Death Records for Genealogy Research

In one of my hubs I wrote recently, Where to Get Ideas for Hubs, I thought of going to the dictionary, choosing a random page, and writing a hub about one of the words on that page. I decided to try it while I remembered the idea, and see how well I could do with this little challenge.

I brought down the dictionary and noticed that it was very aged. It has been sitting unused, since I normally look up words online, and have been doing so for quite a while. I opened the page at random and came up with the letter I. There are several good words on the page, including inheritance, inhumation, injection, injury, ink, inlay, inmate, inning, innocent, and innovation. In fact, I have to stop myself from including more words to this list, because pretty much all of them can lead to good hubs.

The word I chose was inhumation. HubPages doesn't like the word, but I have the dictionary to prove that it is a real word and properly spelled. The dictionary tells me that it means interment. I remember getting very frustrated as a child when I looked up a word and it told me the definition was another word I didn't know. The word interment means burial, so inhumation also means burial. This makes sense, since I know from the crime shows I watch, that exhume is to disinter a corpse. I am not going to keep looking it up, but just deduce that if interment means burial, then disinter would mean to undo a burial.

Since we generally limit burials to the deceased, this hub will discuss death records in general, and focus on burial records.

Social Security Death Index

One great record for death is the Social Security Death Index. It is a free database that lists birth dates, death dates, and some locations of the deceased. I just happened to write a hub about it so you can go to the hub to read more about it. It will not tell you the burial location, but having the name, death date, and possible locations give you great clues for genealogy research. With the information obtained from the Social Security Death index, you can search for obituaries around the date, and the death certificate.

Newspapers

One of most common places to find where the body was buried is the newspaper. The newspaper might print a death announcement that simply lists the name, date of death and location. If the death was an accident, a murder, or otherwise newsworthy, there may have been a news article about it

The newspaper may also print an obituary, which provides a great deal of information based on what the family wants to share. It will usually include the names of family members and other information about the deceased.

Obituaries are printed in the newspaper, usually in a newspaper of the town where the person died. It could also be printed where the person lived, especially if they died while traveling. It might be printed in a place where the person lived for a long time, particularly if family members remained. Sometimes obituaries are printed in more than one newspaper. I recommend finding all of the obituaries about the deceased, because one may provide different or additional facts. Please note that the obituary or newspaper may be wrong about the burial location. The family may have changed their mind, or the cemetery may have sent the family somewhere else. But it is a good place to start.

The best place to get copies of newspaper articles is the library. Libraries that are in the locality, bigger libraries in the area, state libraries, and genealogy and historical societies in the county and state are all possible sources for the newspapers.

Death Certificates

The death certificate is another great source to find the burial location. It also may provide medical information which may be helpful in tracing genetic diseases, if your state or municipality doesn't limit sharing that type of information. Death certificates are typically filed on a county level, but sent to the state. Older certificates may have been sent to the state historical society. The Redbook is a great resource to tell you the dates records are available, and where they are stored.

Military

If the deceased was in the military, the family may have received a a burial plot, or a military burial or plaque, and the military would have those records.

There are also genealogy associations that focus on a particular war, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) which compile lists of burials and collect other burial and death records.

Cemetery

Once you have located a name of the cemetery, you can visit or contact the cemetery. You may want to look at where the individual is located and see what it says on the burial marker. Be sure to also contact the cemetery, or custodian, since they may also have records about who bought the plot, and who was buried with or near the individual. There are several places for burial places online, such as Interment.net and Findagrave.com that are completed by volunteers. These sites can be a great source, since volunteers may be willing to find the grave you are looking for and photograph it for you. You can return the favor by photographing some burial markers in your area.

Funeral Home

The funeral home is also likely to have additional information about the deceased, so you may want to contact them as well.

Remember when contacting cemeteries and funeral homes that their priority is to take care of the deceased and recent bereaved family members. They are not required to help you. Be very nice to them when asking for help and show gratitude when receiving any assistance. You don't want to spoil it for future genealogists.

Once a person dies, their property may go through the probate process. Check with the probate court to see if they left a will, and to find any other probate records, especially if they owned any real estate.

There is a lot of paperwork when a person dies, and all this paperwork is a goldmine for the genealogist to find information about their ancestor or family member. Finding as much information as you can about the inhumation and about the death will help you get a clearer picture of the family history and the role this individual played in it.