Death Records

Many genealogy experts recommend beginning with the final chapter of your ancestor’s story—his death. After all, a death certificate or other death record represents the most recent evidence of your ancestor’s life.

This guide will show you what’s in a death record, how to find one, and what other records include the death information you seek.

CLUES IN DEATH RECORDS

The death certificate is considered a primary source for the details of an ancestor’s passing, such as the date, place and time of death. But it also can be a rich secondary source for an ancestor’s life, providing clues to everything from birth and parents to spouse and last residence.

Such information on death records is considered less reliable because it comes from an informant—typically a spouse, child or other family member. Not only would the informant have been grieving, but he or she would