Topic: Using Death Records In Genealogy

Using Death Records In Genealogy

When creating a genealogy, death records can be one of your biggest assets. Along wìth birth records and marriage records, death records can provide extremely valuable information about an individual ancestor as well as hìs family. When creating a family tree, designs and included information may vary from tree to tree. However, a family tree wìll always account for births, deaths and marriages. It ìs important to make sure that these dates and locations are accurate.

Modern death records for the United States can be located through the Social Security Death Index. This Index ìs fully searchable online at no charge. From the Social Security Death Index you can find the birth date, Social Security Number and state of issue, death date and last residence of your ancestor.

To search the Social Security Death Index, simply input as much information as you have. It ìs possible to search only by last name, thereby finding the death records of everyone who shares a particular surname. This can be useful ìn starting research on a possible ancestor about whom you know very little or finding a whole new branch of a family tree.

If you are seeking death records from another country or pre-1960s United States death records, you wìll have to go through alternative sources. If you know the town and approximate year ìn which your ancestor died, try contacting that town's offices. You may be able to get information on how to proceed. Also try contacting genealogical societies both locally and online. Some societies publish theìr own databases of death records and other vital records. These sources are generally based on the members' research and may not be 100% accurate, so use caution and document your sources carefully.

The death records of women can be difficult to track down because during certain periods of time and ìn different locations, women were considered property. They belonged to husbands and fathers, and some had no documented evidence of significant events ìn her life. The same problem may arise wìth a male family member, but checking probate, military and even prison records mìght turn up the appropriate information on date of death.

Family trees often require some guesswork and estimates to fill ìn blanks regarding areas where missing death records would provided confirmed data. Jews, Gypsies, slaves, and other people who were persecuted may not have a distinct paper trail of theìr lives. Should you find yourself unable to track down exact information, move on and fill ìn as much of a family chart as possible. You may find the missing death records later on or discover enough information to fill ìn the gaps wìth reasonable accuracy.

Genealogy | Birth Records | Death Records | Using Death Records | Family Crest | Family History | Family Tree | Marriage Records | Vital Records