Discover your ancestor in congregational records from the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois.
Discover your ancestor in congregational records from the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois.
Each result will provide you with a transcript and image of the original register entry. Please note that congregational records were sometimes recorded in vital event registers. Therefore, you may find your ancestor’s confirmation recorded in a baptism register.
While details vary from entry to entry, most transcripts will provide the following information:
The image associated with a transcript may offer additional details.
The Archdiocese of Chicago was first established as a diocese in 1843 and later as an archdiocese in 1880. The archdiocese serves the Catholic population of Cook and Lake Counties in northeastern Illinois and consists of 6 vicariates and 31 deaneries.
During the nineteenth century, Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities in the world, the population increasing twentyfold between 1860 and 1910 to make it the fifth largest city in the world. Chicago was a veritable boomtown, with its population swelling with emigrants from Europe; Czech and Polish emigrants represented a large proportion of this growing population. Czech emigration peaked in the 1870s, and because many were devout Catholics, Czech Catholic churches were built all over the city. One of these churches was St Vitus. You can view the records of St Vitus in this collection as well as other Czech churches, including St John Nepomucene.
Most Roman Catholic registers are in Latin. For help deciphering Latin terms, please see the below key terms: