"Documenting the death of
an American Ancestor"
I.INTRODUCTION
A. Introduction to the Group: outline, discussions, document samples
B. Pre-assessment quiz: this Group is designed for an Intermediate level
- What is the primary value of death and burial records?
- What is the most sensitive information on a death document?
- Are coroner’s inquests available to the public?
- Which state has the largest index to deaths on the Internet?
C. Objectives:
We will focus on the contents of burial transits, tombstones, sexton files, execution warrants, physician returns, stillbirths, undertaker's reports, funeral home registers, inquest cases, newspapers, stillbirth records, and especially the related civil death documents. We will learn how to locate and use original documents and major indexes for the United States.
II.MAIN IDEAS: Civil death and church burial records are sources which give vital genealogical and biographical information. While the sources are difficult to locate, significant collections and databases are available.
SUPPORTING IDEAS:
1. Genealogical research principles include "going from to the known to the unknown", working backwards from the death of an individual toward other events in that person's life.
2. U.S. death records typically provide primary genealogical information such as dates and places for deaths, and may include eyewitness evidence of burials.
3. Death records offer secondary information -from an relative or other informant- about the decedent's origins and family members. The information may also lead to other sources which help identify and link ancestors.
4. A few Internet sites now allow searches of selected statewide civil death files. Access to civil death records is being greatly improved by the LDS Church project to automate and consolidate -for the first time- valuable county and statewide collections as identified in the Family History Library Catalog. In 2009 they are granting free access on the New FamilySearch website and at the free
5. Thorough research in cemetery, funeral home, newspaper, and related records will also help document a death.
6. Indexes, if available, should be the first step in locating the original documents.
7. Repositories for the needed record types are found on local, county, state, and nationwide level.
III.Genealogists and family historians must first set RESEARCH GOALS:
Full Name ______
Death Date ______
Death Place ______
Death Cause ______
Burial Place ______
(earth, cave, water, ashes, vault, etc.)
(locality, legal description, directions, plat and lot, grave)
Origins ______
Relatives ______
Activities ______
(lodge, religion, military, etc.)
Assumptions: A cemetery is a silent city, a sacred record of family and social history. A death return or certificate is the paper trail that must also be preserved.
IV. LOCATORS: CIVIL DEATH RECORDS
•content and use
•access: local businesses and newspapers, health departments, county clerks, state bureaus
Examples of film/fiche statewide death indexes at the Family History Library
AL1917-1919+NH1639-1910
CA1905-1990NJ1848-1878 + part. 1700-1900
CT1638-1865NYNYC 1868-1965
DE1705-1910OH1908-1932+
FL1877-1969OR1903-1970, 1991
HI1896-1949PAPhila. 1860-1915
ID1911-1932RI1636-1850, 1853-1942
IL1916-1938 + ChicagoSD1880-1990 partial
IN1882-1920 25 co.TN1908-1912
KY1911-1986TX1900-1945
ME1670-1922VT1760-1908
MD1718-1777WA1907-1979
MA1841-1971WI1852-1907
NC1906-1967
Cumulative FamilySearch resource file: U.S. civil deaths
Leading states in process in the massive LDS FamilySearch Indexing project:
NY, IL, PA, OH, MA, CA, WV, AL, UT, MN, WA, SC, HI
Massive files already available on the free Pilot FamilySearch include:
AL, AZ, FL, GA, ID, LA, MA, MI, NM, NC, OH, SC, TX, UT, WA, WV