Death Records Now

My great grandfather died a few years back, and i never really had the chance to get to know him. he traveled the country with his wife, until he died. i could ask her, but she is old, and i dont want to make her cry, so im using any other resource i can to try to find out more about my family history

You can search the Social Security Death Index, which is not the same as a certificate at:
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ or http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/search/frameset_search.asp once you have located it in the index you would have a better idea of where to either order the death certificate or where to search for it online.

There are other Death Indexes that you can search, most notably the California Death Index 1940-1997 at http://www.deathindexes.com/california/i… , which is the (free version) at Rootsweb.

A Genealogy Guide for Finding Obituaries, Cemetery Burials and Death Records for the state of California can be found at http://www.deathindexes.com/california/i… free and some fee.

Texas and Ohio death certificates are available on FamilySearch.org on their pilot site at: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsear…. Also, a new beta site on FamilySearch.org has more records at: http://fsbeta.familysearch.org/s/collection/list several states were added.

There are a few websites that have some vital records at no charge. For example, the state of Missouri has death certificates for the years 1910-1958 on their website at: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources… A few pre 1910 birth and death certificates are also available on the site but all of their records have not been transcribed yet.

There are many other indexes and some that have some actual death certificates online but knowing the time period and state would go a long way toward helping someone locate them. However, there is no centralized location where all death records/certificates that are online can be searched.

As for your great grandfather, the only thing that you will be able to find out about him from these records will be when and possibly how he died and who his family was; you won’t be able to find out what kind of person he was or any interesting stories about his life. Maybe you great grandmother would like to talk about him and tell you some of his stories or about their travels. Try an ice-breaker like asking to see travel photos and see what happens…she might surprise you.

my boyfriends mom died about, 10 years ago in San antonio Texas. and when i look for an obituary or death record it wont show up anything. but when i people search her it brings her up. what is a good website where i could possibly read details… or just see an obituary or something. thank you

You won’t find her death record on line, for privacy’s sake.

You might find her obituary in the library, in old newspapers on microfilm.
About one find-a-grave entry in 20 has an obituary attached; you could try it.
http://www.findagrave.com

If you don’t live close enough to San Antonio to visit the library, you can send them a small check ($5 ought to do it) and a SASE and they will either send it to you or return your check.

You can probably find her exact death date here:
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

I’m trying to find out information on my grandmother.she was born in michigan and also died in michigan.in 1965.i’m doing a family tree with ancestry.com and i’m stuck.i need some where to look up free vital record.

Yo could try www.findagrave.com
too. The best entries have a copy of the obit, a couple of memories by family members and links to spouses, children and parents. Not all of the entries have them, of course.

If she died in 1965, she was probably born before 1930. She could have been married with 3 kids in 1930. If you post a new question with her name, birth year and children alive before 1930, one of us may look her up on the census for you. There is a 10% chance one of the people living with her family will be an aged parent.

I’m hoping for some advice here. Normally, I would go to my mother for all things genealogical, but she’s more “old school” in that she’s used to dealing with hard copies that she has ordered and received. The majority of her research (the last 30+ years) was before the advent of ancestry.com, GenWeb, and online depositories put together by the individual states.

For most of my family lines, I’m the same way. My family is from Kansas/Oklahoma and North Carolina (so far). My ex-husbands paternal line is from Pennsylvania. All of which require you to write and order vital records directly from their local/state offices. Then it’s just a matter of scanning the received records onto my computer and inputting the information into my genealogy program.

However, my ex-husbands maternal line isn’t nearly as easy or clean-cut. They are primarily from Virginia/West Virginia which has started putting all their vital records online. So it’s easy to run a search of who I’m looking for and get immediate access to copies of their records. Then it’s off to ancestry.com or other sites to look up census records, burial records, tombstones, etc.

The trouble I’m facing now is that I just don’t know how to file the items on my computer. It started off easy enough. I had the main surname file for my mother-in-law’s maiden name. Within that file I had separate folders for her direct ancestors (Gma, Gpa, GGma, GGpa, etc.) with secondary files by their siblings.

For example:

I would have a folder for “Joe Blow” (Gpa) which I would save all his pertinent documents (birth, death, marriage, census records, etc.). Next to that folder would be one titled “Joe Blow Siblings”. Within that folder would be additional folders for each of his brothers and sisters.

Then, because I was getting into extended family, I would have subfolders for their spouse, their children, their spouses parents, etc. If I was doing any of the other lines, I wouldn’t be going that far right now, but because the files are online for the taking, I figured “why not”? Plus, I’m a little anal when it comes to blank spots, so I think a bit of OCD has kicked in.

Anyway, this is where the problem has arisen.

The family is primarily from the Cabell/Wayne County areas of W.VA and what I started to see what cousins marrying cousins (some 1st cousins, but a lot of 3rd cousins, 4th cousins, etc.). People have started to pop up in two or three (or more) areas of the family. In one spot they might be a spouse, then later as a brother, and then again as a 2nd spouse or something.

Obviously, the way I was doing it isn’t working anymore. I was going to start ending up with multiple folders for the same person and a billion shortcuts which would just cause even more confusion.

I’m sure others have run across this problem in small communities in which their families are long standing residents. Is there a better way to save the information to the computer? Has anyone figured out a good way to file their info in a way that makes sense, is easy to access, and limits the possibilities of duplicate individuals?

I’ve currently done away with the former system and just have all the saved files in the folder for my mother-in-law. But now I have over 700 files sitting there and several people with the exact same names (ex: Benjamin Franklin Doe, Andrew Jackson Blow).

Thanks so much for the advice!
Thanks Tom, I totally agree. And on a side note: I "enjoy" how someone gave you a thumbs down for your advice, yet didn’t offer any of their own.
Marci — Thanks for the tip! I had no idea this resource existed. I’m going to definitely check it out! Thanks again!

WOW! You are way more organized than I am. I file under my and DH’s 4 grandparent surnames with file-names that indicate the name or family the document concerns. Fortunately I have not had any crossovers. If I find a particularly interesting family, I might have a sub-folder for them. I feel so disorganized.

Lisa Louise Cook on Genealogy Gems has covered this topic several times on her podcasts, You might want to listen to some of the suggestions she and her guests have had.

I am trying to find someone and I have reason to believe they passed away in the same state that I live in (Florida). Where can I go (besides the internet) to find a death report or a coroner’s report?

You may be able to find an obituary, in old newspapers on microfilm at the library, but you’d need to know the city and date. Those are easiest to find on the Internet; this SSDI, for instance, was last updated Aug 12, 2010:
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

If the person died in an accident or as the result of a crime, there may be a news article as well or instead of an obit.

Unless you are a child or parent, or the person has been dead for a long time (how long depends on state law, and each state has its own) you won’t be able to buy either one. If you are related, you’d buy it either at the courthouse in the county the person died in, or from a state agency, usually a division of the health department.

My great-grandfather, Ignazio Messina (b. approx. 1895), died in March 15th, 1925 in Michigan. I’ve searched and searched for his death records but ancestry.com has no record even close to his name. Does this happen often? Can anyone else find anything?
Wife: Nardina Dibella (b. approx. 1895)
Children:
Pauline Messina,
Bertha Messina,
and Anthony George Messina (b. 1931)

So…. how is it that Ignazio died in 1925 and….. Anthony George was born in 1931 !!!!!

Could this be them, listed as StepChildren, in the 1930 Michigan census?

Name Age
Frank Sonsone 45
Leona Sonsone 28
Jack Sonsone 1 8/12
Mike Sonsone 9/12
Pauline Mesina 9
Tony Mesina 6
Bertha Messina 3 4/12

I’ve been doing genealogy for quite a while now, and I have the use of ancestry.com and have a lot of my genealogy listed out on Family Tree Maker. Well a certain part of my genealogy has had me stumped for a long while. My great, great grandfather, Sylvester Rufus Allen, I can find nothing on except that he married Faith Wilbur Ostrander in 1901 in Portsmouth, VA. She was born July 25, 1883 in Rensselaer County, New York and died June 01, 1960 in Portsmouth, VA. They had four kids. Ruth Louise Allen, my great grandmother (born October 30, 1903 in South Norfolk, VA (?)), Luther L. Allen (b. Abt. 1904 in Virginia), Richard Cline Allen (b. Abt. 1906 in Virginia) and Teresa Mae Allen (b. May 17, 1909 in Portsmouth, VA). I’ve looked at Ruth’s death certificate (she lived and died in Beaufort Co, NC) and it does confirm that her father was Rufus Allen (but it does not list where he was born). Aunt Tessie Roberts (Teresa Mae Allen) died in February 1997 in Troy, Rensselaer County, NY. My hope is that someday I can go to NY and find her death certificate and see if it tells something new about Rufus. (ancestry.com doesn’t have some death certificates on there, especially not new ones).

I have a hunch though, that there’s a possibility that Rufus Allen immigrated from either Ireland or England (or is the son or grandson of immigrants). I have no other relatively close ancestors that immigrated (closest would be like 7th great grandparents), so my question is, would a DNA blood test confirm that I have close Irish or English blood in me and kind of give me a hint as to where the Allen’s come from? I can find no records of a Rufus Allen in Virginia, North Carolina or New York and he died around 1916 or so (so I’m told) and he married in 1901 so the only census that I’d be able to find both Rufus and his wife, Faith in would be the 1910 census; which I conveniently can find no record of with them in it.

DNA tests themselves with not tell you from what countries your ancestors immigrated. They can be helpful in many cases in allowing you to match yourself with others’ family trees.

Y DNA is passed from father to son. In other words you get Y from your father, his father, his father and so on. If Sylvester Rufus Allen is in your direct paternal line you have a chance of making a match with other family trees that can help you discover his origins.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children. You got your Mitochondrial from your mother, her mother, her mother and so on.

Autosomal which you get 50-50 from both parents. However, when you get back to your grandparents it will not be 25-25-25-25. You got 50% from your paternal grandparents and 50% from your maternal grandparents but what you inherited will not be an even breakdown between grandmother and grandfather on both sides of your family. How you inherited this bias will not be how your siblings inherited it unless you have an identical twin.

Y & Mitochondrial are used in genealogy for people to match themselves to other family trees. However, they represent a very tiny part of your DNA and a very tiny part of your total ancestry. You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents and it doubles up each generation you go back. For instance if you get back to your 16 great great grandparents, having both Y & Mitochondrial tested would leave out 14 of them.

It is a more complicated to use Autosomal for genealogy purposes. Now, there is one company that will take your Autosomal DNA and match you with population groups throughout the world. But this will not prove the origin of your great great grandfather. The same DNA crosses racial, national and ethnic boundaries. There are no pure races, nationalities or ethnicities. DNATribes will give you your top 20 matches in descending order.

http://www.DNATribes.Com

Now another option for you is a copy of a social security number application for one of his children. The 2 I had ordered for someone had the names of both parents, including mother’s maiden name and their places of birth. Social Security didn’t start until January 1, 1935. The index begins for deaths around the mid 1950s. Now I have been told and I have found it to be true that if a person was not drawing social security at time of death and on their own social security number that they will not be on the index.
Two I found that this did not apply to were a couple of elderly people who had to get Medicaid. They had never put into Social Security or drew Social Security benefits but they had to get a Social Security number in order to get Medicaid. The dates of death on both were about a week off.

Rootsweb(free site) has the Social Security Death Index. Even though there is a space for the social security number, you don’t necessarily need it as long as you put the name in as they were on social security. Once you find a person if you click on SS-5 letter to the right it will pull up a letter that all you need to do is put your return address on it and attach a $27 check.

I believe a copy of a social security number application is more reliable. The applicant himself/herself gave the information on his/her parents. A death certificate often relies upon a widow or widower giving that info on their inlaws or one of the children giving the information on their grandparents under very stressful conditions.

I have many ancestors and relatives who have lived in Texas, but I occasionally need to access birth, marriage, death records from other states, and many of them are not accessible through Ancestry.com or any other site.

Hmmm, I don’t know — it sounds unlikely that Texas has determined its policy on public records access entirely as a way to make money off of one specific website.

More likely, they just want to have a high level of customer service.

New York City Death Index
1891 to 1897 Manhattan
1862 to 1897 Manhattan and Brooklyn
1898 to 1948 All Boroughs
If you have ever tried to use the New York City death index for the early years, you will appreciate this latest database. If you look at the microfilm for these early years you know that you have to look at every month, every year and every borough.

Now the volunteers of the Genealogy Federation of Long Island have put these records in a very searchable database that will enable you to search with just a push of the button. Phase 1 of this effort covered the period 1891 – 1907. The second phase added the years 1908 through 1936 and will eventually include the indexes up to 1948. http://www.italiangen.org/NYCDeath.stm
New York Death Records
Enter a first and/or last name to search New York death records. This website was created to provide genealogists with access to the New York death records from a single place. Additional information on how to obtain New York death certificates is available below.
http://www.death-records.net/newyork/death-records.htm

You can search some of the indexes on Ancestry.com and you can also search the indexes at many New York Public libraries.

http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi
California Death Records 9,366,786 records from 1940 thru 1997

Warning 1: It is an index; the most you’ll get is name, sex, birthdate, birth state, father’s surname, mother’s maiden name, residence at time of death, death date. That’s the most; many records have blank fields.

Warning 2: It is supported by advertising. The ads rotate. Sometimes the ad asks for a name and leads you to a pay site. Scroll down past the ad.

www.findagrave.com is nation-wide and free. It has some entries for California. The entries range from the simple (John Smith, 1903 – 1971) to the elaborate; some have biographies, cause of death (especially if the person died in an accident, in battle, or of a disease) and links to spouses and/or parents and/or children.

You can find obituaries in old newspapers on microfilm in libraries. They usually don’t mention cause of death, but they usually have a mini-biography.