Online Research Tools

Here are some research resources made available to you exclusively here on the WHM site.

Street Directories

Click the year to search the directory for that year.

1890 Directory

1898 Directory

1908 Directory

1946 Directory

Birth Records Index

Search the Birth Records Index

The birth certificates in the Museum’s collection document some births in Wilmette and Gross Point between the years 1872 and 1926. Except for a few certificates from the 1920s, the majority of these documents are delayed birth registrations, filed between 1940 and 1946 by Dr. Martin Seifert, M.D., registrar and head of the Wilmette Health Department.

In this Section

Out-of-State Marriage Certificate Index

View the Index

The marriage certificates in the Museum collection include eight out-of-state marriage certificates for the years 1922-1927.

Gross Point Register of Permits to Dispose of Human Body Index

Search the Gross Point Register Index

This book records deaths of Gross Point residents between 1902 and 1919.

Death Certificate Index

Search the Death Certificate Index

The most extensive part of our vital records collection, these certificates document deaths in Wilmette between 1913 and October 1953.

Out-of-Town Death Certificate & Permit for Transfer of Bodies Index

View the Index

This index provides access to out-of-town death certificates and permits for burial and transport for deaths that occurred out of state for the years 1915-1928.

St. Joseph’s Cemetery Database

Search the Cemetery Index

St. Joseph Cemetery is one of the oldest in the Chicago area, dating back to the 1840s. This database, compiled by Museum staff, records every existing marker (as of 2012) in the cemetery, along with information from other documents about the people interred there. If you don’t see your ancestor’s name here, it does not mean she/he is not buried at St. Joseph. Some graves probably never had markers and some markers have probably disappeared.