City Directory Info

Where to Write for Records

Our transcriptions are here

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (aka Illinois State Historical Library)
has City Directories for the following years:

1839 - 1843 - 1844 - 1845 - 1846 - 1846 - 1846 - 1847 - 1847 - 1848 - 1849 - 1850 - 1851 - 1852 - 1853 - 1853/1854 - 1854/1855 - 1855 - 1855/1856 - 1856 - 1856/1857 - 1858 - 1859 - 1859/1860 - 1860 - 1860/1861 - 1862/1862 - 1863/1864 - 1865/1865 - 1866/1866 - 1867/1867 - 1868/1868 - 1869/1869 - 1870/1871 - 1872 - 1873 - 1874/1875 - 1875/1876 - 1876/1877 - 1877/1878 - 1878/1879 - 1879 - 1880 - 1881 - 1882 - 1883 - 1884 - 1885 - 1886 - 1887 - 1888 - 1889 -1890 -1891 - 1892 - 1894 -1901 - 1902 - 1904 - 1905 - 1910 - 1911 - 1912 - 1913 - 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 - 1923 - 1928 -1929

They also have Chicago city telephone directories from 1883-1971 (alpha and classified) and "Suburban Chicago" telephone directories 1920-1971 (alpha only).

The Cook County Clerk has a very informative website. They do distinguish between records for genealogical purposes and regular certified records.

The Cook County Clerk's Office main website is at http://www.cookctyclerk.com
Click on Vital Records for records information

Note: The early marriage licenses from Cook County (Chicago), or really anyplace in Illinois, don't include parents' names ... usually just the name and age of the bride and groom, the date and place of the marriage (sometimes a church name is given), and the name of the person who performed the ceremony.
"Early" is defined as pre-1870, though you may get lucky.