Death records have been a great help to many genealogy and family history researchers, providing valuable information and clues to an ancestor's or relative's death. Over the last few years, many people and organizations have been publishing death record archives on the Internet. Some with thousands of records, others with millions. Presented on this website are individual "State Guides" designed to show you where all the best death record archives and databases are found.
Click on a State to see a death record resource guide:
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Death Records News     
Free On Ancestryby Vitalguy Here's a new website called, "Free on Ancestry", billed as linking to all the free stuff offered by Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com has a lot of free genealogy records and databases, but they don't make it very easy to find. You have to browse around the full website to find them all. I guess they do that for the same reasons that grocery stores put all the most wanted items in the rear of the store. Anyways, with Free On Ancestry you can rest assured that all of the genealogy stuff linked from their site takes you to free stuff only. You'll have to create an account on Ancestry.com to use it, but you won't have to pay anything, or give out your credit card info. It's a good trade-off. Visit Free On Ancestry at: http://www.freeonancestry.com Birth Certificates for Stillborn Babiesby Vitalguy Lawmakers in the State of Florida are seeking to establish birth certificates for stillborn babies.
There doesn't appear to be any practical benefit for getting such a certificate, but only an emotional "keepsake". "I call her an angel baby because she was born perfect and sleeping," Logullo said. The Logullos wrapped, weighed, took footprints, and cremated Katherine -- they even got a death certificate for her. But under current state practice, no birth certificates for stillborn babies exist.Logullo and his wife, Beth, are pushing Florida's part of a national movement to create stillborn birth certificates in every state. Mothers who carry children for at least 20 weeks and deliver them stillborn could request the certificates. Visit Florida Birth Records for information on how to obtain existing birth certificates. SSDI, The Most Vauable and Overlooked Resourceby Vitalguy The most valuable and often overlooked genealogy database for finding death records and related information has to be the social security death index (SSDI). This has to be the largest uniform database available to Americans researching their ancestry, aside from census data which is really many, many separate databases.
The SSDI is available in many places on the web for free but not all are created equal. The source database is constantly updated and corrected by the governmental body charged with maintaining it. These updates are made available to anyone who wants them but they are not cheap. The current database plus a subscription for updates costs thousands of dollars. Fortunately many businesses pay the subscription charge and give you access for free. And some web sites which subscribe to the updates are better about getting new, corrected and revised data online regularly. It's not an easy task, requiring good computer database specialists. But it is apparently worthwhile for some businesses to properly maintain the data. The SSDI is not just a good source of dates someone was born or died. It also can link you to other, more important data via the original SS application form. All you have to do is write a letter and request a copy of it. Both Rootsweb and Ancestry.com provide tools with their searchable SSDI databases which allow you to generate a letter to the Social Security Administration requesting the original application. On this site, we provide you a tool to access the SSDI from the better, more up to date web sites. This tool is located on our SSDI page. This section of our site provides a complete description of the SSDI as well as a lot of information which will help you to use it. Oregon & Washington Launches Web-Based Death Certificatesby Vitalguy Julie Tripp writes in The Sunday Oregonian that the states of Oregon and Washington are getting ready to launch new web-based systems of recording and issuing death certificates.
The systems build an electronic chain of certification by computer from funeral director to doctor to government certifier, safeguarded by encrypted codes or fingerprint identifications. The states have chosen different software providers and programs to accomplish the same goal of faster and more efficient certification.The result is that death certificates can be obtained in 1 or 2 days, instead of two or more weeks. Better yet, it eliminates paper. The greatest public benefit lies with settling life insurance claims much more quickly, but genealogists should also realize faster service as well. Funeral Cards Onlineby Vitalguy The operator of GenealogyToday.com more or less "stumbled" upon the value of funeral cards while sifting the planet's garage sales in search of quality genealogy information. The site now has 9,700 of them online which is more than you can find anywhere else. These are available form the funeral card index page on the site.
As GenealogyToday puts it, "funeral cards (also sometimes called mass, mourning or remembrance cards) are an excellent source of information for genealogists. While not a traditional "vital record", they often provide great clues like death and birth dates, name of the cemetery where the deceased was interred, name of the funeral home, and sometimes even a photo of the ancestor." But even more importantly than that, this is something which you would want to include in the pile of stuff you have put together regarding your family history. GenealogyToday's collections of this type as well as other records are continually growing so don't just visit the site once and forget about it because you didn't find something useful. Put it on your list of favorites and pay regular visits to see what new things they have uploaded. |
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