The Illinois State Archives has two different statewide death record indexes on their website.  One is for deaths that occurred from 1916-1950, the other is for deaths prior to 1916.  The first is a complete index, but the index prior to 1916 is still a work in progress.

Today, without even noticing at first, I realized that Kane County had been entered.  I was looking for someone I’ve never researched before.  When I found what I was looking for, I at first moved on, without giving much thought to what had just occurred.  About a half-hour later, it dawned on me that pre-1916 deaths had not previously been entered for Kane County.  So I started plugging in known names of those who died prior to 1916 and there they now were.

According to the page Counties Included in the Pre-1916 Illinois Statewide Death Index, Kane County is complete for 1877 to 1915.  A note at the bottom of the page indicated the page had been updated on 2/22/11.  It does not indicate which counties have recently been added/updated, so there may be more than just Kane County.

This is certainly a relief as I plan my Kane County research trip.  While I had found some of the death records while in SLC in 2009, further research uncovered more people who died during that period.  I was all set to work at the IRAD at Northern, searching the index first and then acquiring the records.  Now, from the comfort of my home, I can search the index and have the details ready to find the actual records, thus saving me lots of time that I can now spend on other research!