How to Find Deceased Family Members in Chicago, Illinois
Searching for a deceased family member in Chicago, Illinois seems like challenging task. Knowing how and where to start your localized search, however, can make a difference. Such television programs as "Who Do You Think You Are" have increased people's interest in genealogy. This has made the number of available online tools and ancestry related sites bigger and easier to use. Finding information on a deceased family member can be as easy as doing a simple online search. Some records are still more difficult and time-consuming to find and require old-fashioned legwork.
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Instructions
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Start with an online search with the family member's first and last name followed by Chicago, Illinois. Do the same search with different search engines. You can try adding more information into the search field such as death, birth year or place.
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Look at the Social Security Death Index, SSDI, which is the Social Security Administration's database listing most of the people who had a Social Security number. If the Social Security Administration did not receive a report of the death from relatives or the funeral home, or the person died before 1962, they most likely will not be in the SSDI database. You can access SSDI online through Rootsweb.com.
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Check on different genealogy Web sites. Archives.com has compiled thousands of public records, including death records, cemetery listings, obituaries, burial and surname histories. Ancestry.com has a wide database of death records. You can find the cause of death in most of these records.
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Try Legacy.com. This site has up-to-date government records for every death in the U.S. They also have most of the obituaries published in the U.S. Death records are usually accurate because they were created close to the actual event.
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Search Chicago's local newspaper archives. Go to Chicago Public Library to access their newspaper database. Chicago Sun-Times online has direct links to Check Illinois (consumer.public-record.com), where you can search public records.
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Choose a background check service online. According to The Wall Street Journal, US Search supplies the most detailed reports and they also have a lot of historical information available. Be aware of the inaccurate data in these reports because of people with the same name.
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Hire a Chicago-based private investigator. This is an easy and time-saving method finding a deceased family member in Chicago. Just check that this is within your budget.
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Tips & Warnings
Before you start your search, gather all the available information from your relatives about the deceased family member. Have all the information written down on a notepad or available on your computer. The more information you have, the more detailed your search results will be.
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