Cook County Marriage Index, 1871-1899
Lookups Available
I do not offer lookups in this index.
If you are looking for a pre-1900 marriage in Chicago or Cook County, there are two places to search before you consider looking at this microfilm index. First, try to find the bride or groom in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index. If you don't find an entry there, try searching the International Genealogical Index (IGI) for North America at the FamilySearch website. (Type in the name of the bride and/or groom then select the following options: Event "Marriage"; Region "North America"; Country "United States"; State "Illinois")
About this Index
The Cook County Marriage Index for the years 1871-1899, is a series of handwritten registers with entries grouped by first letter of surname for each time period covered and arranged by license number (chronological) in ascending order. Groom indexes are available for the entire span; bride indexes are available from 21 November 1878 forward. Unlike the indexes after 1900, the groom indexes do not provide the name of the bride, and visa versa.
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Why search this index?
Even if you've searched the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index or the IGI with no luck, you may be able to find an entry in this index. If you do, you can use the license number to locate the marriage license on microfilms available through Family History Centers.
Information included in the index
name of groom, if searching the groom index or name of bride, if searching the bride index
date the marriage license was issued
marriage license number
Search tips
(1) Because it's time-consuming to search these indexes, especially for common letters of the alphabet, it's useful to narrow the date before starting the search. Try searching the 1900 or 1910 censuses which asked the number of years a couple had been married or their ages at the time of the marriage or estimate the marriage date based on the birth of the first child.
(2) If you have a choice, search the alphabetic section that will have the fewest entries. In other words, if you have a choice between searching "S" in the groom index or "I" in the bride index, start with "I."
(3) The marriage index gives the date the license was issued, not necessarily the date the marriage occurred. For example, if a couple was married in January of 1888, the license could have been issued in December of 1887.
(4) If you don't find an entry in the groom index, it's probably worth checking the bride index, or visa versa.
(5) If you find an entry in a bride or groom index, it's possible to cross-check using the other index. In other words, if you are searching for a "John Smith" who married "Gertrude Miller" and find two "John Smiths" who married in 1898, it's possible to look in the bride index to see which license number was also issued to a "Gertrude Miller. This can save you time and money if you plan to order the license film.