Death Records Now

I have gone to several different sites but they all end up asking for money. I thought death records were public records and anyone should be able to search for a loved one but I’m hitting dead ends everywhere.

I put some links below. I wanted to deal with a common misconception first.

> I thought death records were public records

They are, and if you send the name and death date to the appropriate county courthouse, plus a check, which may be as little as $5 or as much as $35, you can get a copy. There isn’t any law that says a state or county has to spend tax money on a web site to make death records available for free.

By contrast, some records are NOT public; sealed adoptions records, and agreements hashed out between two parties in a civil lawsuit, for instance. You cannot get them no matter how much you pay.

Below:

These are all free. Some have ads at the top, which sometimes ask for a name and take you to a pay site, so be careful to distinguish between the advertisement and the input form. An index will have name, date and maybe something else; death records – 500 KB jpg’s of death certificates – are rare. Some of these say "Records" – I copied the page title – but are really indexes.

Social Security Death Index
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
1960ish – now; almost 90 million entries in November 2010.

Find-a-Grave
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi
53 million entries in November 2010, mostly the USA. Entries range; they may have one or more of:
Exact birth and death dates
A short biography/obituary
Links to the person’s parents’ graves and/or and children’s graves
Picture(s) of the person
The best ones have all of the above; the worst ones have just a name and year of death; "J. Smith, b. ????, d. 1912".

Arizona genealogy
http://genealogy.az.gov/
Births 1855 – 1934; deaths 1844 – 1959. Real records, not an index. Number of entries not given.

California Death index
http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi
9,366,786 entries from 1940 – 1997

Kentucky Death Records
(Y!A only allows 10 links per answer, so I cheated. Change the "/ca/" in the URL for the California Death index to "/ky/" to get Kentucky.)
2,921,383 entries from 1911 – 2000

Maine Death Records
Change the "/ca/" in the URL for the California Death index to "/me/" to get Maine.)
401,960 entries from 1960 – 1997

Missouri Digital Archives
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/
Real records; Year range 1910 – "50 years ago", so the upper limit changes by one every year. Number of entries not stated, but it too would grow over time. Not all counties are here.

Texas Death Records
Change the "/ca/" in the URL for the California Death index to "/tx".)
3,963,456 entries from 1964 – 1998

West Virginia Birth, Death and Marriage records
http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx
Real records; number of entries not stated. Years vary by county. Here are the first five counties, to give you a feel for it:

Barbour: 1853 – 1859, 1861 – 1969
Berkeley: 1871, 1875 – 1906, 1917 – 1970
Boone: 1865 – 1873, 1877 – 1883, 1885 – 1968
Braxton: 1853 – 1861, 1865, 1867 – 1969
Brooke: 1853 – 1860, 1862, 1865, 1867 – 1868, 1874 – 1880, 1885 – 1970

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 Grandmother died in 1949 in Los Angeles California. I looked on the California and Los Angeles County records website to see if I can order her Death Certificate as part of a geneology project but it says 1995 to present deaths only. I went to rootsweb and got her SSN#, but not sure if its correct. Where else can I look?

This link is to the California Death Index. Enter her first name, her married surname and the death year. The results should give you her date of birth/death, her maiden name and her mother’s maiden name http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi

For death certificates, you find more information about how to order copies for deaths between 1905 – present at this link http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/Pages/default.aspx

what kind of information can you find on the social security death index?…I’m doing some family research and I was able to find my gg-grandfather’s ssdi, it has his birthday (dec. 25, 1860) and death-date (jun. 18, 1965) and where he died (Tulare, California), but nothing about the parents…other family member’s index’s have had something about parents on them, even if it’s the father’s surname or mother’s maiden…I also am having trouble finding a death certificate. Where would I look for that, and would his parent’s info for sure be on that?

I’ve been using Ancestry, Family Search Org, Roots web, and Family History Records data bases.
will it be my best bet to order the actual death certificate for his parent’s information?

The on-line SSDI has jus what you saw; name, birth date, death date, last residence and last benefeit, one of which may be th death place, and where the SSN was issued.

The SSN application, which costs $27, will have parents’ names, exact birth place, address and occupation at the time, and, for women, maiden name. Roots Web’s SSDI will format a letter to the SSA for you; click on "SS-5", print, add a check and wait 6 – 8 weeks.

The California Death Index, by Roots Web, has father’s surname and mother’s maiden name, sometimes. No SSDI I have seen has anything about parents. Some other death indicies do, most don’t.

I am working on my family tree and I feel like I’ve hit a dead end with one pair of my great-great grandparents.

Their names were Nicholas Hoffman (I’m sure about that) and Christina Kovasavich (I’m not 100% sure about the first name).

I found this record on the California death index that I know to be correct:
Last: HOFFMAN
First: NICHOLAS
Gender: MALE
Birth Date: 06/03/1870
Death Date: 03/07/1961
Birth Place: WISCONSIN
Death Place (County): LOS ANGELES

They had a daughter named Angela Hoffman, who married Lloyd Franklin Saunders (whose ancestry is much easier to find).

I’ve looked everywhere–just can’t seem to find Nicholas Hoffman or a Christina Kovasavich. If you can help me out, I will greatly appreciate it!

WI OZAUKEE FREDONIA 1880 CENSUS
Anna Hoffmann 54 born Luxemburg, parents born Lux.
Nicholas Hoffmann 10 born Wis. parents born Lux.
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Nicholas Hoffman m. Anna Tackes in Luxembourg. Came to America around 1855-1860, settling in Fredonia, WI. Their Daughter Margaret or Margaretha b. 10/28/1853 Luxembourg, d. 8/5/1937, Fredonia WI. m. Abt 1868, Fredonia, WI, Nicholas Thill b. 12/24/1842 Luxembourg, d. 4/28/1921, Fredonia , WI. had the children: Peter Thill m. Appalonia, Susan, Catherine m. Mike Grolinger, John m. Catharine Smith, Anna m. John Krell, Mathias m. Theresa Krell, Nicholas m. Elizabeth Goschey, Mary m. John P. "Jemp" Goschey, Henry m. Magdolen Mayer, Joseph m. Mary Marie Dimmer.

They are mostly buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Holy Cross, Ozaukee Cty., WI. If you have any information please contact me!!! http://www.geocities.com/ttg13
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?nicholas::hoffman::1319.html
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SD KINGSBURY OLDHAM 1910 Census
HOFFMAN NICHOLAS 41 M W WI married 19 years, parents born Germany
Nellie 42 Iowa, 7 children, 5 living, parents born Ireland
John E. 13 SD
Raymond F. 8 SD.
Elsie V. 6
Angeline B. 6 SD.
Mary A. 5 mos. SD
Mary Moriarity mother-in-law 88 Ireland, wd. 6 children, 4 living
John 40 bro-in-law wd. Iowa
Mary niece 9 SD
Annie A. niece 7 SD
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WI OZAUKEE FREDONIA 1910 Census
Mary Goschey 64 Germany widow, 12 children, farmer
Mike 30 Wisconsin
Lizzie 26 Wisconsin
John 22
John P. 20
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WI OZAUKEE FREDONIA TWP 1900 CENSUS
Peter Goschy 56 born March 1844 Germany, married 34 years, immigrated 1844, in US 56 years pa. farmer, parents born Germany.
Mary 54, born Nov. 1845 Germany, married 34 years, 14 chilren, 12 living, immigrated 1860, in US. 40 years, parents born Germany.
Michael 21, born April 1879 Wisconsin
Lizzie 16, born Aug. 1883 Wis.
John 12, born Oct. 1887 Wis.
John P. 10, born Jan. 1890 Wis.

i am in search of a place where i can find a the death of a loved one on line that dos’ent charge a fee. can anyone tell me of such a place.?

You won’t find California Death Records online, even if you wanted to pay for the records. However, you will find California Death Indexes online for free.

Rootsweb has a free California Death Index from 1940-1997.

Vitalsearch has a free California Death Index from 1905-2000.

Rootsweb has a pre-1905 Death Index Project. There may be some useful infomation here, but it’s very spotty.