subject: The Top 2 Ways to Research Illinois Marriage Records [print this page] Do you need to get information about a marriage that took place in Illinois? There are a couple of ways to get access to Illinois marriage records. We'll cover all of them here so you can choose the approach that best suits your own needs. If You Need Certified Copies of Records Illinois marriage records used to be difficult to find when you had to go to the state vital records office, wait around until your number was called, then fill out a form hope that the information you need would eventually turn up. Thanks to the Internet, it is possible to complete much of this process from the comfort of your own home. Assuming you don't need the information immediately, you can go to the Illinois State Archives website (the address is listed below) to make a request. You can get these copies for just a small processing fee. Be aware that these are uncertified copies. To get certified copies, you must go to the county in question. I'm sorry to say that things get a little tricky at this point. Not all the state's marriage records are held here. If the wedding took place in a county that has not submitted its records to the archives, or the county has not submitted records for that year, you will have to contact the county directly. Beyond that, there are certain requirements that you must meet if you want to be allowed to have access to these records. Among them are requirements that you must be a family member of the person that you are looking for or be able to prove that you have power of attorney for the person in question. You can learn more at the state website. When You Just Need Information Fast For situations where all you need is information, you have another option which is much faster and easier. Using a commercial Marriage Records Search service, you can research Illinois marriage records in minutes. These services aren't a part of the state. They're independent businesses that use information provided by the states to get you the information you need. It is possible for the service to get you your information almost instantly. That's because they are simply looking up the facts about the marriage in their database instead of finding and creating a certified copy of the actual document. As you can see, there are clear differences between the various ways of getting information. If you need a certified copy of the marriage documents, you need to start at the states website (listed below). Illinois State Archives: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/marrcopy.html
The Top 2 Ways to Research Illinois Marriage Records
