Illinois offers two free statewide death indexes from the Illinois State Archives, plus the University of Illinois’ digitized newspaper collection. Together they make it possible to find a death and then the obituary that reported it.
Illinois obituaries in historic newspapers
The Illinois Herald was printed at Kaskaskia, the territorial capital, in 1814. Downstate papers in Vandalia, Springfield, Alton and Galena reported deaths through the early statehood period, often in short notices with the person’s age and place of origin.
Chicago grew from a frontier town into the country’s second-largest city in the late 1800s, with one of the world’s largest foreign-language presses: German, Polish, Swedish, Czech, Norwegian, Italian, Lithuanian and many more. The Chicago Defender, founded in 1905, became the most influential Black newspaper in the country and printed obituaries for families who had moved north during the Great Migration.
The Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections at the University of Illinois hosts free digitized papers from across the state. The Illinois State Archives’ Pre-1916 Statewide Death Index is built from county death registers, and its index to Illinois death certificates begins in 1916.
Where to find Illinois obituaries
Digitized Illinois newspapers
- Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections, University of Illinois — Free digitized Illinois newspapers, from small-town weeklies to student papers.
Obituary and death indexes
- Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916 — Free index to county death records before statewide registration began.
- Illinois Death Certificates index, from 1916 — Free index to Illinois death certificates filed with the Department of Public Health.
Archives and libraries
- Chicago Public Library — Chicago newspaper databases and microfilm, including the Chicago Defender and Chicago Tribune.
- Illinois Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Illinois newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with county-by-county links.
Nationwide newspaper archives
- Chronicling America, Library of Congress — Free digitized newspapers from every state. Narrow a search to Illinois and the years you need.
- Google News Archive — Free scans of hundreds of older newspapers, browsable by title and date.
- Internet Archive newspapers — Free digitized newspapers and microfilm uploaded by libraries.
- FamilySearch — Free obituary indexes, death records and the Social Security Death Index (free account).
- Find a Grave — Volunteer-built cemetery memorials, many with transcribed obituaries.
- Newspapers.com — Large subscription archive of U.S. papers. Many public libraries offer free access.
- GenealogyBank — Subscription archive of historic newspapers and modern obituaries.
- Legacy.com — Obituaries published since about 2000 in most U.S. daily newspapers.
Tips for finding an obituary in Illinois
- Pin down the date and place first. A death index or death certificate gives the exact date and county, and then you only need to search the local papers for the following week or two.
- Search more than one town. Obituaries often ran in the paper where the person was born or had lived before, not just where they died. Small-town weeklies sometimes published a notice weeks later.
- Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks. See death notices vs. obituaries.
- Try every spelling. Search initials, nicknames and misspellings, and for married women in older papers, search the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). Digitized text often misreads old type.
- Ask a librarian. Many public libraries and state archives will look up an obituary for free or a small fee, and newspaper microfilm can often be borrowed through interlibrary loan.