There was no enforced requirement for death certificates until 1916. Before that it is hit and miss, varies widely by county and time. So, Macon may have SOME death records going back but not all of them. Many counties -- and I don't know about Macon -- have a list. If you actually are in the Clerk's office you can look at the list of what they have in early records. Cheryl Rothwell logancty@mindspring.com Logan County, IL, Coordinator, ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas et al -----Original Message----- From: doriswaggoner@juno.com [mailto:doriswaggoner@juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 9:13 PM To: ILMACON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [ILMACON] Searching county death records How far back do death records go for Macon Co at the courthouse? And I assume that you have to have the exact date to get something from the county clerk. SKS found me one from 1941. But I am still trying to track down the death of his mother for whom I only have the peramters of between Feb 23, 1884 and June 15, 1891. The name is Jennie Bastion Seass Bartlett. She died "in the country" outside Macon. Her father died on the 1891 date and when her mother recorded her daughter's death in the family Bible after her husband's death in 1884, she forgot to put the death date. Jennie's death was the last record in the Bible, but I have her mother's obituary to pin down that death date. I don't know how many records there would be between 1884 and 1891. Would someone be willing to go look up Jennie for me? I don't really care about having a copy, just the information on it. I know nothing at all about her husband except the date of their marriage, so would be interested in anything of the information on the certificate. I know IRAD is getting sticky these days, and I have no living relatives in IL, so I don't even know if this is possible. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Doris Waggoner Seattle ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237