User:Evancol/Sandbox/death

Beginner's Corner - Death Records
Since it is the most recent record, the death record is often the first place to start. This makes it more likely available.Death records are kept in the state where your ancestor died, not where they were buried.

Death Certificates
The information on a death certificate is usually given by someone close to the ancestor called an informant. Other than the date, time and place of death, all other information on a death certificate is taken from what is supplied by the informant. This makes a death certificate a secondary source of information for things like the birth place and date, and the names of the deceased's parents.

For more information concerning death records by State see the Summary of Death Records in the United States by State wiki page. To find out where to write for death records, see Where to Write for Vital Records.

Information You May Find on a Death Record

 * Age at death
 * Cause of death
 * Date and/or place of birth
 * Date and/or place of burial
 * Details about the length of illness
 * Disposition of cremated remains
 * Exact time of death
 * How long in this country or location
 * Maiden name of deceased woman
 * Marital status at the time of death
 * Name of surviving spouse
 * Name (and sometimes address) of informant, frequently a surviving spouse, child or other close relative
 * Name and location of mortuary
 * Names of parents
 * Occupation and/or name of employer
 * Residence of the deceased
 * Religious Affiliation
 * Signature of attending physician
 * Whether single, married, widowed or divorced
 * Witnesses at the time of death

Places to look for Death Records

 * Church records of deaths and burials
 * City and County civil registrations
 * Family Bibles and personal histories
 * FamilySearch in the Catalog Search, Records Search, and Historic Books
 * Google and other web site search sites, and don't forget to search Google Books
 * Locating United States Vital Records
 * Mortality Schedules is a census that includes people who died between June 1st through May 31st in the year prior to the federal census.
 * Newspapers often listed articles about deaths
 * Obituaries
 * Online U.S. Death Indexes &amp; Records
 * Online records sites like Ancestry, Footnote.com, WorldVitalRecords, Heritage Quest...
 * Probate Records
 * State Archives
 * Submitted genealogies posted by others UsGenWeb, Genealogy links, Gengateway, Usgennet, FamGen, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com, Kindred Konnections, Ancestry.......
 * Tombstones usually give birth and death dates

See also: Summary of Death Records in the United States by State

Websites

 * FamilySearch Record Search contains abstacts of indexed death records for many states. This collection continues to grow as more records are indexed. - Free
 * Find A Grave has searches of inventoried cemeteries. Searches can be performed by the individual name or by the cemetery name.
 * BillionGraves.com $
 * Social Security Death Index Government death index to all persons who collected Social Security payments or a Social Security death benefit. Be sure to look for women using their married name.
 * Ancestry.com ($) indexes &amp; images
 * DeathIndex.com gives links to websites with online death indexes, listed by state and county
 * Familytree connection ($) has a search any of the insurance records listed, however, a subscription is required to access all of the information.
 * Footnote.com ($) index &amp; images
 * WorldVitalRecords ($) has a large array of databases.
 * Legacy An online newspaper and memorial database.