Welcome to the . . . . 
Illinois Statewide Marriage Index
Online Data Entry Program

An Ongoing Project of the Illinois State Archives & 
the Illinois State Genealogical Society

The Illinois State Archives and the Illinois State Genealogical Society appreciate your help in building the database of Illinois marriages occurring prior to 1901. Although more than one million marriages are currently included in the database, many more remain to be entered. We need your assistance in the completion of one of the most valuable genealogical tools in Illinois. We extend a heartfelt thank you for your participation in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Project!
 

The Illinois State Archives has sent you an User ID and Password through postal mail along with copies of the records that you have been assigned to enter. You will use these entry codes to access the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index Online Data Entry Form.

• Go to the Login Screen by pressing the login button below.
• Enter your User ID and Password.
• Select the county that you will be entering into the database.
• Click the Submit button.

Groom Name
Enter the name of groom in the format: last name comma space first name space middle initial. Do not use a period in the entry. (e.g. Doe, John A) If you cannot read a name, type unknown followed by a comma (e.g., Unknown, John A; Doe, Unknown; Unknown, Unknown). Spell names beginning with Mc without a space between the Mc and the remainder of the name (McDonald). Spell names such as O'Brien with an apostrophe between the O and the remainder of the name.

Bride Name
Enter the name of bride in the format: last name comma space first name space middle initial. Do not use a period in the entry. (e.g. Doe, Jane A) If you cannot read a name, type unknown followed by a comma (e.g., Unknown, Jane A; Doe, Unknown; Unknown, Unknown). If the record provides additional information about the bride such as marital status or maiden name, you may place it in parentheses following the name. [e.g. Jones, Emma S (Mrs)] Spell names beginning with Mc without a space between the Mc and the remainder of the name (McDonald). Spell names such as O'Brien with an apostrophe between the O and the remainder of the name.

Marriage Date
The date entered may be either the date the marriage ceremony was performed or the date the license was issued. Use the date of the marriage if available. Otherwise, use the date the license was issued.
 

Marriage Month:	Valid entries include: 01 through 12 and 00 which should be entered if the month is unknown.
Marriage Day:	Valid entries include: 01 through 31 and 00 which should be entered if the day is unknown.
Marriage Year:	Valid entries include: any four digit number between 1600 and 1920 and 0000 which should be entered if the year is unknown.

Volume
If you are entering data from a marriage register or record, enter the number or letter of the volume in which the marriage is found (e.g., 3, A, 4A). If you do not know the volume number or letter or are entering from marriage licenses, you may leave this field blank. If you are entering volume and page, license number is an optional field.

Page
If you have entered a volume number or letter, enter the page number on which the marriage was found. Valid entries for the page number may include up to four alphanumeric characters (e.g., 356, 670A). If you cannot determine the page number, leave this field blank. If you are entering volume and page, license number is an optional field.

License No.
If you are entering data from marriage licenses, enter the number of the license. Valid entries for license number may be alphanumeric (e.g., 1560, 199B001). If you are entering license numbers, volume and page are optional fields.
 

When you have entered all of the information for a marriage, click the Submit button to add the record to your temporary database table which is stored on the Secretary of State's mainframe computer. A blank form will be returned when the record has been accepted. You will receive a message if there are errors in your input. To correct the errors, click your browser's back button, edit the record and click the submit button again.
 

Click the Review Data link at the top of the data entry screen to review a list of the records that you have entered.

To edit or delete a record entered, click the name of the groom in the record that you would like to modify or delete. 

• To make changes or corrections to a record in the listing, type the correct information into the form and click the submit button.  
• To remove a record from the listing, delete the name of the bride and click the submit button.

• Data will be uploaded to the mainframe database on the first day of each month. Please make sure you have proofread and corrected any errors and deleted duplicate records before the end of each month.
• Errors discovered after the data has been uploaded to the web site database can only be corrected by Archives staff. Please report these errors to the Illinois State Archives Volunteer Coordinator for the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index.