What death records are you missing?

[@printname1959]

I haven’t had any luck with city directories. Most of my early ancestors lived on farms.

[@AncestryAimee]

Yeah. That’s an issue. Tax records will get them though.

[@sharontabor7718]

Maybe. Some of my ancestors avoided the govt

[@suzannechalifoux8587]

Thank you so much! Your video and explanation comes at a right time for me and will surely try your suggestions!

[@marcidehm8083]

Definitely worth contacting the cemetery! I had one cemetery tell me that they believed my ancestor wasn't buried there although he had a headstone. There was no record of a plot for him only for the rest of the family. As he had died several years earlier this makes sense. Had another be able to tell me that the person I thought (mistakenly) was an ancestor had actually been exhumed and moved to her family cemetery in another state. That confirmed for me she wasn't who I was looking for. But this exhumation is not listed on find a grave.

[@AncestryAimee]

Thanks for sharing this! Good examples of benefits of contacting the cemetery.

[@patranye]

Kind of funny that this video topic came out on Halloween! Seriously though, some great advice and recommendations for where to look for hard to find death records. Thanks Aimee!

[@singularseeker]

Thank you.....I am writing my first Genealogy book....

[@AncestryAimee]

That’s amazing! I’d love to see it when it’s done!

[@b.c.5639]

My family member passed away in 1926. The cemetery is listed on her death certificate, and in her obituary along with the county, town and the undertaker. I’ve contacted every cemetery of the same name listed. Also across the county line and all surrounding cemeteries. I’ve talked to the genealogy societies, libraries, court house, and funeral homes. Family search and other online sites have nothing. I can’t find her. All of the elders have passed. I’d appreciate any input. I always thought my Great Grandfather was buried with her, but he didn’t pass until the late fourties’. The cemetery said there were no burials there until 1935 and she’s not there. I can’t find my Great Grandmother. She had a headstone, my parent went to her funeral. Family visited her gravesite over the years. I think it’s possible that someone, I talked to just didn’t actually check the records.

[@peterfreeland7643]

I'm sure it's happened to me also.

[@AncestryAimee]

It's definitely frustrating when you can't find that missing record! I’m inclined to agree with you. She’s probably somewhere and they didn’t say, which legally they don’t have to. I would revisit that cemetery mentioned on her death certificate.

[@robertshade8631]

@@AncestryAimeei have 3 great sisters of my maternal grandmother that I can’t find their place of death or burial for southwest Ga.

[@AncestryAimee]

@@robertshade8631sometimes they married and we aren’t aware so we aren’t looking for the correct surname. Check for marriage records, particularly for their married name if you know they were married once.

[@robertshade8631]

@@AncestryAimee I have their married names but no luck yet.

[@always.wondering.wandering]

For a long time I could not find the death of my great great grandfather and nobody else as well. Finally though, I found it, he was a Mason and it was recorded in the Mason record book. I have also been struggling to find my 3 times great grandfather who supposedly died in 1849 in Hopkins, Tx., hopefully one day I will. Thanks for the video today.

[@AncestryAimee]

You’re welcome. Good luck!

[@donnaroberts8791]

Oh this is a great tip. I too have an elusive death but this might just be the tip to locate the answer as I believe he was a Mason. Thank you 😊

[@glennberry4829]

If the death was in an industrial accident, the state may have information in reports about that industry. I've found death information for an ancestor's sibling in a Colorado Mine Safety Commissioner's report that corrected what got printed in his Ohio home town's newspaper. There is a bit of difference between "falling down a mine" (newspaper) and "roof of mine fell on him" (safety commissioner).

[@AncestryAimee]

Great point. Thanks for sharing it.

[@ErieCliff]

Don't forget to look for a news article if there was a murder or accident. The obituary might be in one section and the news piece in another. Be careful with gravestones for couples. Sometimes a widow remarries and ends up with two gravestones, one without a death date. Be sure to view the image of the stone in case the Find a Grave memorial provides details that blur the lack of a death date. And remember that Social Security Death Index provides the city where the last SS payment was received. SSSI does not provide POD. A few ideas.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great points! Thanks for adding them!

[@BobTheSchipperke]

I have most of those (probate, newspapers before 1880)......it's the marriage records I am short on. Sometimes I wish I could get paid to go do the scanning. ❤

[@AncestryAimee]

Haha! You’re not alone!

[@lindahill7315]

My parental grandmother, who married multiple times. I have looked through several cemeteties. One of my great aunts got a copy of her birth cert in the 1960s which is when i think she died. Looking for completed marriage records

[@AncestryAimee]

Good luck!!

[@not_today_satan_7]

I'd like a death certificate for my father in law. I know exactly where he's buried I emailed the cemetery that will not give me any information. Just this week I was searching for my friends sister who had died as a infant. We did not know her name or date of birth or death. I did a search on ancestry using only the parents names and searching for a female. I was able to find a obitutary that listed her name parents names and dob and dod. I'd really like to find a death certificate. This was on ancestry in illinois 1948. She only lived a day

[@AncestryAimee]

You can request death certificates from the state. Give that a try

[@susiewheeler8197]

I know a friend who was scattered on a beach

[@DeniseMSimpson]

A memorial can still be created on find a grave because there’s a box to check if it’s for ashes or cremation

[@AncestryAimee]

Yeah. Cremations make things more difficult to trace.

[@DeniseMSimpson]

@@AncestryAimee I got lucky with one obituary that mentioned cremation (not interment/burial). For my great uncle, I created a FAG memorial when he passed in 2013 and the *intention* was to have a spring memorial service. That didn’t happen…my Dad’s lack of follow through and health. So now, 13 years later I bought g uncle’s cabin and inherited his ashes. The ground marker has arrived and it’s time to get it installed next to parents and brother so he can RIP - and the FAG memorial will contain correct information. Weird things can happen…. LOL