Death Records Provide Valuable Clues

Successful genealogical research requires that you learn what sources (records) exist for the localities in which your ancestors lived, what form they are in (original, printed or microform) and then how to access them.

Your original clues will come from relatives. Interview all your family members. Aunt Helen may recall things about her parents and grandparents that her brother, your Uncle John, does not and vice versa.

Take a beginner’s class in genealogy--many are offered through local colleges. Next, locate your local genealogical society (ask your librarian) and attend its meetings, workshops and seminars. Read “how-to” books on genealogical research. Among the best are “Shaking Your Family Tree” by Ralph Crandall and “The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy” by Val Greenwood.

Once you have an overview of genealogical research and have filled out the basic charts--pedigree and family group sheets--you are ready to tackle actual records.

Let’s say all your grandparents were born in the 1890s--but each in a different place--Wisconsin, Texas, Missouri and Germany. Where do you begin? Start with records in the reverse of life events--that is, instead of hunting for your grandparents’ birth records, first locate their death records. If your grandparents died in this country after about 1900, there will probably be state death records, which should provide you with their exact birth dates and places. Consult “Vital Records Handbook” by Thomas J. Kemp. It includes information on how to find births, marriages and deaths, and most libraries have a copy.

Once you have the death certificates, search for newspaper obituaries, which will often contain additional biographical and family information. Death certificates will tell you exactly where they died, so you will know what town or city’s newspaper to search. Most libraries have obituaries in their files and will search them for you.

Death certificates often contain names of the deceased’s parents, which, of course, is what you need to continue your research. Next, consult the 1900 and/or 1910 U.S. censuses where your grandparents will be shown as children or as young adults. Fortunately, all of the 1900 census is Soundexed--that is indexed by the sound of the surname. This is done by state. The 1910 census is not completely Soundexed or Miracoded, so usually the 1900 Soundex census is the best place to start.

However, for your grandparents born in Texas and Missouri (both of which are Soundexed) you could begin your search in the 1910 census records. There you will find your grandmother, born in 1895, as a 16-year-old, enumerated with her parents and probably many of her siblings.

Many public libraries have the 1910 and/or 1900 population schedules for their states or will borrow the films you need. Censuses are available at all regional field branches of the National Archives, located in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Ft. Worth, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as in Washington, D.C. You may also borrow these films from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City through any of its hundreds of branch libraries.

Track down your grandparents’ marriage records--not because you need to know (or even care) that they were legally married--but for the clues they may contain, and that these records will place them in a certain locale at a particular date. Your Wisconsin-born grandfather may have met his German-born bride in Iowa and married her in Nebraska, where they first set up housekeeping, as it was called, in 1915. They may have lived there only a few years before moving to Seattle. However, by knowing they married in Douglas County, Neb., it provides you with another valuable clue--their parents may have lived or died in that locale, and you need that information when you begin research on your great-grandparents.