Utah Death Certificates - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Utah

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of an index and images of state death certificates for the years 1904 to 1964, acquired from the Utah State Archives. The records are arranged by county, city/town, and year.

Sample Image
Local Board of Health registrars sent certificates monthly to the state registrar of the Department of Vital Statistics, which is a division of the state Board of Health. All counties began reporting deaths to the state in 1905 when the Department of Health created the division of Vital Statistics. A death certificate was required for burial in Utah, so compliance was high. These were recorded to better serve public health needs. They were also used in connection with the probate of wills and the administration of estates.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records may contain any of the following:


 * Date and place of death, including city, county and state
 * Name of deceased
 * Name of hospital or institution where died
 * Residence of deceased
 * How many years living in present community
 * If a veteran, name of war is given
 * Gender, race, marital status and social security number of deceased
 * Name and age of spouse
 * Date and place of birth of deceased
 * Age in years, months and days
 * Occupation of deceased
 * Name and birth place of father
 * Maiden name and birth place of mother
 * Informant's name and address
 * Informant's relationship to deceased
 * Burial information

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

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate “County” category ⇒Select the appropriate “City/Town” category ⇒Select the appropriate “Death Year” category which takes you to the images

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

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s death record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * If the birth date is not given you can use the death date or age to calculate an approximate birth year.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find or verify their birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the names, places, and ages to find the family in other records such as census, church, and land records.
 * Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county.
 * The name of the undertaker or mortuary could lead you to funeral and cemetery records which often include the names and residences of other family members.
 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the deceased who may have died or been buried in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.

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

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. Local historical and genealogical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

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):

Image Citation: