Cook County Illinois Vital Records

I just discovered another very genealogy-friendly County website, at http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com. It requires a free sign-in, but then you can search birth, marriage and death records dating back to 1872. The result list from your search gives name, date, certificate numbers, etc – often all the information you may need. But if you want to order a copy of the original, most at $15, its an instant purchase, and the PDF is available right away. I like the “instant gratification” angle, since usually by the time I get certificates back in the mail the old-fashioned way, I’ve forgotten why I wanted them in the first place. (Can’t imagine I’m the only one like that…)