Why You're Not Finding Death Records -- and How You Can Fix It! 

The fact that our ancestors interchanged their given & middle names on a whim, ON LEGAL DOCUMENTS, drives me insane. Also nicknames that have nothing to do with their given names, George goes as Buddy.

My grandmother recorded so many dates in her Bible. When she died, I inherited it. I'm the one interested in genealogy so this was a double blessing for me.

My husband’s Grandfather death certificate lists his father as Bootsey, his nickname. His real name was William. I think the south used lots of nicknames

I know this is a late post, but -- one of my GGUncles, born in England, came to Cambridge, MA, lived there all of his life, but died in Paris while on a business trip. Rather than bring the body home, the family had him buried in Paris, with a memorial marker placed in the family plot in Cambridge. Luckily, this story was well-known in my family, so I didn't go half-crazy trying to find his death records.

One of my great aunts passed away while visiting her son in another state and was even buried in that location, not where she lived. That was a challenge to find!

Another factor to consider is that some states (like SC, this one) do not allow death certificates to be accessed for a number of years after the person's death, sometimes many years afterward.

Great info! My grandfather’s “official” name was Francis Henry Cunningham. He went by Frank. His records include FH Cunningham, Francis H, Frank. Very confusing and frustrating.

Thanks Amy. Transcription errors are often a problem. Not all registrars wrote like John Hancock!

Awesome video! Another tip - my grandfather actually lived all his life in Ohio but died in Florida where he had started wintering. I had to find his obit to find out which hospital because I know nothing about Florida. Plus he was taken to a large hospital NOT in the county where he resided. And my grandmother died in a nursing home, also not in the county where she lived all her life but in the one where her daughter lived who was responsible for her end-of-life care. Thankfully I knew that because I lived in the area and visited her often. They died in the 1980s. I needed clarification of causes of death for my own health records because there are conflicting family stories.

Thanks Amy. Frustrating, but also satisfying when a puzzle piece is solved! :-) I've recently determined that my Gt-Gt-Grandfather, RMG, who settled in South Australia 1839 didn't take his middle name as a tribute to an uncle (as per family oral tradition), but that the middle name he used in Australia was actually his birth surname & he adopted his mother's maiden name as his surname. (Usually see that as a first or middle, but his maternal grandfather & uncle were Master Mariners so it might have been a career move). - unfortunately records for ship's crews are sketchy compared to those for convicts, so I can't tie down his details upon leaving England, but the RG appearing on related family trees actually turns up in UK census & Mariner records after my RMG was living in Adelaide. :-D

Great tips, Amy, thank you! I have several more suggestions that I've come across in my research. If searching for grave memorials online at, for example, FindAGrave or Billion Graves, consider that the given or last names may have been misspelled on the headstone by the monument maker and placed anyway. For example, the only one of my great grandmothers whom I knew personally is listed on FindAGrave as "Ednia" instead of "Edna," and I could not find her record the second time I looked for it because a photo had been taken and transcribed in the memorial name field (where it had previously been correct) with the misspelling. Unfortunately, the memorial owner refuses to change the memorial name and record the spelling error in the transcription field. So other descendants, and there are many, may have trouble finding that record. At least I do know her death date as it is clearly written in her obituary and is shown correctly on her headstone and in the Social Security Death Index. Some more ideas: New immigrants born overseas who came to America may have changed their name spellings (surnames and/or given names) to make them more English-sounding. Also, the names may have been misspelled on official documents such as the death certificate because the person making the death report may not have been a family member, may have been a family member who was understandably upset, or there may have been an error made by the recording person if the information was given verbally and not double-checked, or if there was a typo or handwritten mistake. Errors on death certificates, in obituaries, on FindAGrave and similar websites, or on other documents and records generated at the time of death may be linked to a person, for example on Ancestry, and may then be indexed and thus may persist in linked family trees even if a correction is later made. Mistakes may propagate out to databases such as the Social Security Death Index, state death indices, etc. and those may also mislead people using genealogy websites. Lastly, as in the case of my great grandmother's name misspelling example, I cannot obtain a death certificate to prove the correct spelling of her name at the time of her death because in my state, where she died, death certificates may only be ordered by immediate family members, grandchildren or grandparents for a period of 70 years, I believe, and unfortunately I do not know any of her living grandchildren who are well enough or otherwise interested enough to do that for me. I will not be alive before the 70 years is up. I have read that at least in one of the UK countries or Ireland, the waiting period for death records is even longer. In those cases, if you have no one who can get the death certificate or other government reports such as a death index, you will need to search using other records.

A tip on initials: On my dad's paternal side, starting with my brother, and going back 10 generations, the male names go as follows. John Wayne, bro, b. Washington state John Courtney Keith, dad John Elmer, gpa Brainard David, ggpa Harrison Reuben, 2ggpa Reuben Harrison, 3ggpa Zebulon 4ggpa Zebulon 5ggpa Samuel 6ggpa Samuel 7ggpa Richard 8ggpa (b. England. One of 23 founders of Norwich CT.) It took me months to separate Samuel I from Samuel II, And same with Reuben I and Reuben II. Then I found that ggpa went by Brainard David, David Brainard, Brainard, David, Brainerd. But it's definitely all one person. Then I found R.H. and H.R., which I thought was one person. But after serval dozens hours perusing records, I discovered Reuben Harrison is the father of Harrison Reuben. My dad told me when I was very young, to always sign everything with my middle initial. Never just first and last....... Now you can really see why! And finally, coincidentally, my mother's name was Peggy. And that is absolutely her birth name, not Margaret. My heart leapt when you said Peggy.

Thank you for sharing this! Very helpful.

#2 hint can also include they died while visiting someone. My 2great-grandfather died at home in Kansas. After he died his 2nd wife and children transported his body to Ohio to be buried nest to his first wife and parents. While in Ohio his 2nd wife died and the family then transported her body back to Kansas to be buried in her family's plot. So he died in Kansas and was buried in Ohio, and she died in Ohio and was buried in Kansas.

I have run into this problem with my great grandfather on my mother's side. I know he died in Nashville, Tn. in 1901(very young, in his 30s), but finally found out that they didn't always keep the death records back then. I need to search the cemetery records which are on microfiche at the state building, so hope to make the trip some day. On the other hand, I love the federal census for searching for relatives. When I can view the whole thing and find a parent or son, I start looking on pages before or after this and have found many daughters that way, especially when they first marry. You are right, it is also a good way to find the parents in their later years. I have even found a grandmother living with her grand daughter as her daughter had died. Good video.

Just found your videos today. Have now listened to three of them and love them! Have subscribed and will keep up from here on out, hopefully. You are very clear and helpful - thanks so much!

Thank you Amy. I love the way you present your content....slow & casual.

There was lots of useful info and tips in this video. Although I am researching people from Victorian Scotland at the moment and not researching American genealogy there were still some useful search tips to be gleaned from this awesome video. I must admit that I am guilty of using a person's full name or sometimes their surname, when looking for death records, but after watching this video I am going to try to be more flexible and mix things up a bit.

6: There were shenanigans going on. I found that in many instances death certificates were never created for my county in the mid 1930's. Especially if they died while in police custody.

Thank you for the tips I'm going to try that

As I come from a coastal area let me add one more - lost at sea… no burial, no death certificate, if you are lucky there may be a newspaper mention (if in the period since newspapers started). My own direct ancestor was lost at sea, but fortunately his widow took out probate and that is the only record of the event (probate records in UK searchable from 1858). Earlier similar events however may have no record at all.

So informative. Have been in the genealogy research hobby since 2000! Huge tree; still learning. Thx very much.

Thank you for the great info.

Thank you for these tips. I have been stuck forever trying to find information on my mother's grandfather. I can only find him up until 1910 and then he is gone. They were living in Pennsylvania but he grew up in Maryland. So I have no idea where or when he died. I am going to try these tips.

I actually had an ancestor who changed his name from Joel Weeks to Joseph Brown. Gotta love (possible) murderers.

Thank you for this video. I have run into several of the situations that you mentioned. A great grandfather was both known as Godfrey and Frederick as was the son who was named for him. Also several ancestors went back and forth with using middle names. Also I have a great grandfather who mostly lived and is buried in Philadelphia, but died on the other side of the Delaware river in New Jersey for which I have gleaned information from indexes. Thanks again. Now I just still would like to find some kind of marriage record for one set of grandparents.😊

Always informative! I have 2 married ancestors who died around 1919 and have yet to find their death records. I'll try these strategies today!

I live in Southern Illinois. The city with a larger hospital closest to us in in Paducah, Ky. That is were my dad died. His death certificate would be in that court house.

That was great!

There's another big reason why death records may not be available: destruction. The courthouse in the NC country that most of my mother's family lived in burned to the ground in the early 1900s, destroying all stored records. That was before the state started storing duplicate records.

Thanks!

Excellent clear tips, Amy. My great-grandfather was always listed as FW Pettygrove - Francis William - I suspect he thought it was a very long name!! :) His son with the same full name went by Frankie. I remember laughing when I saw that.

Agreed! My great grandfather was Giovanniangelo. He went by John. I can’t find his dates at all. I have his ship manifest, I know where he lived, but I can’t find anything else.

My uncle was killed in action in 1940 over the North Sea off Scotland. He was buried in Lerwick Shetland Isles. I have never been able to find his death certificate.

Perhaps they died where they were seeking medical care. My mother's family was from a rural area in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They only had a very small community hospital in their area. Sometimes they sought medical care in Marquette, MI or Duluth, MN. This quite frequently happened well into the 1970s.

My grandfather started going by W. T. Rogers. It's crazy.

No 5 is so true. Except on legal documents I tend to use my middle name only as it is in fact the name that my parents always used for me. Thank you for some very good general points which apply to us in the Uk too. Fortunately Our death records go back further than you have to deal with.

Thanks for this! I've been searching for a specific death record for an ancestor who (family story) drowned as a child, but I don't think they were kept at that time. I've been trying different strategies, as you pointed out, but so far no luck. Gotta keep trying though!

Love these tips. Also the gravestone may have different names on the front and back sides of it. My great aunt buried my great uncle on the front side of the gravestone and her second husband on the back side of the gravestone, probably to save money? She then married a third time ( to a Smith of all names to find) and she is on his stone with him. I have a lot of relatives who went by their middle name and I have relatives whose given names were W and JD. Your tips help me find such interesting facts.

This has helped me no end! My mothers grandfather born 1864 so my great grandfather went missing, she wanted me to see if I could locate him for her, this she wanted if I could before you died.. Sadly I wasn't able to do this, she passed away at the end of nov last year funeral was, 16th dec... Only thing I have found so far. Was, he was, a bit of, a, scoundrel in and out of prison doing 18 months hard, labour for stealing bushels of corn and various other items, and stealing from his, brother-in-law he also used another name too his, name was, Charles Envis but he would use the name Moss... I'm still trying to find what his, fate, was, to put my mind at peace now... Your videos are great.. I only just came across them tonight... But I will definitely keep watching so I can keep referring back to them... Susan from uk🇬🇧

I’m learning so much from your video, I really enjoy them. I had an Uncle who was shot down over Burma in WW2 and I couldn’t find anything at all. His name was Warren Richard K. Finally I noticed my Grandfather was listing his name as “Dick” on some photos he has. So I tried Dick K. and boy Oh boy did I hit the jackpot. Names are very tricky!

(6) Record has been destroyed. I was searching for records having to do with my gggrandparents, Olive (Hart) and Humphrey Needham, in the early days of Akron, New York. I eventually found from the town historian that there had been a fire on the main street that destroyed the courthouse... and its records. I just discovered your bite-sized genealogy tip videos, and am finding them a wealth of information and inspiration - thanks!

People who died at home and not embalmed had a death record recorded later from memory of the family informant. This was the case in Georgia well into the 1930s.

Free advice: Add one year to the date from death when searching. Sometimes bodies are moved from the place of death to a distant location and buried in months in the following calendar year. We searched 24 years for an ancestor's burial without success. Loss of cemetery records as burial was in the late 19th Century and use of initials, death in a different state, and the varied date. Even a genealogist could not find the burial and she really worked (cemetery flooded several times and records lost etc.). Find-A-Grave volunteer took pictures of graves and there 2 years ago appeared her grave! I followed up with the county and yes correct person. Two states, two certificates, two calendar years apart. So do be persistent and I wish all great luck and hope you do find your special person(s).

I've been hitting a brick wall for years on a proof of death document for my half-brother's paternal grandmother (we have the same mom, but different dads). Supposedly she died in Orange County, California sometime between 1952 and 1956. I am beginning to think my step-father told us a fable about her passing away because they were estranged. I can't wait to see if I can find her in the 1950 census.

Great video and reminders, my Dads Mother was listed by her legal name (remarriage), even though she had reverted to the family name after her last husband was no longer in the picture. When working with Ancestry Hints, a death record hint could be for the parent of the deceased. Not wanting to lose the information, if you save the hint, you now could have two death records in the parents file. I started putting those hints in my shoebox storage. Using that data to find the death record in an original search, now I can save it to the dead persons file. Please, is there a better smoother way to do this? I have called Ancestry help several times asking for a better way. Thank you for all the help and information you provide each week.

My grandmother’s brother’s death record is a mystery, never married but lived on a farm with a family, that’s the last census. Now what?

I have a question about death certificates: I know that doctors and funeral directors fill out the right side and the bottom, but is the handwriting on the left, which has the personal information about the deceased often that of the reporting person (a relative), or is it that of a county official?

As an African American I hit brick walls all the time.....the way the misspelled the names amongst other record keeping practices were terrible

My husband's grandfather abandoned his family and was living under a false name. The only reason I have the death certificate is that when the woman he was living with died, her heirs gave his grandmother money to say that she was never divorced from him. Their lawyer provided the death certificate with the false name.

Any suggestions on finding police/court records from the early 1900s? My GGF was murdered. I have two suspects. I want to know if the police ever looked into the matter, was there a court case, and if they ever served any time. I'd also like to know *why* but that answer I'll probably never get.

I am struggling to find my great grandfather. I have all of the details on his wife who died a widow and both of their children but its as if he came on a space ship and left the same way-no beginning or end.

Nice video. One thing that I'll add is sometimes a death record was not created even if it's long after a time when it should be. I have an Ohio ancestor whom neither husband or wife some up in the death records, and I have checked every record for the year in the county. They do have church records & wills locking in the death year. In the late 1800s I don't think they always made records for those whom lived in the stick & died of natural causes. Its one of those things that the government really has no bearing on.

Great tips. I have a question about Family Search. I search and try to be as specific as possible with the names. However, it seems like I get a ton of results. I may put in a name like Milliford Hermapolitis (made up for this question) born around 1645 and I get like 40,000 records returned. There can be no way that it should return more than like 20. How do I narrow it down better?

Speaking of nicknames: how does Henry become Hank? John becomes Jack? Richard has Rich or Dick? Margaret is Maggie, Margo, Marge, Margie but the queen of all is Elizabeth! She can be, Liza, Beth, Betty, Betsy, Bessie, Liz, Bet, Lisbet, Ellie, Eliza, or more?

My second great grandfather is listed as "Piper Cameron" on his headstone. Piper being a nickname. HIs real first name isn't on his headstone. His wife is listed under her maiden name. I discovered that in Quebec, Canada records for women are often listed under maiden name.

I have a military headstone application for my great grandfather in NC. But it also has been marked out and is listed as Tennessee resident is buried in NC . I have a date of death but can't find death certificate. Was married in1952 and died in May

Your videos are always informative and helpful. My granddad was married to my grandmother for a long time. Later on she got married twice. I found the grave where she was buried. They mentioned she was married to my grandfather but they did not give location of his grave. After my granddad left my grandmother he met another woman. They got married. On his research it stated he was a widower but my grandmom was still alive. Later on his second wife got married to another man. I checked city where she lived for his grave. nothing. Looked at her death certificate. She died in mental hospital. How can you do research on someone died in mental hospital. Thanks

I can't find a death record for After 1952 in Victoria Canada. I've looked under maiden name also. Didn't have children. Husband was bigamist, married in Scotland

I found my grandmother had remarried shortly before she died so her death record was in that new name. I couldn't find her death record for the longest time.

What happens if the county LOST them, & never sent them to the state records?

My paternal grandmother, her paternal grandfather went by initials (it’s even on the stone and on my great grandfather’s marriage license for father’s name) and her paternal grandmother went by a nickname (same as my great great grandfather on stone and on the license). Fortunately, we had other areas to figure out their actual first names. Spellings of the middle names are another problem. My paternal grandpa’s mother just went by her middle name which created a whole new problem as we have nothing to go by (and her younger half sister got the same name, too. Both are Maggie. Ours has the middle name of Mae, misspelled on her stone, the younger Maggie is May. One or both might be Margaret or one might be Marguerite. No documentation, so, no clue). I’ve asked my dad’s cousins if they have knowledge and I’ve asked my grandaunts. No one knows. It’s frustrating! On my great grandma’s death certificate, it says Maggie. On the marriage license, it also has her name as Maggie. Sigh…

My great-grandmother Frances was listed as "Fannie" on her death certificate! 😂

Find a Grave and Billion graves helps to find the location of the death, the burial. Some ancestors are buried in military cemeteries with honors Some are buried with their current partner/wife, at the time of death, that might not be grandma. Don't expect the ancestors to have a linear life, married to the same person and live in the same house their entire life. As for fluidity of names, we do that too. In the south USA, men have names that appear to be a nickname that's not as in Tommy. I was a surprise when I moved here.

Don't forget Bible records at local genealogical or state archives.

Sometimes a person died at a prison or a mental hospital. And their death information is not releaseable by an old law. The person my then be buried in a low profile graveyard. And the headstone may only have, a number on it.

Or when they switch up the order of a name. Using the middle name as the first name . Or they were married numerous times but the name on the death certificate is the middle husband .

My Great Great Great Grandfather had at least 8 different spellings of his last name! And I still can't locate any information on his death other than his bushiness dissapeared after 1877 and his wife listed as a widow in 1880! Very frustrating!

How would you go about finding out what illness or disability would make someone considered "unfortunate, . I am trying to discover when she passed, or at the very least, disappear off of the census. She was born in Ky in the 1800,s.

How to find a birth record from 1963 in Queens NY?

Here,s another reason...Maybe the civil records were destroyed by fire or flood. I had this roadblock for one ancestor who died in about 1876. The records were lost in afire in the 1920,s. Could happen to church records too.

Also, there are many states where death, and to a greater extent, birth, records simply are not public, or are limited to only from like maybe 75 or 100 years ago. No search techniques are going to find those. And that name fluidity can be a real nightmare, no matter what records you are searching. I have more than one female relation whose name was something like Mary Elizabeth Smith. There are records for Mary, for Elizabeth, for Betsy, even Polly (how Polly came to be a nickname for Mary, I'll never know). Like you said, ancestors can be so inconsiderate.

We often have to explain to visiting family researchers that nobody dies here. 😂

I have an ancestor whose death record I finally found in the adjacent STATE.

Any tips on obtaining vital records without paying government departments?

How do you know its right one if all you get are initials?

I keep looking for mine and I can't find it.

There are other ideas: bad transcription of the record (the paleographer couldn't read the name properly); a lot of places have online records not indexed yet (specially outside US). You should be careful about that and try to go directly to the images and look for the record one by one.

Sorry, was going to deleat the last message. The long story short,. Make sure the close relative's certificate is as correct as you can get it or it can lead to.many more problems. It's a legal document that is used for.proof of death. It can be a temporary nursing home's error which can lead to errors such as each time that person may have gone in and out if the hospital and perpetuated errors and can in the long run lead to a host of errors needing to be corrected. Errors on Dad's certificate, with the SSA. Errors are more common than we may know, so if the actual death certificate is incirrect

My ancestral mystery exists because there is no record of death ,nor burial spot .My GG grandparents just disappeared by 1880 census which showed older child as head of household

My grandfather was born in 1880 in Indiana and his younger brother was born in 1884 and died when he was about 2 months old. I do find a death record for that baby. Then about 1887 my great grandfather remarried BUT I find no death record for my great grandmother! I contacted a library (can’t recall the name offhand) in Evansville IN and they couldn’t find a record of her death record either. Also my 2nd great grandmother… she was on the 1880 census living right across the river from Evansville in Smiths Mill, KY. That’s the last I found of her. No death record for her either. Not in KY or IN. Sigh…

The death certificate is a last legal document of a living person, I thought 2013 records were all good no worries etc and death records were totally correct especially since I was careful in recording information. It's still a good source after my Father passed. Dad's actual deah didn't match what was on his death certificate, which was 4+ mersa, 3+ sudamonus and another big moldy bacteria which I don't remember the third name but his document listed cause of death as his heart. After Dad's death I started hearing about recent Mirsa deaths from people who's parent had recently passed and their situation was about the same as mine, and they said their paren the time of Dad's death and . I let that one slip because there were people who were saying their parent had mirsa and the patient's Dr didn't want to list Mirsa as the cause the cause. It seemed the more people I discovered that died with mirsa the less anyone in the medical field wanted to talk about death by mirsa Do check and correct as soon as you can if the close relative death certificate is incorrect. Them a few years later my Mother.... The funeral home had box two wrong ... Wrong maiden name... I thought that person would remember my Mother's maiden name since our families had known each other and two doors down growing up there1

I can't find my own mother's death record. My half sister told me that she died last year. And was living in Oregon City, Clackamas, Or. I've spent literally over a hundred hours online hunting in every way I can think of. The closest I can get, is sites that charge $30 for info that you can't see before you pay for it. I don't even have PROOF that she's deceased, besides my extremely untrustworthy sister's say.😩

My great uncle, Tilford R. Rogers, died from a heart fracture, in the Knox County Industrial School in 1904. Tennessee didn't start keeping death records until 1912. I have a written note of a record. I am having a problem with the fact that the court records of their incarceration in this industrial school do not list these children's parents. Talk about roadblocks.

Also check church records or pastor's journals

My mom’s dad went by “chick”. His folks were chicken farmers.

My 4th great grandfathers name was Joel and his death certificate says Uncle Joe. How are you supposed to search for that! 😂

What you can't find it? Long story as short as I can make it... My father's 1st cousin recently died. His obituary stated his son died in 2021. This was new news to us because we are sadly estranged. Everyone we are still connected to are clueless as to what happened, and those we are estranged with are withholding information. I have searched ad nauseum and can find no evidence of his life or death past 2019. He did, unfortunately, experience bouts of homelessness, so I realize there may not be an obituary- but wouldn't there be S0ME evidence of death?

#6 maybe he or she is not dead

where would you find a death record or certificate for a WW2 US Army solider KIA and buried on foreign soil?

What do you do when modern people don't wrote out an obituary? My niece is in contact with Family Search and she says she can't find obituaries for a few people in our recent losses. Perhaps someone needs to write one, or right a story.

How about super common names... one grandmother was a Smith and the other was a Brown. A great grandfather John William Smith!

Another idea. He abandoned her and lived longer than thought. And somewhere else.

I am dying to find death records ...

This is of no use to British Searcher's.. You should state at the beginning, that you are refering to US methods .

Find out my x/ wife