Washington County Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Washington

What is in this Collection?
This collection includes county death records from 1891 to 1907.

There is an index and images of deaths recorded at the county level before the state records were kept. The counties included in this collection are:


 * Clark
 * Grays Harbor, including the city of Aberdeen
 * Lewis
 * Mason
 * Wahkiakum

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The following important biographical facts may be found in the death records:


 * Name and age of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Gender, race and occupation of deceased
 * Residence of deceased at time of death
 * Length of residence in current locale
 * Sometimes, marital status is stated
 * Sometimes, name of spouse is given
 * Cause of death; name of attending physician
 * Birth place of deceased; sometimes, date of birth
 * Father's name and birthplace
 * Mother's maiden name and birthplace
 * Sometimes, name of informant
 * Burial information

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of death.
 * The place where the death occurred.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to obtain the actual death certificate.
 * Use the information to locate funeral home, obituary or cemetery record.
 * Use the information to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, census, land and probate records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Washington, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Washington Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):