News to Know — FamilySearch Labs Records Online

I'm not sure if everybody who reads this blog realizes all of the cool things going on at the FamilySearch Labs Web site. They have been indexing a whole slew of different types of records. Some are already available and ready for viewing online. So why should you care? Well, for those of us living here in Ohio, the ability to see the actual death certificates from the Ohio Historical Society's own Death Index is enough to make you do a genealogical happy dance. That's right you can SEE THEM, SAVE THEM, PRINT THEM. 

To view the records, you must first register. You can do that by going here http://search.labs.familysearch.org. Next, you have to be patient while you wait to get your confirmation e-mail telling you that you have completed the registration process, and can now go online. Not all the records available for viewing have been indexed, but the Ohio Death Certificates are not only searchable, but there are advanced options that allow you to search, for example, by a mother's maiden name.

Of course, the indexing is only as good as the information that was supplied on the actual death certificate, but the possibilities of finding lost siblings for great grandma or great grandpa are lovely to contemplate. Records (that's the ACTUAL IMAGES) available for viewing that have been indexed and are now searchable include: 

1. 1900 US Census 

2. 1895 Argentina Census 

3. Freedman Bank Records 1865-1874 

4. England, Cheshire, Register of Electors 1842-1940 

5. Maryland, Cecil County Probate Estate Files 1851 -1940 

6. Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages ca 1815-1866 

7. Georgia Deaths 1914-1927

8. Utah Death Certificates 1904 -1956 

9. Ohio Death Certificates December 20, 1908-1956 

Other records are available for browsing (such as 1942 World War II Draft Registration cards, which are about 30% complete), along with indexes or abstracted information (such as Ontario Deaths 1869-1947 or Texas Death Index 1964-1998) which have been indexed and are searchable. I have to admit when I first heard about the agreement brokered between The Generations Network (parent of Ancestry.com) and the FamilySearch folks allowing free access to Ancestry.com at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, along with 13 of the largest regional family history centers,

I wondered if that meant that FamilySearch may have quietly agreed to stop putting records online that people could view for FREE. I'm suspicious that way. I guess only time will tell how this all plays out for the little guy living out here in corn country. 

If you would like to be a part of the indexing movement going on at FamilySearch Labs, you can read the details at http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, January 23, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 23 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Death Certificates — Sources of Primary & Secondary Information

Since we were talking about death certificates the other day, it seems like a good time to talk about the type of information you can get from a death certificate. For those of you who can view pictures posted with my blogs, I am posting a copy of Edwin J. McQuillin's death certificate. I downloaded this record from the Missouri Archives Web site. Edwin happens to be my first cousin, three times removed (hmm, sounds like a topic for another post). 

A death certificate is a funky little document, in that it can be considered a primary source for some pieces of information and a secondary source for others. A primary source is a document, photocopy, photograph, or written account of an event recorded at the time the event took place or shortly thereafter by a witness to the event.

Edwin's death certificate would be a primary source for the following information: 

1. Full Name 

2. Sex

3. Race or Color

4. Marital Status 

5. Occupation 

6. Place of Death 

7. Date of Death 

8. Cause of Death 

9. Place of Burial 

10. Date of Burial 

 Because this information was taken shortly after Edwin's death (two days later), it is reasonable to assume the information is accurate. Although a written mistake, a slip of the tongue or a miscommunication could cause an error, in most cases this information is correct. 

Secondary sources are those that are not primary sources. In other words, the information given was many months, years or decades after the event. So a death certificate is a secondary source for the following: 

1. Date of Birth 

2. Age 

3. Place of Birth 

4. Father's name 

5. Father's place of birth

6. Mother's name 

7. Mother's place of birth

Secondary information is only as reliable as the person giving the information. In this case, Ada McQuillin is the informant. Ada was Edwin's youngest daughter who was still living at home at the time of his death. A marriage record, census records, and a common pleas court case confirm much of Ada's information. Which brings me to the most important point — it is essential to look at multiple records when reconstructing an individual's life.

 Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Certificate of Death: Edwin J. McQuillin, Filed 10 Apr 1913. State of Missouri, Dept. of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Reg. Dist. 400, File No. 13431. Digital Record, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri. 

Note this post first published online, October 31, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 31 October, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder