FINDING U.S. DEATH RECORDS

 ©2023 Donald R. Snow - Page last updated 2023-11-13
Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .
ABSTRACT:  Vital records include birth, marriage, and death records.  Certified copies of these usually cost a few dollars and may not be public,  but genealogists don't usually need certified copies.  However, keep in mind that they may contain more information than in other records.  Other death records include death indexes, obituaries, the Social Security Death Index, cemetery and tombstone records, and more.  This class will discuss how to find death records and what to do with the information.   The notes and other related information, all with active internet links, is posted on  https://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .

    WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

  1. Instructor is Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu ) of Provo, Utah.
  2. The notes with active URLs and additional information in other notes and articles are posted at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .
  3. Tips:  (1)  To put an icon on your desktop for these notes, or any webpage, just drag the icon from in front of the address (above) in your browser onto your desktop.  (2)  To open a link, but keep your place in these notes, hold down the Control key while clicking the link.
  4. Problem for today:  How to find and use United States death records.

    5. ABOUT DEATH RECORDS

  5. Death records include certified death certificates, obituaries in newspapers, the Social Security Death Index,  cemeteries and tombstones, church records, and death indexes and other compiled records.
  6. Certified death certificates are from state, county, or city agencies and usually cost several dollars, but genealogists rarely need certified copies.  However, the certified copy may contain more information, so you may want to check it.
  7. Some certified death certificates have been scanned and are online for free, but may be hard to find - see examples below.
  8. Government agencies in the U.S. began keeping death records from about the early 1900s, so certified records are not available before that: states started at different times, so check the FamilySearch Research Wiki for state information.
  9. There are websites with cemetery and tombstone records, which are added to regularly.
  10. Many church records include deaths and burials.   Newspapers sometimes published death records, as well as obituaries. 
  11. More details for these and other sources are on my website and can be found by using the Google search button at the top of my webpage. 

    12. WEBSITES FOR U.S. DEATH RECORDS

  12. FamilySearch Wiki article How To Find U.S. Deth Records -- https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/How_to_Find_United_States_Death_Records -- The articles from here on each state are a good place to start.
  13. The Social Security Death Index is helpful for U.S. deaths from about 1935 to recent years; versions are on FamilySearch, Ancestry, and HeritageQuest Online.
  14. For Utah newspapers with death records and obituaries, see https://digitaln ewspapers.org/ .
  15. For newspapers for other states see the FamilySearch Research Wiki and also try Googling "[California] digital newspapers" (without the quotes)  
  16. For cemeteries and tombstones try  https://billiongraves.com/    and  https://www.findagrave.com/  .
  17. To find compiled and indexed death records try Googling "[California] death index" (without the quotes)
  18. A good compilation of death records -- https://www.deathindexes.com/
  19. Utah Death Certificates 1904-1965 -- https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1747615  
  20. California Death Index 1940-1997 - https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2015582 
  21. California Death Certificates 1849-1999 -- on HeritageQuestOnline that you can get to through your public library with your library card.

    22. SAVING COPIES OF RECORDS

  22. You can save screenshots and/or the entire webpage
  23. For screenshots I use FASTSTONE CAPTURE, a shareware program available from https://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDownload.htm
  24. For saving entire webpages I use EVERNOTE which has a free version as well as commercial versions -- https://evernote.com/
  25. Examples

    26. CREATING FILE NAMES

  26. Copies of records need to be named so you can find them and know what's in them.
  27. The free program EVERYTHING -- https://voidtools.com/ -- allows searches by words or any characters in the file name for all files from all folders on your computer; it shows them in alphabetical, date, or date created, or size order. 
  28. Keywords (tag words) help, e.g. DEATH, BURIAL, MARRIAGE, SCHOOL, LDS, EDUCATION, WORK, MILITARY, FAMILY, PEDIGREE, CHILDREN, RESIDENCE, BIOGRAPHY, etc.
  29. My file naming system:
    1. Surname at beginning, the given names and married names, followed by (birth and death years). 
    2. Then date of event or document, then keywords, where event occurred, where the document came from, the date you found it.  
    3. Use the extension, e.g. .doc, .txt, .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .html, etc.
    4. Write dates in International Date Format YYYY-MM-DD so they sort chronologically when alphabetized.
    5. Example: "ManwaringDiane(Snow)-(1934-2012)-2012-10-12-DEATH-CERTIFICATE-VITALRECRORD-UTAH-ProvoUtah-UtahDepartmentofHealth.pdf"
    6. Example: "PHOTO-2018-06-23-ManwaringDiane(Snow)(1934-2012)-DEATH-BURIAL-TOMBSTONE-EASTLAWN-CEMETERY-ProvoUtah--13h54m41s--P1070372.jpg"

    30. CONCLUSIONS

  30. Many death records are online and can be copied or downloaded, even death certificates. 
  31. Be sure to indicate where the record came from and the date, since things change online.
  32. Getting family information is fun and helpful to us and our descendants.
  33. Post the information on FamilySearch Family Tree so others can benefit from your work.
  34. Start small and don't try to do everything all at once; remember:  Small deeds done are better than big deeds planned.
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