Tracking Down a Death Record

A search on a local genealogy society website uncovered a burial record for an infant in 1908. No given name, so I knew the child, if not stillborn, lived only a brief period of time.

Unfortunately, while the index survived, the actual microfilm records for the particular month in 1908 did not survive. 

So I contacted the cemetery. Only the book containing names and dates survived. The book with other information, such as parent names, did not. 

That left me contacting the County Clerk. I was trying to avoid that until I verified that the infant was a kin. There are a limited number of potential fathers with the surname in the area, but not all are related to me. And I really do not like spending money on documents for non relatives, even if it is minimal. And in this case it was $20 plus VitalChek’s processing fee, which I do not consider minimal.

I emailed the clerk and asked if they had any other process than VitalChek for non-certified copies. I got a very kind “Not usually, but I checked to see if we had the record, and there’s not much info on it. Here’s the scan. Happy New Year!” (Not exact wording.)

It never hurts to ask. The clerk was correct - there wasn’t much info, but it did have the birthplace for both parents. (Not their names - just the birthplaces.) If that info is correct, the infant was not related to me. Related to somebody, though, so I will save it in my files in case I ever run into a researcher for that family.

Two Affidavits of Birth - One Person - Two Dates

My maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery Deutsch, had her sister sign an affidavit of birth for her twice. In 1942, and again in 1945.

In 1942 my grandmother was living in Clayton, Missouri (part of St. Louis County). In 1945 she was in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 1945 my grandfather was returning to the states after serving in Africa and the Middle East during WWII. My grandmother took the kids to Florida to join him for the remainder of the war.

In 1942 my great aunt declared my grandmother was born on March 21, 1900. In 1945 she declared my grandmother was born on March 21, 1905. In both she states she was present at the birth. She provides several more details in 1942, such as the attending physician. In 1945 she simply states she was present. (I suspect she wasn't all too happy about filling out the affidavit in 1945, but was willing to do it for her sister. I suspect my grandmother was looking for a job and wanted to be five years younger.)

There is no question as to which is the correct affidavit. My grandmother is on the 1900 census, and is mentioned in the testimony given to the Dawes Commission in 1901 on the family's alleged Choctaw ancestry.

I have had a copy of the 1945 affidavit in my records for several years, having uncovered it in some folders at my parent's house over a decade ago. My parents gave me 20 boxes of family photos and documents this week, and in one I found the 1942 affidavit.

Update: I’ve been given another explanation for the second affidavit. My grandmother didn’t want anyone at the army base to know she was 7 years older than my grandfather. 

PSA: Genealogy Can Save Your Life - 2011

Today is World Cancer Day, so I thought it would be a good day to post this annual PSA. This is now the fourth year I've posted this PSA. But it can't be repeated too often. Genealogy can save your life. It would have saved mine if I hadn't already known what I needed to know.

The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and a polyp was discovered and removed. So, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and I had two polyps removed. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyp was caught before it could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand via regular colonoscopies.

[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]

Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.

1) Local Courthouses

Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.

2) State Archives

State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.

3) Online Databases

Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.

4) Funeral Homes

Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.

Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.

Follow Friday: Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records

This week, for Follow Friday, I'd like to recommend another indexing project similar to the two I mentioned last week, though this one was started in 2003.

Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records

Webmaster, Joe Beine, has catalogued online resources for death certificates, registers, funeral notices, obituaries, probate indexes, and burial records.  The website is limited to the United States, but there are listings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  He has also created separate pages for seven cities (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis.)

You can follow when the site is updated by subscribing to the RSS feeds at Joe Beine's Genealogy Roots Blog, or his Twitter account.

The information on a death certificate

Below is the death certificate of my second great grandfather, Moshe Leyb (aka Morris Louis) Cruvant.  I referred to it in the notes of my Monday Amanuensis transcription.  It's an excellent example of all the information one can find on a death certificate.  As long as one realizes that the informant may have had some of the information incorrect.

First, there is the obvious date and time of death, which here is September 26, 1911 at 11:25 pm.  The time of day is important in the Jewish religion, since if you convert the Gregorian date to the Hebrew calendar you have to remember that the next day starts at sunset.

However, the physician also notes when he first 'attended' the deceased.  In this case it was August 20, 1911.  As was mentioned in Monday's transcription, Moshe Leyb's daughter, Bertha, was married on August 27th.  Due to her father's illness, the wedding was small, and not as joyous as it would otherwise have been.

Moshe Leyb's place of death is the same as the address of the informant, Dave Cruvant.  Dave was Moshe Leyb's second eldest son.  There weren't many treatments for cancer in 1911, and Moshe Leyb may have been confined to his son's home instead of a hospital.

The death certificate confirms a lot of information I know from City Directories.  (Actually, the city directories confirm the information on the death certificate.  I would generally rank the directories as more reliable in this regard.)  Moshe Leyb had been in the State of Illinois since 1900, when he changed careers from Tailor to Shoe Merchant, and moved from St. Louis, MO to East St. Louis, IL.

The death certificate says he was in the US for 35 years. This would mean an immigration year of 1876.  It's actually believed that the Cruvants immigrated closer to 1886, though the exact date hasn't been nailed down.  It's possible 25 years was written down wrong.

It appears David Cruvant didn't know the name of his paternal grandmother, though he did know his grandfather's name was Aron.

Finally, there is the name of the cemetery in which Moshe Leyb was buried.  Hashaschelemus.  No such cemetery exists.  This is what happens when whoever is transcribing the information doesn't speak the language the words come from.  The name of the cemetery is Chesed Shel Emeth. (English spelling may vary slightly, though it will always be three words.)

If one wasn't familiar with Hebrew, or the local Jewish cemeteries, one might have difficulty deciphering the name.  (Note: The Hebrew word 'אמת' is usually transliterated as 'Emet' or 'Emeth', however the European, or Ashkenazi Jewish community often pronounce the final consonant as an 's.' )

Uncle Sam's Second Wife

Back in July of 2008 I discovered the FBI file of my great uncle, Samuel Van Every.  (He also, occasionally, went by the name Stanford Van Every.)

The FBI file began with this wonderful letter:

War Department
Information Bureau
Washington, DC

Gentlemen: I was married to S.O Van Every, March 20, 1917 in Jacksonville Fla., my husband gave his age then as 28 but on June 5th of last year he very suddenly grew to be 32 he did not register for the draft ... Mr. Van Every deserted me last December in Little Rock Ark. when he went to Oroville Calif. and Martinez, Calif. and became engaged to another ... Mr. Van Every I learn has been married before he married me but had not a divorce.

I would like to know where I stand...He is a native of Texas, his parents live in Fabens, Texas ... Before the war he was pro-German.

Very Truly
Mrs. SO Van Every

Bigamy, draft evasion, and pro-German sympathies.  I was most interested in the first accusation, and I was angered by the old custom of signatures.  I knew my great uncle's initials, I wanted to know the name of this woman!

The FBI file revealed, when the FBI agent arrived in Fabens, TX, Samuel's mother (my great grandmother) showed him the Family Bible where Samuel's birth date was entered.  Whether or not he had pro-German sympathies is a question that will likely never be uncovered.

A search of Jacksonville, Florida city directories turned up nothing.  Through RAOGK I had someone search the Duval County marriage records from 1914-1919, and they found no Van Every.  And there the mystery sat.

***

James Tanner at Genealogy's Star mentioned that the records at FamilySearch nearly doubled today.  So I went there to browse around.

One of the new databases I noticed was Florida's marriage records (1837-1974).  I immediately entered the Van Every surname, wondering if my RAOGK angel had missed something somehow.

Groom's Name: Stanford O. Van Every
Groom's Birth Date: 1889
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age: 28
Bride's Name: Amy C. Johnston
Bride's Birth Date: 1898
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age: 19
Marriage Date: 20 Mar 1917
Marriage Place: Duval, Florida
Groom's Father's Name:
Groom's Mother's Name:
Bride's Father's Name:
Bride's Mother's Name:
Groom's Race:
Groom's Marital Status:
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race:
Bride's Marital Status:
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I09962-4
System Origin: Florida-EASy
Source Film Number: 963541
Reference Number: p 168
Collection: Florida Marriages, 1837-1974

***

Unfortunately there isn't an image associated with the record.  There are a few different Amy Johnstons in the 1910 census this could be.  I will need to get the microfilm roll and see if there is any information on the record that didn't get transferred to the database. 

This appears to confirm most of the woman's story.  She was the one who was lied to about my uncle's age; not the government.  Samuel had married someone previously -- Esther Dahlin, who in 1917 was still raising their son, Everett, in Austin, Texas.  Were Samuel and Esther officially divorced?  And did Samuel get engaged to and possibly marry someone else in California?  I don't know.  He's single and living in Oakland in 1920.

Note: This is recent enough, I probably wouldn't be blogging about this if I knew he had any surviving siblings or descendants who might be embarrassed by his escapades.  Of course, as the number of women grow, so do the odds.

Follow Friday: Jackson County (KC) Missouri Marriages

This week the resource I'd like to highlight is Jackson County Missouri's Marriage Database.  Jackson is the second largest county in the state, and home to Kansas City and Independence.

 You can retrieve the marriage record as a PDF or Tiff document.

Everything is up-to-date in Kansas City.



Sorry, I couldn't resist.  But it's accurate. The records cover the years 1826 to current date.  There are a few entries listed for April 20th, though only a few of the documents are available to download yet for the records after April 15th.

Still, for these records that are less than a week old, you have the following information available free online:

And if you are willing to wait a week or so, you should be able to download the marriage license and application.  There is a box on the application for social security number, but naturally, it has been whitened out.  It appears to be the only information that has been censored.

I wish every county did this.

I'm sure there are some who would rather the information on their marriage license wasn't publicly accessible.  And these individuals shouldn't file for a marriage license in Jackson County, Missouri.

There's also an Official Public Record database that goes back to 1963. 

There are lots of different types of records here, including Birth Certificates and Death Certificates.  However, there are only 41 matches for Death Certificates in the year 1963, and only 30 matches so far in 2010. There are a total of 48 birth certificates in the database, with January 1963 being the earliest, and September 2009 being the most recent.  Still, if your research takes you to the area, it may be worth checking out.

What Do You Do with Conflicting Evidence

This entry has been percolating in my mind for a few weeks. In the first episode of Who Do You Think They Are viewers were shown that it is possible to find conflicting evidence. That historical documents aren't always correct.

Sarah Jessica Parker's ancestor, John Hodge, is mentioned in an obituary of his son as having died in 1849 enroute to California. But he appears in the 1850 California Census. Further research showed that he died in California in a gold-mining accident. Probably in the years between his death and his son's death "dying in California searching for gold" became "dying enroute to California." It's not unusual for family stories to be less than 100% accurate.

I wonder if some viewers jumped to the conclusion that the census was obviously the correct document, as it was more reliable than an obituary written years later. On the contrary, it was equally possible for the result of the research to be the opposite.

It was possible that the individual listed in the 1850 census and the individual listed in the Ohio obituary were the same, but the obituary was correct that he had died enroute to California.

At first glance this might seem an impossibility; If he died enroute, how could he end up in the census? But if there was someone in California waiting for him to arrive, a business partner perhaps, who didn't know he was dead, they could have mentioned his name to the census taker. Sure, they weren't supposed to do that. But maybe they figured that he was going to show up any day, and he ought to be counted.

Incorrect information on the census isn't uncommon. And it's not always the fault of the census taker. Lots of people lie. And others don't know the truth. I came across one census that listed children who had been dead for a decade. I have no clue who answered the door and provided this misinformation, or why. (But since the only census these two children should have appeared on was the 1890 census, which was destroyed, it is kind of nice, albeit morbid, that they appeared on the 1900 census too.)

Vital Records, even though they are usually considered "Primary Records," also have errors on them. The birth certificate of my great uncle, Allen Deutsch, gives his name as 'Adolph' - and no certificate of correction was ever filed. Family agrees his birth name wasn't "Allen," but say it was Abraham, after his grandfather. While there was certainly reason for the 'family story' to change post-1939, he was born in 1914, and there is no record of the name 'Adolph' being used in the early years. Abraham appears on the 1920 census, and Albert appears on the 1930 census, suggesting the migration to "Allen" had begun.


There are other errors on the document. It says Allen was the 7th child, but he was the 8th, as one had died in Europe. The document says both parents were born in Varmezo. This matches his father's military documents. However, it's known his mother came from the village of Margitta.

Birth Affidavits (filled out when birth certificates were unavailable) also can be unreliable for obvious reasons. Either the individual didn't know the truth, or intentionally provided incorrect information. While I would like to find evidence to support the former, with respect to my maternal grandmother's Birth Affidavit, I have difficulty believing she and her sister forgot what year she was born. Every census my grandmother appears in, including the 1945 Florida State Census, her age is correct. However, in October of 1945, she declared she was born five years later, and her older sister acted as witness. My best guess is my grandmother thought she might have to look for a job, and felt it would be easier if she were 40, rather than 45.

When conflicting evidence is discovered, there's no quick and easy Rock-Paper-Scissors (or even a Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock) method to figuring out which document is correct. Vital records don't always beat census reports, which don't always beat family lore. The only solution is further research, with the hope of uncovering more documentation that clarifies the situation.

Everett Clarence Van Every (1906-1924)

I've mentioned Everett before...most recently in my post on Orphans...but my information on him has become a little more confused. He died childless at age 17, but was (possibly) the only child of Samuel Van Every, brother of my grandmother Myrtle.

Why the possibly? Well, there are two reasons. As I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts, Samuel appears to have had relationships with other women which might have led to currently unidentified children. However, there also turns out to be a chance Everett wasn't Samuel's child.

Here's what I know and how I know it.

From his death certificate, image obtained from FamilySearch:

Name : Everett Van Every
Death date : 01 Apr 1924
County: Travis, Texas
City: Near Austin, in Barton Creek
Birth date : 01 Aug 1906
Birth place : Texas
Age at death : 17 years
Gender : Male
Marital status : Single
Race or color : White
Spouse name :
Father name : S. Van Every
Birth place of father: Texas
Mother name : Esther Dahlin
Birth place of mother: Austin, Texas
Informant: G.A. Dahlin
Doctors note: "I hereby certify that I attended deceased from **saw soon after removed from water April 1, 1924** The cause of death was **drowning**
Place of Burial: Oakwood Cemetery
Date of Burial: April 2, 1924

-----
From genealogy notes drawn up by Marguerite Benold Spencer (born in 1906- 1st cousin to Everett - daughter of Samuel Van Every's sister, Minnie)

Everett was the son of Samuel and Esther Dahlin, and he drowned at age 17.

From _X_, 2009 (born in 1917 - 1st cousin to Everett - daughter of a brother of Esther) - She is still alive, but the information was relayed through an email conversation with her son.

Everett was the son of Esther Dahlin and a Van Landingham. Marriage between Esther and Samuel Van Every was very brief, but Everett was given Samuel's surname.

Everett drowned in Deep Eddy Pool at a high school graduation party.

GA Dahlin (informant on Death Certificate) would have been Gustav Dahlin - another brother of Esther's.

In reading the death certificate I assumed "Near Austin, in Barton Creek" literally meant that is where Everett drowned. But research shows Barton Creek is also the name of a city in Travis County. Deep Eddy Pool is about 10 miles from the physical Barton Creek. It seems strange that a high school graduation party would be held on April 1 - but it could have still been a school-related event.

In evaluating the two sources, _X_ and Marguerite Spencer are both first cousins of Everett. (By marriage if not blood.) _X_ would have been 7 years old when Everett died, and her recollection of events might be mostly second-hand. Marguerite would have been 17 or 18, the same age as Everett. _X_ may have lived in the Austin area, while Marguerite, in 1924, was likely living in El Paso. (600 miles away) However, for the first 11 years of her life, she would have lived on the outskirts of Austin, and could have known Everett well.

I don't know the details of their separation, or if my Great-Uncle kept in contact with his ex-wife and son. I do know that in the 1910 and 1920 census he was living in California, and from about 1920 until his death he was living in Missouri.

I can imagine that by the time _X_ was born, Esther may have been trying to distance herself from an ex-husband who had long since left her and Everett behind. It's harder for me to imagine why my great uncle would tell his family Everett was his, if he wasn't. It's a huge mark against a man to even appear to abandon a child. (Though to repeat, I don't know if he kept in touch or not, despite the miles he put between himself and them.)

However, I can imagine Esther telling Samuel that Everett was his, and Samuel thinking this to be the case, even if it wasn't.

On the one hand, Everett didn't live long enough to have any children. (Well...at least there is currently no evidence to the contrary.) So his paternity doesn't pose any major genealogical dilemmas. But I am saddened by the question mark that is now by his name, and which is likely never to be resolved completely, as there is no DNA to test.

Everett's birth certificate has not been found. Certificates are supposed to go back to 1903 in Texas. However, even if the Ancestry database were complete, of the 23,000 births in Texas in 1906 that it lists, over 17,000 are just recorded as "Infant of X" where X is the father's name. Since I'm no longer certain what should appear in that location, it's not too useful.

May I ask you for a date?

Looking over the notes a cousin had made in her research on a 19th century date of death, I saw a Hebrew date (Adar 18) and civil date (Feb 18). It is very unusual that the calendars are in sync like that.

So I went to a calendar converter and discovered that Adar 18 that year was March 1. February 18 was Adar 6. Either way, one of the two dates recorded was off by 12 days.

My cousin doesn't usually make mistakes like this, and she was quoting the Lithuanian Archives as her source. I looked at the archival database on JewishGen, and the records matched. So maybe someone else made the mistake in the transcription, and my cousin hadn't checked the dates like I had.

Further research indicated I was the one in error -- as I was using the wrong calendar converter.

The Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, was decreed in 1582 by the Catholic Church, and since then has become so widely used by Catholic and non-Catholic countries alike, many people probably think it is universal. Or at least, while one might be aware of other calendars like the Hebrew, Islamic, or Mayan calendars -- if one sees a date that looks Gregorian, we assume it is Gregorian. This can be a mistake.

The civil calendar in use in Lithuania has changed over time. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an early adopter of the Gregorian Calendar in 1586. However, in 1800, when Lithuania was annexed by Russia, there was a return to the Julian calendar. The Russian revolution of 1917 reinstated the Gregorian Calendar. [Source (linked above): Wikipedia entry on Lithuanian Calendar]

A side effect of this history is that dates on Lithuanian documents, such as vital records, between 1800 and 1917 are likely on the Julian calendar.

Once you know what calendar you're dealing with, converting from Julian to Gregorian is easy. Depending upon what century the date occurs in, you add a specific number of days.

16th and 17th centuries - 10 days
18th century - 11 days
19th century - 12 days
20th and 21st century - 13 days

For those who like mathematical formulas:
For the Nth century, add [[3*N/4]] - 2 days (where [[ X ]] truncates the integer.)

The question I don't have the answer to is how to record it in my database. I lean towards using the Gregorian date, since other dates in the database are Gregorian; Indicating in the notes that the Julian date is what appeared on the document. I am already converting Hebrew dates I find on tombstones to the Gregorian date for my records, and this is really no different.

Week #15 Genealogy Blogging Prompt

Week 15. List some vital signs. Talk about specific birth, marriage and death certificates. Topics may include misspelled names, fudged dates, other anomalies that stand out in your records.

What was my second great grandmother, Rose Newmark's maiden name? I've blogged about this conundrum before, but I thought I would share with you some of the confusing documentation.

Three birth certificates of her youngest children Kate, Cecile (Cissie) and Israel David (Buddy). All three born in England, though the family had originated in the town of Warka, in the province of Warsaw. (If the Declaration of Intents filed upon their arrival in the US are accurate. I might doubt it if they had written down Warsaw, as it is common that immigrants wrote down the large cities nearest to their origin. But they didn't.)

On Kate's birth certificate, her mother's maiden name is listed as Sankad

On Cecile's birth certificate her maiden name is 'Sonka'
On Israel David's birth certificate it is 'Sandgart'
Her husband, Samuel, was the informant for both of the daughters. Rose was the informant for Israel. One might assume she pronounced her name more clearly than her husband, though that is uncertain. Both were illiterate in English, as both signed their names with an X.

On her death certificate her maiden name was listed as 'Sundberg', and the informant was her son, Barney (my great grandfather). Her father's name is listed as Hirsch.

A search of the JewishGen databases (now also available at Ancestry) reveals three individuals named Cantkert (pronounced Tsantkert) in the 1907 Duma Voter Lists in the town of Warka, one of them named Hersz. It is conceivable her father was still alive in 1907. If born 30 years before Rose, he would still have only been 72 in 1907. Unfortunately, all the voter lists indicate is that he was over 25. However, since this family was residing in the same town I know Rose and her husband Samuel came from, and the surname would have been pronounced close to what ended up on her children's birth certificates, it is my best lead.

What was the indexer looking at?

FamilySearch has been indexing their images for the Cook County Birth Reports (1878-1922) (Currently input through 1915)

Below is the Birth Report for an "Edward Cruvant" son of Ben Cruvant and Lillian White. Ben was my great grandmother's brother. Approximately 1903 Ben and his father Morris traveled to Chicago, perhaps exploring the possibility of moving the family there. Ben and Lillian were married in May of 1904. Edward was born two months later. A sister, Sarah, was born in July of 1905. East St. Louis City Directories indicate they'd moved back to St. Louis by 1907. By 1910 Lillian and her two kids had returned to Chicago, and Ben remained in St. Louis, remarrying in 1912. The existence of a first wife and children wasn't hid from his second family, but no one knew what had happened to them.

In the 1910 census Lillian's son was indexed as Clifford E.

What's really strange, is that on FamilySearch, he is indexed as "Clifford Paul." The name Clifford appears nowhere on the Report. Nowhere at all. The image clearly says, 'Edward.' Please feel free to look at the image below and verify this for me, but the name couldn't be clearer. If I didn't know about the 1910 census I would scratch my head and really question the eyesight of the poor indexer, or maybe think there was some database error where the given name from one certificate got indexed with the surname from another . Because of the 1910 census, I know the odds are good this wasn't a mistake. My assumption is that the indexer had another document in addition to the Birth Report. A document they haven't scanned in. I want to know what that document is, what other information I might expect to find on it, and where I can get a copy of it.



Update: Cynthia at ChicagoGenealogy not only tells me what the document was (a Certificate of Correction) she finds it on the Family History Library microfilm and scans it in for me. Thanks!

The FHL copy doesn't include the date of the correction, but the County Clerk at the time of the correction was the 'infamous' Michael J Flynn, who was County Clerk from 1934-1950, so the correction was at least 30 years afterwards.

Genealogy Can Save Your Life - 2009

I've blogged about this before, but I've decided to make an annual habit of it. It can't be repeated too often. Genealogy can save your life. It would have saved mine if I hadn't already known what I needed to know.

The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for Colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and polyps were discovered and removed. So last year, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and 2 polyps were removed, one of which was pre-malignant. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyps were caught before they could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand.

[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]

Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.

1) Local Courthouses

Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.

2) State Archives

State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.

3) Online Databases

Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.

4) Funeral Homes

Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.

Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.

Minnesota Onlnie Marriage System

Minnesota marriage database with ability to order certificates online. Dates indexed vary by county. Some go back to the 1870s, and some are up to current. I found a few individuals with my favorite surnames, but I am unsure of their relationship.

Hat tip to Stephen Wainer

Family History in Newspaper Articles

The topic for the 57th Carnival of Genealogy is:

I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper.

I've written several times in the past about newspaper items.

I found out about my great grandfather, Melvin Van Every's, Cheese manufactory in Ancestry.com's newspaper databases.

And while I originally found out about my great grandfather, Selig Feinstein's, service to the community in a book, the book cited several newspaper articles that I was able to research on microfilm.

I also found out about my grandfather, Melvin Newmark's, participation in the Veterans of Future Wars at Ancestry.

Newspaper obituaries have provided the greatest advancements in my family tree, helping me to find the names of distant cousins. Such an obituary led me to 100 Dudelsack cousins back in May.

However, a few months ago, I received a copy of the obituaries for my great grandparents, Herman and Anna Feinstein. Here's Herman's:


Most of the information wasn't new. I did learn the name of the Masonic Lodge to which he belonged. However, the obituary was in an unusual location. At the bottom of a death certificate:

This isn't the death certificate I would get if I ordered it from the State of Missouri. It's from the funeral home. I'm pretty sure it is identical, except for the bottom section which contains the notes for the funeral home. Often the Diagram of the Lot, and the location of the burial, this funeral home inserted a newspaper clipping of the obituary along with the name of the Rabbi who officiated over the funeral.

Herman Feinstein died in 1963, so his death certificate won't be available for download from the Missouri State site until 2013. It would cost $13 from the State Vital Records office, and it's not clear they would provide the certificate to a non-immediate family member. The person who sent me copies of the death certificates, obtained from the funeral home likely at a minimal copying fee, was an independent researcher who was completely unrelated.

This is a useful tool to remember when you run across states with heavy restrictions on their copies of the death certificates. If you can find the obituary, it often includes the name of the funeral home.

Finally, a slight digression. The Rabbi who officiated over my great grandfather's funeral: Rabbi Jerome Grollman. He was also the Rabbi who officiated at my Bar Mitzvah back in 1982, and over many family bar mitzvahs, weddings, brises and funerals. A Rabbi at United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis since 1948, he passed away on August 9th at the age of 86. A few quotes from the St. Louis Post Dispatch article:

In 1960, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a guest of Rabbi Grollman and members of the congregation. King had just been released from jail and was exhausted prior to his speech to the congregation. He napped in a chair in Rabbi Grollman's study and then gave a passionate speech. Rabbi Grollman never parted with that chair.

"He was a passionate civil rights advocate, and participated in so many efforts," recalled the rabbi's second cousin, Bernard Lipnick, rabbi emeritus of B'nai Amoona. "He was very courageous and a disciplined person. He took positions that were not popular with all, such as the state of Israel. He expected Israel to act in moral ethical ways; he did not hesitate to criticize the Israeli government."

Every year since I was a toddler, when I've attended High Holy Day services at the synagogue, he would be on the bimah, leading the congregation in prayer. His role has diminished over the years as he was promoted to 'Rabbi Emeritus'. but he has still been there. Last night was the start of Rosh Hashana, and I could feel his absence.

He has been a major part of my family's lives for decades. I learned a lot about him from several newspaper obituaries I wish I had known beforehand. In August I enjoyed talking with my parents about their recollections, as they remember King's speech well.

St. Louis County Marriage Records

When you get most of your news online, like I do, it's easy to miss a local story. Thankfully David at OakvilleBlackWalnut blogged about St. Louis County opening up internet access to marriage records (and property deeds) for a reasonable fee ($5.95 +50 cents/page). Access to the marriage and real estate indexes will be free, and it is supposed to go online October 1st.

The newspaper article doesn't state whether there will be any privacy window on the marriage records, or how far back the records go.

Steve Morse One-steps Cook County Vitals

Steve Morse on his website has added a Cook County One-Step for searching Cook County's new Vital Records.

There are two big improvements in his search script over Cook County's. Instead of computing the soundex code, you can select 'sounds like', and his code will compute it for you. Also, if the search results contain a marriage record, there will be a link to click on for the spouse.

Missouri Records Databases

Inspired by a comment in the prior post, here's a list of Vital Records and related databases/indexes I know about for the state of Missouri. If anyone knows of any others, mention them in the comments.

Missouri State Archives: Missouri Birth and Death pre-1910 (free abstracts)
Missouri State Archives: Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1957 (free images)

St. Louis Public Library: Obituary Search, St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituary Index(1880-1926,1942-1945,1992-2006) and St. Louis Argus Obituary Index (1915-1927,1942-1945) [the search link is in the process of combining the information in the two indexes] This provides date and page number, but saves a lot of time if you have access to the microfilm.

Jackson County Department of Records: Marriage Licenses
(free images - and up-to-date. Currently through July 1, 2008)

[The St. Louis Genealogical Society has a database for St. Louis Marriages from 1804-1876 for members only. This same database is also available through Ancestry.com.]

While these aren't related to Vital Records, I also consider them worth noting:

Missouri State Archives: Naturalization Records (1816-1955)
[Note: While they include "St. Louis City" in their indexed column, I think they only have the pre-1906 naturalizations, which they got from the St. Louis Genealogical Society)

St. Louis County Library: 1906-1928 Naturalizations in St. Louis (index with both Library and LDS film numbers)

Cook County Vital Records

Cook County's (Chicago's) Vital Records! They're here! They're here!

These are indexes - you still have to order the certificate from the Cook County Clerk office at $15/per, however, you can download the images (tiff files) immediately. The images have the words "For Genealogical Purposes Only" stamped on them, however, this doesn't effect readability much once you zoom in on a particular area of the image.

Records date from 1872

Birth certificates - 75 years or older
Marriage licenses - 50 years or older
Death certificates - 20 years or older

I may have found the site before they officially announced it...as I can't find a reference to it in a news search. However, I arrived there by clicking on the 'genealogy' link at the County Clerk site.

It doesn't say whether or not they've finished entering all the data yet, but I am having difficulty finding records I know have to be there. My great-grandmother Helen Deutsch died in 1958, in Chicago. I can't find her record.

The marriage of Adolph Rosenblum and Sarah Deutsch is listed in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, which goes up to 1900. That index says they were married in Cook County, on 2/18/1900. I can't find them on the Cook County site. I've even tried their soundex search.

So, it's not perfect. But it's exciting.

Note: As it was pointed out in the comments section, earlier when I read the "more info" and "FAQ" pages of the website I missed their statement that there are 8 million records, and they have only entered 6 million of them so far. This explains the gaps.

Impatience Redux

Two months ago, exactly, I was blogging about my impatience

I was concerned because it was January 7th, 2008, and the Missouri Death Certificate index still only went up through 1956. Not that any relatives died in 1957, mind you. It was all philosophical impatience. I realized however they weren't finished scanning through 1956, so I figured that was the hold up. The silly volunteer-scanners wanted to finish that first.

It's complete now. 1910-1957, indexed and scanned in.

One thing I really like about Missouri's death certificate index is their 'advanced search' options. You can input a string and indicate that the name begins, ends, or contains that string. That's very useful when dealing with surnames of variant spellings. For example, one of my surnames is "Cruvant" which can also be Kruvant, Cruvand, or Kruvand. So I just enter: ruvan and check 'contains'. All the results are displayed. I wish other online databases had this option.

I have found something new to be impatient about, and I might be impatient about it for awhile. An upcoming project for the Missouri Digital Archives appears to be their Penitentiary Records (1836-1939). It's so early in the project, all they have is the description. At least they're looking for more stuff to do.