Using Death Records in Genealogy
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When creating a genealogy, death records can be one of your biggest assets. Along with birth records and marriage records, death records can provide extremely valuable information about an individual ancestor as well as his family. When creating a family tree, designs and included information may vary from tree to tree. However, a genealogy chart will always account for births, deaths and marriages. It is 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 is 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 past family member.
To search the Social Security Death Index, simply input as much information as you have. It is possible to search only by last name, thereby finding the death records of everyone who shares a particular surname. This can be useful in starting research on a possible ancestor about whom you know very little or finding a whole new branch of your history.
If you are seeking death records from another country or pre-1960s United States death records, you will have to go through alternative sources. If you know the town and approximate year in 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 their 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.
You may also want to check armed service records, probate records and even prison records to find the death records of a particularly elusive member of your family. Women's records can be particularly difficult to find as during some eras, women were considered the property of her husband or father. Some lives of many women were never at all.
It is possible to use guesswork to fill in the blanks if you simply cannot find certain death records. This is often necessary in the case of persecuted peoples such as Jews or Gypsies as well as slaves. If you cannot find death records for one or more of your family members, then fill in as much information as you can and move on. It is possible that the death records will surface at a later date or you will be able to estimate the approximate time of death with a reasonable degree of accuracy as you obtain more information.
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Today's Tip On Genealogy
What is a family tree?
The family tree is the written record of a family's genealogy. Often, a pictorial diagram shows the ancestry at a glance. This is generally accompanied by a written compilation of important details that are not reflected in the pictorial diagram. Try to write this as an interesting account of your family's life that someone else would want to read. The written account will add color and flavor to the bare details reflected in the diagram. Although hand drawn family trees are quite striking, you will probably want to take advantage of computer software that will automatically generate the family tree based on the data that you input. Begin entering information immediately and be sure to add to it regularly.
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