So NO birth, or death records, not even an index, are kept by the state of IL, prior to that date?

Were they required after that, so that the records OUGHT to be fairly complete?

I have a couple whose marriage I know, in Moultrie Co. in 1889, from a family Bible. They seem to drop off the face of the earth after that, judging by census records. I was hoping IL death records might be a place to look. They were Myra Bastion Hardin b. 1857 IA, and Edwin L. Hardin b. abt. 1832 TN. Sometimes this name is shown as Harding. I have no idea whether either lived as long as 1916.

Doris