Record Search at FamilySearch Labs has recently added a collection of Texas death records covering 1890-1976. I've tried this and it's quite a good collection in terms of content and useability. Like all the indexed collections at Record Search, name variations are automatically retrieved in search results. I like the fact that there is a "Copy to Clipboard" link on the record details page, which in one click copies the details--and only the details--to the clipboard. On Ancestry.com, by comparison, you have to go to "View Printer-friendly" and then select and copy the details.
There is a link to a PDF version of the actual death certificate; however, that link seems not yet functional.
All things considered, this addition to Record Search is a solid "A" in my gradebook.
Showing posts with label Death Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death Records. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Missouri Does It!
Missouri has completed its death certificate project. Images are now available for the years 1910 through 1957. This is a remarkable accomplishment achieved by state employees and volunteers. Additionally, the entire Secretary of State's site, including the Missouri Archives, has been re-designed. Go to the Missouri Archives site here.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Product Review: Footnote.com
I've been a Footnote.com subscriber for awhile now, but hadn't really spent a lot of time with it until recently. When I first started with it, it seemed to have a lot of fairly obscure documents, such as the city council minutes of South Boston, Virginia. Frankly, what brought me back to explore it again was a series of interesting posts by Miriam Midkiff at Ancestories in which the stories she told were tied to documents on Footnote.com.
Now I'm quite a bit more impressed. Partnerships with the National Archives and FamilySearch have brought a number of interesting documents and photographs to Footnote.com. The American Milestone Documents collection, for example, is just what the name suggests: important documents in American history. And there are a number of military records.
I like the fact that for each finite set of documents, Footnote indicates what percentage of the set is currently available.
More purely genealogical documents are available now. In the 16% complete Texas Death Certificates collection, I found two death certificates that I'd been unable to find elsewhere for several years. One of these I had thought did not exist.
Navigation could use some improvement, but otherwise, the technical aspects of the site are in the "superior" category.
I'm visiting Footnote.com often just to browse the interesting documents.
Recommendation: A "must visit."
Now I'm quite a bit more impressed. Partnerships with the National Archives and FamilySearch have brought a number of interesting documents and photographs to Footnote.com. The American Milestone Documents collection, for example, is just what the name suggests: important documents in American history. And there are a number of military records.
I like the fact that for each finite set of documents, Footnote indicates what percentage of the set is currently available.
More purely genealogical documents are available now. In the 16% complete Texas Death Certificates collection, I found two death certificates that I'd been unable to find elsewhere for several years. One of these I had thought did not exist.
Navigation could use some improvement, but otherwise, the technical aspects of the site are in the "superior" category.
I'm visiting Footnote.com often just to browse the interesting documents.
Recommendation: A "must visit."
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Missouri Death Certificate Project Now Includes 1934
Just 1935 through 1944 remain to be added. Check it out at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Right Longs
A few days ago, I wondered if I'd been pursuing the wrong set of parents and siblings for my great-grandfather, James William Long. The catalyst for this musing was information on my great-grandfather's death certificate which I had just received. Now I have concluded that I was following the "wrong Longs." In a upcoming post, I describe how I reached that conclusion using the Genealogical Standard of Proof. Now I introduce the "right Longs," as they appeared in the 1870 census of Shawnee, Johnson County, Kansas:
LONG, RICHARD.................37........M........B.........Farmer.............Kentucky
LONG, PALINAY..................30.........F.........B.................................Virginia
LONG, JOSEPH.....................16.........M........B..........Farmer..........Missouri
LONG, JOHN...........................7.........M.........B.........Farmer...........Missouri
LONG, JAMES.......................4...........M.........B.................................Missouri
LONG, ROZETTA................2.............F..........B.................................Missouri
LONG, ELIZA J...............4/12...........F...........B.................................Kansas
This census entry raises several interesting issues, not the least of which is the description of seven year-old John as a farmer!
First, notice that all of the children, except young Eliza, were born in Missouri. [CAVEAT: The 1870 census did not show relationships. Thus, not every group of children living with adults constitutes a parents-children family unit. It is, however, an odds-on likelihood, and can be corroborated by other evidence such as other census records that do show relationships, probate records, family bibles, letters, etc. In this case, the 1870 census is the only record where this "family" is found altogether. For reasons explained in an upcoming post, I have made the assumption that this is a family unit]. This suggests that the family moved to Kansas sometime after Rozetta was born in 1868. [In a previous post, I identified her as "Regetha." In an upcoming post, I explain the discrepancy].
Second, there is a nine year "gap" between the birth of Joseph and the birth of John. This is unusual because nineteenth century families typically had children more frequently than that. The "gap" could be explained several ways. The family could have had more children in the "gap," but these children did not survive. Or Joseph could be the son of Richard from a prior relationship and not the son of Pauline. Notice that Pauline is seven years younger than Richard and would have been 14 year old when Joseph was born. Or indeed it could be the other way around--that Joseph is Pauline's son from an earlier relatioshp. Another explanation is that Jospeh is not the son of either Richard or Pauline, but some otehr relation living with them. And finally, iy's just possible that Richard and Pauline stiopped having chiledren for nine years.
The most interesting issue is just why this family was in Kansas in the first place. They didn't (apparently) come there during the Civil War or to escape slavery. They came after the war and after Emancipation. And James went back to Missouri.
Now it must be said that Shawnee, Kansas, is just across the river from Kansas City, Missouri. And the Rev. James William Long was the pastor of the Sunnyside Baptist Church, of which it was claimed the pulpit was in Missouri and the congregation was in Kansas. Today, some of his descendants live near State Line Road. So may be it is that they were never very much in Kansas!
Here's what else we know about the "right" Longs:
Missouri State Archives
Pre-1910 Death Records
Long, Pauline 14 Mar 1886
Long, John 19 Feb 1886
Long, Eliza Jane 26 Aug 1885
LONG, RICHARD.................37........M........B.........Farmer.............Kentucky
LONG, PALINAY..................30.........F.........B.................................Virginia
LONG, JOSEPH.....................16.........M........B..........Farmer..........Missouri
LONG, JOHN...........................7.........M.........B.........Farmer...........Missouri
LONG, JAMES.......................4...........M.........B.................................Missouri
LONG, ROZETTA................2.............F..........B.................................Missouri
LONG, ELIZA J...............4/12...........F...........B.................................Kansas
This census entry raises several interesting issues, not the least of which is the description of seven year-old John as a farmer!
First, notice that all of the children, except young Eliza, were born in Missouri. [CAVEAT: The 1870 census did not show relationships. Thus, not every group of children living with adults constitutes a parents-children family unit. It is, however, an odds-on likelihood, and can be corroborated by other evidence such as other census records that do show relationships, probate records, family bibles, letters, etc. In this case, the 1870 census is the only record where this "family" is found altogether. For reasons explained in an upcoming post, I have made the assumption that this is a family unit]. This suggests that the family moved to Kansas sometime after Rozetta was born in 1868. [In a previous post, I identified her as "Regetha." In an upcoming post, I explain the discrepancy].
Second, there is a nine year "gap" between the birth of Joseph and the birth of John. This is unusual because nineteenth century families typically had children more frequently than that. The "gap" could be explained several ways. The family could have had more children in the "gap," but these children did not survive. Or Joseph could be the son of Richard from a prior relationship and not the son of Pauline. Notice that Pauline is seven years younger than Richard and would have been 14 year old when Joseph was born. Or indeed it could be the other way around--that Joseph is Pauline's son from an earlier relatioshp. Another explanation is that Jospeh is not the son of either Richard or Pauline, but some otehr relation living with them. And finally, iy's just possible that Richard and Pauline stiopped having chiledren for nine years.
The most interesting issue is just why this family was in Kansas in the first place. They didn't (apparently) come there during the Civil War or to escape slavery. They came after the war and after Emancipation. And James went back to Missouri.
Now it must be said that Shawnee, Kansas, is just across the river from Kansas City, Missouri. And the Rev. James William Long was the pastor of the Sunnyside Baptist Church, of which it was claimed the pulpit was in Missouri and the congregation was in Kansas. Today, some of his descendants live near State Line Road. So may be it is that they were never very much in Kansas!
Here's what else we know about the "right" Longs:
Missouri State Archives
Pre-1910 Death Records
Long, Pauline 14 Mar 1886
Long, John 19 Feb 1886
Long, Eliza Jane 26 Aug 1885
Monday, May 14, 2007
Missouri Just Keeps On Rollin' Along
The Missouri Death Certificate Project, that is! With no fanfare, Missouri has now posted images for the years 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949. That leaves 1933-1944 without images. Congratulations to the Missouri State Archives, the Friends of the State Archives, and all the volunteers who are working on the project!
UPDATE (5/14/07, 10:04 PM PDT): Wow! That was my reaction as I perused the newly added years in this database. I'd been searching for several years for the death certificate of my great-grandfather, James William Long, and now I've found it! And there were some surprises there. First, he died not in Kansas City as I had always believed, but in the State Hospital at Fulton, Missouri, on September 23, 1945. Second, the death certificate says he was born in Shawnee, Kansas, another surprise! The informant was his daughter, Christina Neal. A death certificate is only as good as the informant's knowledge, but Aunt Tina was pretty meticulous about facts like this. I'm still analyzing this information. I'm grateful to the State of Missouri for its help to family historians.
UPDATE (5/14/07, 10:04 PM PDT): Wow! That was my reaction as I perused the newly added years in this database. I'd been searching for several years for the death certificate of my great-grandfather, James William Long, and now I've found it! And there were some surprises there. First, he died not in Kansas City as I had always believed, but in the State Hospital at Fulton, Missouri, on September 23, 1945. Second, the death certificate says he was born in Shawnee, Kansas, another surprise! The informant was his daughter, Christina Neal. A death certificate is only as good as the informant's knowledge, but Aunt Tina was pretty meticulous about facts like this. I'm still analyzing this information. I'm grateful to the State of Missouri for its help to family historians.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Some Info On Texas Birth and Death Records
I have written occasionally about my mostly positive experience getting Texas birth and death records. I recently came across this article at Genealogymagazine.com that adds some important information about researching Texas death records.
By the way, Texas (not surprisingly) has an "Heirloom Birth Certificate" available for your favorite Native Texan. It can be ordered through Texas Online. I'm getting one soon for my favorite Native Texan (who I'll be writing about in this space very soon). I'll let you know how that goes.
By the way, Texas (not surprisingly) has an "Heirloom Birth Certificate" available for your favorite Native Texan. It can be ordered through Texas Online. I'm getting one soon for my favorite Native Texan (who I'll be writing about in this space very soon). I'll let you know how that goes.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Death Certificates: California and Texas
I noted a few days ago that things were bit slow around here in part because the state of Texas had been uncharacteristically slow in providing the death certificates per my latest request. I had requests in with the State of California as well and they were also uncharacteristically slow. But then, as these things are wont to happen, a flood of death certificates showed up in a flood over over a period of two days.
The first death certificate to arrive, that of great grandmother Betty Sanford, I've already written about. In that post, I alluded to the importance of the informant on death certificates. I said that I felt good about that one because the informant was aunt Pansy Warren. Because she was Betty's daughter, and because of her excellent administrative skills, I had a great deal of confidence in the information that Pansy would provide for the death certificate. Even so, I still found a few errors in the information on the death certificate.
In a recent presentation reported in the Toledo Blade, noted genealogist Tony Burroughs underscored the need to verify information. even when (or perhaps especially when) the informant is a close relative, the information on a death certificate must be verified. That's because:
The next several posts will deal with some of the death certificates I received; you'll see examples of information provided by prison will be knowledgeable informants, yet inexplicably in error.
The other thing about death certificates, of course, is that they may be the key to a family's medical history. The collection of certificates that I received this week contains a potential warning for me about health.
The first death certificate to arrive, that of great grandmother Betty Sanford, I've already written about. In that post, I alluded to the importance of the informant on death certificates. I said that I felt good about that one because the informant was aunt Pansy Warren. Because she was Betty's daughter, and because of her excellent administrative skills, I had a great deal of confidence in the information that Pansy would provide for the death certificate. Even so, I still found a few errors in the information on the death certificate.
In a recent presentation reported in the Toledo Blade, noted genealogist Tony Burroughs underscored the need to verify information. even when (or perhaps especially when) the informant is a close relative, the information on a death certificate must be verified. That's because:
Death certificates, for instance, are notorious for incorrect information.(Thanks to Randy Seaver' s Genea-Musings for the pointer!)Informants, wracked with grief and worried about arranging a funeral and preparing for out-of-town guests, often make mistakes when they're asked detailed historical questions for such forms.
The next several posts will deal with some of the death certificates I received; you'll see examples of information provided by prison will be knowledgeable informants, yet inexplicably in error.
The other thing about death certificates, of course, is that they may be the key to a family's medical history. The collection of certificates that I received this week contains a potential warning for me about health.
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