obituary card file, ca. 1850-2007 (clippings)
- Rock Island County Genealogical Society Death and Obituary Index
- Rock Island County Obituary Index
- Rock Island County, newspapers, Genealogical and Obituary abstracts
- Schuyler County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Schuyler County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Sharon Cemetery, some Obituaries (clippings)
- Skokie Newspaper Obituary Index
- Skokie Obituary Index
- Southern Cook County and Hammond, Indiana Obituaries, ca. 1970-1990 (clippings)
- Southern Cook County, Chicago Heights Star, Obituaries, 1977-1992, (clippings)
- Southern Cook County, Illinois obituaries, ca. Aug. 1982 and Jan. 2 1988 thru May 8 1988 (clippings)
- Southern Cook County, Miscellaneous Obituaries, ca. 1936-1993, and funeral cards, ca. 1951-1964 (clippings)
- Southern Illinois Obituaries
- Sparta News-Plaindealer, Births, Marriages and Obituaries (clippings)
- Springfield, Sangamon County, State Journal Register, Index to obits 1986
- St. Charles Public Library Newspaper Index
- St. Clair County Obituary Indexes
- Stephenson County, Index to Obituaries, 1847-1980
- Sterling-Rock Falls Daily Gazette Newspaper Index
- Tampico Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Tazewell County, Obituary Card Index from the “Pekin Times”, 1914-2007
- Tazewell County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Union County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Villa Park Argus Obituary Index
- Wabash County, Obituary Card file, ca. 1850-2007 (clippings)
- Warren County, Obits and tidbits (transcriptions)
- Warren County, Thumbnail sketches, deaths & obituaries (transcriptions)
- Washington County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Wayne County Obituaries
- West Central Illinois and North Eastern Missouri, Obituaries, ca. 1959-1981 (clippings)
- Wheaton Obituary Index
- White County Obituaries
- Whiteside and Bureau County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Whiteside County, Sterling Daily Gazette Index
- Whiteside County, Fulton Journal Newspaper Index
- Will County Death and Obituary Indexes
- Will County, Joliet, Obituary card index from the Herold News, 1981-1992
- Williamson County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Wilmette Newspaper Index
- Wilmette Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Woodford County, Illinois, Prairie District Library, Obituaries, 1887-2000
- Woodford County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
If you wish to search this state’s historic newspapers for obituaries, click on Illinois Online Historical Newspapers Summary
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
For other Free Illinois Links, click on the category of interest:
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Hi there, giving you another, this one for clinton county IL http://clintonilgenweb.net/obituary/