United States Deceased Physician File (AMA) - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes records from 1864 to 1968.

This collection contains a name index and images of the deceased physician card file from the American Medical Association (AMA), which are physician biographic records of decedent records from 1864 to 1968. This file contains names for deceased physicians in the USA with a few names from Canada.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The information varies with each card. The facts usually found include:


 * Name
 * Death date
 * Where practiced

The cards may also list


 * Where they attended school
 * Where living at the time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Professional affiliations

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The state and county where your ancestor lived.
 * The approximate age and birth place of your ancestor.
 * The approximate death date of your ancestor.
 * Where your ancestor practiced medicine.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page then ⇒Select the "Surname Range" which takes you to the images.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’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.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the Deceased Physician File, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the death date and where they practiced to find them in the U.S. federal census records.
 * Use the location to find real estate, land records or commercial records.
 * Use the death date to find probate or estate records.

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

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

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.

Citations for 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:

Image Citation: