Benin, Civil Registration of Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

Benin

What is in this Collection?
This collection includes death records from Benin, 1891-2014. The original records are located in the National Archives of Benin in Porto-Novo. These records are written in French; see the section For Help Reading these Records for translation helps.

Sample Images
Click on images for a larger view.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
Death records may contain the following information:
 * Province and district
 * The signer
 * Name
 * Gender
 * Date and place of birth
 * Name of mother and father
 * Spouse’s name
 * Profession
 * Home
 * Name and address of the declarant
 * Date and place of death
 * Date of declaration

How Do I Search the Collection?
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your relative’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: ⇒ Select the “Department” category ⇒ Select the “Commune” category ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" category which takes you to the images.

Compare the information about the relatives in the record to what you already know about your relatives to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your relative.

For Help Reading these Records
These records are in French. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * French Genealogical Word List
 * Reading French Handwritten Records
 * French Handwriting
 * French Letter Writing Guide

I Found Who I Was Looking for, What Now?

 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have served in the same unit or a nearby unit.
 * Use the death or burial date to find other records that may provide more information on your ancestor. These include obituaries, grave markers, sexton’s records, or a civil or religious death records.
 * If your ancestor is found continue searching those records for other family members who may be in the same record collection.
 * Pay attention to any notes about your ancestor such as occupation or marriage status. This information can be used to locate other records.

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

 * If a death or burial record cannot be found for your ancestor in the locality where it is believed they died, try searching the records of nearby localities.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Look for probate records for the region and time period in which your ancestor supposedly died. These records may give clues about when he or she passed away.

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):