Hi Mary, The La Salle Co. Genealogy Guild has copies of the registries of several Catholic churches (just a few, I was lucky that they had some of my parishes). Also I talked to a parish priest at a parish they didn't have. The Chancery Office in Peoria probably has more. (I don't have their address right now.) The registries were indexed. I think that the best thing about the marriage registries is that they have the parents' names of the bride and groom before the county asked that information. The death registry had name, residence, and date of death. Sometimes age. The Guild has also indexed the obits in the Free Trader (newspaper) At the time I lived around Chicago, so it wasn't a long trip to drive to Ottawa. I know that the Guild will do research for a fee (reduced if you are member). Their address is 115 W. Glover, Ottawa, IL 61350. A contact is Don dpc@mtco.com I find the people at the Guild are very helpful. When I started just 2 years ago, all I knew was that my materal g-father was born in Streator and my paternal g-father was born in Earlville. I was able to flesh out my family tree quite a lot with the Guild's help. Anne Madison, WI At 03:57 PM 2/4/99 PST, you wrote: >Anne: Would you explain how you use parish registeries >for deaths and where to find them. >Mary