Overlooked: Don’t Forget to Locate All the Sources That Document a Death

When documenting the death of my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster Johnston ("Mam-ma"), I collected many different documents. Even though I know the date of her death, as I was with her just an hour before her death, it is important to locate physical records. Locating multiple documents about an event even helps us follow the Genealogy Proof Standard (GPS).

For my grandmother, I have an official copy of her death certificate. My sister is the informant and I helped her with the information.

Other records we should search for include:

Obituaries
My grandmother’s obituary was in the East Bay Times and announced the time and place of the funeral service. In earlier times, there might be both an obituary and a funeral notice placed by the funeral home. In large cities, this might be all you find. Also, check the newspaper after the funeral for a “card of thanks” thanking the community for their support in their time of sorrow.

Funeral card or program
My sister designed the funeral program.

Cemetery records and tombstones images
Because the cemetery is local, I have taken photos of her grave marker. I also have checked in family papers and found the original bill from their purchase of the gravesite in the 1960s.

If they were religious, check the home for bible record entries and the church for a record of the funeral.

There are many sources of indexes that point to original records. Of course, we don’t want to stop at the index. We use the index to direct us to the original record repository for the original record. Some that might give a death date include:

  • death index
  • directory listing
  • military index

A great way to follow the GPS is to locate all the records you can that document an event. Spend time evaluating them. Look for any conflicts and then resolve the conflicts by writing about them. Your ancestor's stories will be richer by having more to document their lives.

#52Ancestors-Week 48: Overlooked—Don’t Forget to Locate All the Sources That Document a Death

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.


Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

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