How can I find out which cemetery my ancestors are buried in Chicago?

Question

I just know the name and around the time of death. (1919) There might not be a marker or headstone, but I'm sure someone has got to know who all is buried in their cemeteries.

Answer 1

There really aren't that many cemeteries in Chicago, just a small group of large ones. If you think you know which cemetery it is, call the sexton's office and ask if they're there, especially if it's one on the North side like Wunders or Rosehill.

Some of the cemeteries are online:
http://www.internment.net
http://www.findagrave.com

The other easy way to find out where they're buried is to call the church/temple office and ask. Before a body is laid to rest, they usually get a mass or service in their honor and the priest/minister/rabbi registers the final rites in the church/temple's registers.

Otherwise, the easiest way is to go down to the Cook County Clerk's office and look them up. Every death certificate from that era lists the place of burial.

The Sun-Times and Trib will be a wash. Most of their papers from that era didn't have much in the way of obituaries unless it was a wealthy person and if they did they're up to a month old before they ran. But if you go to the Harold Washington or one of the City's regional libraries like the Sultzer, the films are there for you to review. From personal experience, I can tell you that just calling the cemeteries is a very quick and easy process and takes a lot less time than searching old newspapers.

Answer 2

Death certificates were required in 1919. Get your ancestors' death certificates. The burial place will be written on the death certificate. Then contact the cemetery. You are right, there might not be a head stone. But the cemetery should still know where your ancestors are buried.

Answer 3

I wanted there was once a regulation that made it necessary that graves needed to have a everlasting gravestone inside a couple of years after the burial. I are not able to inform you how in many instances I have acquired know-how on a cemetery that was once intended to have an ancestor of mine in it, best to uncover the graves are best marked with discipline-stones. Here in WV. there are only a few Churches or Cemeteries that experience any style of list of who's buried wherein. My spouse's loved ones has a misplaced sister in a cemetery, seeing that the transitority maker acquired misplaced because of mowing and no person recollects wherein she is buried. She died younger. And the persons who mow the cemeteries mostly simply throw the transitority markers off to the part to make their process less complicated and do not positioned them again, in the event that they even remembered what graves they belonged to. A lot of cemeteries also are in very far off areas, I wanted persons might realize that if you do not positioned a everlasting marker / gravestone on a grave it is going to quickly be a loved ones member misplaced eternally. There has been loved ones graves misplaced or out of place on this State additionally because of Coal Strip Mines.

Answer 4

~From answers I see all the time on this site, there's an answer to everything in prayer. Nah, I don't buy that crap either. Check the Chicago Sun Times or Tribune morgue for obits of the time and hope the cemetery is listed. If that's sounds like too much effort, check in with the Chicago or Cook County Cemetery Association and see if they have a directory.

Answer 5

Sometimes you can find a person's burial place from the death certificate or an obituary. You might find this directory useful:

Online Chicago & Cook County Death Records & Indexes
http://www.deathindexes.com/illinois/cook.html

Answer 6

Look in Interment.net. They have lots of listings, but they are dependent on contributors, so your ancestors may not have a listing unless someone else has already listed them.

Answer 7

look it up on the web

Answer 8

http://cemetery.innersource.com/group/255

http://www.chicagocemeteryphotos.com/

http://www.graveyards.com/

http://home.xnet.com/~jkelley/VirtualTours.fldr/VirtualChicago.fldr/Cemeteries.fldr/Cemeteries00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosehill_Cemetery,_Chicago

http://www.funeralproviders.com/Chicago_Cemeteries.index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland_Cemetery

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chicagocemeteryphotos/