The following pre-1916 death index was compiled by the Illinois State Genealogical Society Advocacy Committee 2018-2019.  During a period of 10 months the committee studied the early death ledger books and the original paper certificates located in the Fulton County Courthouse.

 

The committee met with the County Clerk and received permission to index all the early death records with the understanding the Clerk’s office would receive a copy of the index in spreadsheet form, which was given to them in May 2019.

 

We were given permission to index all information with the exception of “Cause of Death” which may be obtained when requesting a copy of the official certificate from the Fulton County Clerk.

 

Items that were indexed in section 1 include: Name of deceased, date of death, place of death, age, sex/race, book/volume and page of ledger where certificate maybe found, certificate number and county.  Section 2 which is the supplement contains the following information: Name of deceased, death date, book/volume number, place of birth, place of burial, burial date, note (if any), date of birth (if given), Fathers name (if given) and Mothers name (if given).  Early death certificates contained limited information and as time progressed, more information was supplied on the certificates.

 

While performing the indexing project it was noted that the county clerks would also record deaths that happened outside of the county but were transported into the county for burial.  This is noted in the notes section of the index.

 

The Illinois State Genealogical Society has also given the Illinois State Archives a digital copy of this index for use in the State Archives.

 

This ISGS project was done as part of a larger project in obtaining access to early deaths not located within the IRAD system.

 

 

Allen R. Nemec

ISGS Advocacy Chairman

 

 

 

Click this link to view the complete Index:  Fulton County Death Index.