The clerks of the supreme court and the clerks of all courts of record are hereby required to index and cross index each record of the minutes of the courts and the execution dockets so respectively required to be kept by them, showing in the direct index, in alphabetical order, the name or names of the plaintiffs or complainants, and against whom the suit is or was brought and, in the cross or reverse index, show the name or names of defendants, in alphabetical order, and by whom the suit is brought.