Category: Death Records

Death is one of those things in life that is certain. It happens to all of us if we live long enough. I am not making fun of death, but it is one of the events in each of our lives that we cannot escape. For the genealogist, the various records surrounding a death can help in your research. Even though the person has passed on, there are moments and dates that can be captured that will live on forever. The first milestone is the obituary. I have read thousands…

Read More

Many times in our genealogical research, we are trying to find the death records of one or more of our ancestors. This can be a daunting task as many of these items were never recorded. Most states did not start recording death certificates until after 1912 while a few states began as early as 1908. If your research goes back into Virginia/West Virginia/Kentucky, you will find that these three states requested the county court clerks have a book for “Deaths” beginning in 1853. The recording of the births or deaths…

Read More