Indiana, Death Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Indiana 

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of a death index from the Indiana State Board of Health, Division of Vital Records in Indianapolis. The index is provided by Ancestry.com. The collection includes records from 1882 to 1920.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The index lists the following information:


 * Age at Death
 * Estimated Birth Year
 * DGS Number
 * Date of Death
 * Certificate Number or page number
 * GSU Film Number
 * Image number
 * Name of Deceased
 * Name of Father
 * Name of Mother
 * Name of Spouse
 * Place of Death
 * Sex
 * Page Number

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 the death occurred.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information 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 compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

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

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s death record in the index, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information will also help you to obtain a copy of the full death record from the Indiana State Board of Health, Division of Vital Records in Indianapolis.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Continue to search the index and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have died in Indiana.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination.
 * Be aware that, as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

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.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.
 * 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 with the same family number.

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):