Looking for Death Records or Places of Death or Burial

Looking for Death Records or Places of Death

When searching for a Death Record, accept and use information in this order according to accuracy and chances for success.

Ancestry's documentation of these databases is exceptional.

1. Social Security Death Index
2. Death Certificates
3. findagrave.com
4. personal family knowledge

Karen, "Why do you put personal family knowledge last?"

For years this genealogy went on the dates provided by the grandmother.  She said that the person in question died on Thanksgiving Day in a certain year.   She just picked the 4th Thursday in a month a random "22" and put that date down with the "correct" year - 

The lineage all but stopped going back due to incorrect data

To verify the data, I entered this in google - 

Thanksgiving Day in 1919

It returned "November 27, 1919"

After inputting that data correction, suddenly the hints started flying and within 4 hours, I had corroborated, true data leading to the Mayflower in 1620.

Death Certificates

For Arizona - go to genealogy.az.gov

This is a fantastic site where you can get accurate data and you don't have to pay for the death certificate.

In a death certificate you have a myriad of golden information.

Actual name 

(not one where someone guessed at their middle name,) 

real date of birth, 

birth place, 

real date of death, 

cause of death, 

the hospital 

where he was taken, 

the mortuary where the body was interred, 

The address of the decedent so you can google where he lived and see what it looks like now.

  His occupation, 

His wife's name, 

So with all this new information, I was able to get more accurate information, and the lineage continued.  

Findagrave.com

What in the world is findagrave.com

This is a company who has a free service that you can actually donate your services to.  You go out to a cemetery and take pictures of headstones, then you put the data on the website for the families to claim and write a family history to honor them.

I think this tool is probably one of the finest additions to a Genealogist's portfolio for trouble shooting and achieving a more accurate result.

There are actually amazing stories from using this tool.  I got an email once from a gentleman, Nevada Bob, who was riding his ATV out in the desert was taking pictures of headstones in the abandoned desert cemetery.  He kept having the feeling he should stop at a certain place and every time he would go by he would get that same feeling.  When he stopped, he didn't see a headstone but he got off his ATV and moved a tumbleweed and there was the headstone for my Uncle Marvin.  Here's the (cue twilight zone music) interesting thing.....It was July 31 in 2013, I think,  now look at the data in the link below.

He didn't want to be forgotten.  I think he was urging the man on the ATV to find him.

Walter Marvin Collins Findagrave.com