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Death Record

Posted 11.27.07 at 2:11 PM

Back again. It’s been hectic at Paris Junior College as we approach the end of the fall 2007 semester and the Christmas holiday break.

An interesting article in the October 2007 issue of Family Chronicle by Patrick Wohler on deaths and the records which can be useful in tracing family history.

Of course, the first one that comes to mind is the death certificate issued by the attending physician with the time, date, and cause of death. Many agencies require a death certificate, such as insurance companies and probate courts, and copies may be in the files of these agencies, in the hospital that issued it, or in the family papers, as it is a document that we tend to preserve.

Look in newspaper archives for an article, if the death was by unnatural cause, and of course there are obituaries, funeral home records, cemetery records of burials, church archives, and the family Bible, to name but a few.

Don’t forget coffin plates, which were once popular. Funeral homes often removed them prior to burial, and they may now reside in museums or even among the family keepsakes. He also mentions that such records as censuses, poll books, assessment books, and voters lists tried to keep track of people and might list deaths.

It took me about two years to find an old friend with whom I’d long ago lost contact, and I determined to do it with only free Web sites. But discovered that her family name is very common in the Northeast.

I’d give up hope, but decided to try again in a few months. I have to admit that I finally resorted to prayer, since I wasn’t getting anywhere, but I’d more or less traced her deceased parents as far as I could go, which wasn’t very far.

Since she was an only child, I had a strong feeling that (1) she’d never married and was still using her family name, (2) that she was still in New York, which she loved as a child, and (3) that she was still living in the family home on Long Island.

Finally, I found a woman with her middle name and surname working for a church near Lincoln Square in New York, and I just picked up the phone and called her. It was Ann.

It was like 30 years disappeared instantly, and we were “girls” again. So you can find your lost friends. It just takes perseverance, and sometimes a lot of luck.

Two out of three isn’t bad. Come to find out, she no longer lives in the family home, her parents having left to travel upon retirement. My friend now lives in New York City in the heart of all things cultural on West 66th Street.

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