Prior to 1915 the filing of death certificates was done at the county level only. With the implementation of the 1915 vital records legislation the county recorder was required to send a copy of the death certificate to the state in addition to retaining a copy locally.

For the years 1916-1918 the state filed the death certificates by county. The state death certificate numbers were assigned after all certificates were filed. The death certificates appear on the films in death certificate number sequence.

For the years 1919-1921 the film descriptions do not indicate the sequence the certificates were filed in. The death certificates appear on the films in death certificate number sequence.

1922 marked a major change in the way the state assigned death certificate numbers. Each county and municipality over 10,000 people had their own death certificate sequence numbers that started with one at the beginning of the year. The state filed the certificates by county. Certificates for municipality over 10,000 people were filed separately from the county. The certificates appear on film by county in death certificate number sequence. The certificates for a municipality follow the certificates for the county that it is in.

In 1923 the state added a new twist to the filing system. Like 1922 each county and municipality over 10,000 people had their own death certificate sequence numbers that started with one at the beginning of the year. However instead of filing certificates by county they were filed by month, county and death certificate number. All certificates for a month were filed as a group. Within the month group the certificates were filed by county and municipality and then by sequence number.

This is an example of how the death certificates appear on film.

Jan. 1923 - ADAMS, 1-44; Quincy City, 1-59; ALEXANDER, 1-14; Cairo City, 1-28; BOND, 1-23; …

Feb. 1923 - ADAMS, 45-94; Quincy City, 60-128; ALEXANDER, 15-26; Cairo City, 29-60; BOND, 24-44; …

As you can see each county has there own set of death certificate numbers starting with 1 in January. All certificates for January are grouped together.

This method was used through 1942

In 1943 the filing system was again changed. Death certificates were filed by month and then by county. Death certificate numbers were once again assigned on a statewide basis. The certificates are on the film in death certificate number sequence.

To use this tool you will need to identify the death certificate using the Illinois State Archives “Database of Illinois Death Certificates 1916- 1950 “ located at

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/GenealogyMWeb/idphdeathsrch.html

Here is an example of the information provided in the Illinois State Archives death certificate database

Name						Death			Date
Last	First	Middle	Sex/Race	Age	Cert #	Date	County	City	Filed
ROBBINS	LARRY	G	M/W	UNK	0002378	1945-01-30	MCLEAN	BLOOMINGTON	- -
ROBBINS	LULA		F/W	UNK	0037106	1918-11-04	MCLEAN	BLOOMINGTON	18-11-04
ROBBINS	OLIE		F/W	UNK	0570348	1922-11-09	MCLEAN	COOKSVILLE	22-12-07
ROBBINS	VERNON	WYATT	M/W	UNK	0570230	1934-07-02	MCLEAN	NORMAL	34-07-02

For the years 1916-1921 and 1943-1947 you can locate a film by year and death certificate number. All of the digits in the death certificate number are significant.

For the 1918 entry for Lula Robbins all digits in the 1918 certificate number are significant.

For the years 1922-1942 you will need the year, county, municipality if given and death certificate number. Only the right most four digits of the death certificate number are significant for the purpose of locating the film the certificate is on.

For the 1934 entry for Vernon Robbins only the right most four digits are significant. The other digits are not used to locate the film that the death certificate will be on.