April – Resources
Vital and Death Records
CVGS Vital and Death Records, RootsWeb’s Guide No. 4: Vital Records, Cyndi’s list Record Examples, CVGS Genealogy Research Websites
CVGS Vital and Death Records
Early death records in the United States often provide just the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Burial records may contain basically the same information. Early death records may also be found mixed in with other towns, county, and church records, especially in New England. Later records (Death Certificates) will list the birth date, occupation, name of the deceased’s spouse, father, mother, cause of death, informant, cemetery, physician, undertaker, and other information.
RootsWeb/Ancestry – Introduction to Births and Deaths in Public Records
https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Births_and_Deaths_in_Public_Records
RootsWeb/Ancestry – U.S. Birth, Marriage and Death Records
https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Category:U.S._Birth,_Marriage,_and_Death_Records
FamilySearch – U.S. Vital Records
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Vital_Records
Ancestry – U.S. Death Records
https://www.ancestry.com/lp/family-history/death-certificates
Ancestry – U.S. Social Security Death Index
https://www.ancestry.com/lp/family-history/ssdi
Cyndi’s List- US- US Vital Records- Select from a State name index
https://www.cyndislist.com/us/vital/
Vital records – BMD — birth, marriage, divorce, and death — are the foundations of genealogical research. What we learn from the vital records of a person’s days on this earth provides the framework for our search for other records that may illuminate his/her life and times and tell us who he/she was. The end of a life marks the beginning of our research. You are more likely to be successful with your research if you do your search for vital records (birth, marriage, and death) in the reverse order of your ancestor’s life’s events. Start with death records, then seek the marriage records, and finally hunt for birth records. In many localities, particularly in the United States, birth records are a modern record and outside of New England, birth records often do not exist prior to about 1890 – 1900.
ICD: Often overlooked – the International Classification of Diseases (Death Certificate Codes)
The ICD was developed in the late 1800s and was known as the Bertillon Classification of Causes of Death, after Jacques Bertillon. The US began using it in about 1898. We can look up the code and find the cause of death in a clearly written database. Be aware that the ICD codes were revised in 1900, 1909, 1920, 1929, 1938, 1948, 1955, 1965, 1975, 1990, and 2000! This information is free at: http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/index.html
Alternate sources of death records-
Bible records (FamilySearch Wiki, DAR, NEHGR, Ancestry: New York, Penn, Missouri, Tennessee, State HistoricalSocieties,
http://www.biblerecords.com/, http://ancestorsatrest.com/family_bibles/,
State libraries, Court records (wills and administrations)
Census records (http://mortality-schedules.com/), free, US and states,1850, 1855, 1860, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885
Military service and pension records, Newspapers (death notices, obituaries, and news articles)
Cemetery records, and tombstone inscriptions or http://www.findagrave.com
Death Certificate Codes: ICD: International Classification of Diseases
Veteran’s Head Stone Requisition OQMG form 623 / VA Form 40-1330
RootsWeb’s Guide to Tracing Family Trees Guide No. 4: Vital Records — Death
Vital records — birth, marriage and divorce, and death — are the foundations of genealogical research. What we learn from the vital records of a person’s days on this earth provides the framework for our search for other records that may illuminate his life and times and tell us who he was. The end of a life marks the beginning of our research. The U.S.A does not have a nationwide system of vital records registration and, with the exception of the New England states, where many towns have kept vital records from their beginnings; the states did not attempt to keep centralized vital records until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For details of the dates for which centralized vital records are available for many countries and for the U.S. by state, the forms needed to request such records, and the addresses, telephone, and fax numbers of the records keepers consult International Vital Records Handbook, by Thomas Jay Kemp. On the Web, visit Vital Records Information for United States for information about birth, death, or marriage certificates. Do you request Certified or genealogical vital records? (Request genealogical)
Also, try the VitalChek Network. In the absence of centralized death records for earlier years, the American researcher should determine what original vital records exist at the county and local levels, some of which might have been transferred to state archives, and whether any have been published. When it is possible to consult original records or microfilmed copies of them, it is preferable to do so. Published abstracts, transcriptions, and indexes provide valuable assistance as finding aids to the original records. The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, has microfilmed and scanned records from many countries and U.S. states. In some cases, the microfilmed records are all that remain as evidence of records lost to the ravages of war and natural disasters. Researchers have access to most of the microfilmed holdings at https://www.familysearch.org
To replace or supplement civil death records, other sources include:
Bible records ( FamilySearch Wiki, DAR, NEHGR, Ancestry: New York, Penn, Missouri, Tennessee, State Historical Societies, http://www.biblerecords.com/, http://ancestorsatrest.com/family_bibles/, State libraries)
Court records (wills and administrations)
Census records ( http://mortality-schedules.com/ ) free, US and states, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885
Military service and pension records
Newspapers (death notices, obituaries, and news articles)
Cemetery records and tombstone inscriptions ( https://www.findagrave.com/ )
Death Certificate Codes: ICD: International Classification of Diseases http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/index.html
Veteran’s Head Stone Requisition OQMG form 628 / VA Form 40-1330
At: Cyndilist.com
EG: Select state name: Michigan FamilySearch.org – Michigan, Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995 FREE
EG: Select state name: Michigan Death Records, 1897-1920 http://seekingmichigan.org (by county)
EG: Select state/society name: Information Page for WMGS Index to Kent County Deaths 1867 – 1929 Western Michigan Genealogical Society
CVGS – Cyndi’s list – Record Examples
http://www.cyndislist.com Index list with 220 categories and 337,000 genealogy website linksBEGINNERS 189 · Beginners Guides, Hints & Tips · Publications, Software & Supplies
· Researching: Birth, Marriage, and Death Records · Researching: Census Records
· Researching: Land Records · Researching: Localities & Ethnic Groups
· Researching: Military Records · Researching: Ships, Passenger Lists & Immigration
· Researching: Specialty Records or Topics Education (Genealogical) – Online Courses & Webinars
Countries by name United Kingdom & Ireland 31,708 Canada 4950 Germany 1100 Spain/Basque Country 197
Churches by name Catholic 397 Quaker 293 Huguenot 171 Mennonite 141 Methodist 124 Baptist 107
Religion & Churches 433 Records: Born, Married, Died & Buried
Immigration, Emigration & Migration 494 · Immigration, Naturalization, and Ships Passenger List Extract Forms from US Immigration Office1893-1906 1907-1918 1919-1925 Post 1925
Land Records, Deeds, Homesteads (524) Bounty Land Google Earth Homesteads Land Descriptions,
Libraries, Archives & Museums 9599 A to Z Acadian Archives – UMFK to Zgodovinski arhive Celje Slovenia.
Medical & Medicine (301) Diseases & Medical Terms Doctors and Nurses Epidemics & Plagues
Migration Routes, Roads & Trails 245 California Trail Maps & Geography Miscellaneous Trails Mormon Trail National Road Old Canada Road Oregon Trail Post Roads Santa Fe Trail Wagon Trains Wilderness Road Zane’s Trace
Newspapers 843 General, Newspapers – A to Y by city, county, state, country, college, company
Obituaries 570 General, Obituaries – A to Z, by city, county, state, country, college, company
Occupations 418 Apprenticeships, Brushmakers, Entertainment, Fishermen & Mariners, Ranchers, Miners
Photographs & Memories 707 dating photos Online Photo Sharing Photo Archives, Collections, and Libraries
Railroads 353 General, Libraries, Archives & Museums, Records, Railway links, Railroad societies, Maps
Ships & Passenger Lists 783 General, Libraries, Archives, Ship lists, Great Lakes & Marine Historical societies
Surnames, Family Associations & Family Newsletters 11,150 Surnames – A to Z, Rootsweb mailing lists, sites
United States – 164,874 – State by state, US Census, US History, US Military- (War name)
http://www.cyndislist.com/us/vital/ for a state by state list of vital record sources
Writing Your Family’s History 169 General, self-publishing, online publishing, publishers
CVGS Genealogy Research Websites
http://www.conejovalleygenealogicalsociety.org
http://www.toaks.org/library Ancestry.com, Newspapers, Gale Genealogy, Heritage Quest
http://www.cyndislist.com Index with 200 categories and 334,000 genealogy website links
http://www.findagrave.com Search 138 million grave records, edit virtual memorials, forums
https://familysearch.org World family tree with 1.2 Billion names, 6.2 Billion records, 1.3 Billion Sources, 270 Million records indexed annually, Hints, Messages, 25 million photos, What’s New Blog
http://rootsweb.ancestry.com Search 785 million names, family trees, records
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/search/Pages/ancestors-search.aspx Archives Canada – Free BMD, Census
http://www.usgenweb.org/ & http://usgwarchives.net/ volunteers post free data from U.S. states & counties
https://fultonsearch.org/ 44 million newspaper page search that works without Flash! Filterable search results
https://www.rootstech.org/video-archive RootsTechGenealogy videos are free online after Mar 1 each year
http://www.geneabloggers.com/tag/genealogy-bargains Blog, free weekends for $ sites
http://www.ancestry.com $ (Much is free with TO Library card at TO library) Search 6 billion names, family trees, 16 billion records, hints, forums, 300 million photos, free blog articles
http://www.geni.com $ (MyHeritage) World family tree with 100 million names, photos, forums
http://www.findmypast.com $ UK (1939 UK Register, UK, Canada, US Records, UK Newspapers
http://www.rootsmagic.com Software Free to $, Family Tree & Personal Historian software, FamilySearch hints, MyHeritage hints, Ancestry hints & sync, YouTube videos
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com Software Free to $, FamilySearch hints, 10 Training CD videos $
http://familytreewebinars.com Webinars Free to $, Beginners, DNA, Records, Software, Photos
https://wwweogncom.wildapricot.org/ Free to $, Dick Eastman’s Genealogy blog
https://en.geneanet.org/ Free to $50/year Gedcom uploads & records
https://www.tribalpages.com/ Free to $36/year -100,000 websites – 25 million names – 1.5 million photos
Attachments
2022 Death Isaac Blanchard 1721 ROD Mass Vital Records
2022 Headstone Denis Cyr OQMG Form 623, 1934
