Genealogy Chat

I knew exactly when my 2 x GGF had died and where he was buried. It took me nearly five years to track down the correct cert, because he had died 'out of area' - something which I only considered after eliminating everyone else! The Death Cert was very upsetting - he died of cancer of the mouth and throat and the informant was the owner of a lodging house. Family stories appeared to be true - his sons threw him out of the house and he was estranged from the family. In an idle moment, I looked at the informant, the owner of the lodging house. He turned out to be a distant relative of my 2 x GGM, and tracking him produced over 20 rellies I never would have found or even looked for. OC

Death certificates are so helpful sometimes. My great uncle and his wife Emma had no children so it was a big surprise to find that when Emma died her death was registered by a daughter,( probably married) A hunt back through census and birth entries found a likely candidate and all the pieces fit, although I have yet to receive the child's birth certificate for 100% confirmation. If funds are low, you can sometimes get real help from a child's death certificate as it will usually have the child's father's name so you delay getting the birth certificate, for a while. Gwyn

My 'best' death certificate proved my gg grandmother did not die and leave gg grandfather as a widower (as he claims on the 1881 census) but that they somehow separated. The female informant, who was only described as 'resident at ...' the house gg grandma was living in, had described her in detail as 'wife of .... farmer, formerly a butcher, master' which perfectly described my gg granfather. I imagine the two ladies had talked about him on many occasions for the informant to be so detailed at the register office. Anne

Death certs are well worth it, I sent for a death cert out of curiosity because there was a famly story about how that youngster died. Turned out she had died on census day (1901) and the informant was my missing great great gran (childs aunt). My great gran and her mum had been absent from their home in Middlesbrough and I could'nt find any trace of them. So that one cert knocked down a brickwall. My great gran and her mum don't appear at all, so I presume they were travelling home when the enumerator arrived. George

Best £7 I spent was on Emmets Matthews. I had a gt grandfather Thomas Matthews, born 1838 but no idea where (info from Family Bible). Got his marriage cert, father's name Emmets. Checked Freebmd - only one entry for Emmets' death. Sent for it. Told me he'd died in a village called Whichford, in Warwickshire. Looked on census and traced Emmets back to 1851 and 1841 with my Thomas! I was then able to get Thomas' birth cert and find his mother's maiden name, and trace all his siblings and their children. Matthews is a relatively common name but I was helped because so many of Emmets' grandchildren had Emmets as their middle name. I have since discovered that Emmets' grandmother's maiden name was Anne Emmets. nell

In my opinion yes, they are worth getting. This below is my experience of getting one death cert, of course all certs won't help like this but you will never know until you get it. I had the burial date of my 2 x great grandmother from the parish register. I also had seen her gravestone. I just wanted the cert to 'make up the set', put it off for ages, seemed like a waste of money. When I looked at the indexes I couldnt find her. I found someone of the right name and age, but not where I expected to find them. I sent for the cert anyway, expecting it to be the wrong one. It wasnt. She died in Hospital. The nearest hospital was in the next registration district. Better still, the informant was a brother in law I had never heard of. I knew it was the correct lady as it said widow of and usual address. On checking out this brother in law on the census, I found he was the eldest of a complete new family belong to 2 x great grandad's father (a third marriage I knew nothing about). Further research found not only the new brother in law but numerous siblings, but father in law as well. My 3 x great grandad who I lost track of years before and didnt have a clue where to look for him. He moved miles away from his origins. From that I found 3 x great grandads burial and his death cert too. Margaret

Hi On the last death certificate I ordered, I finally found out the surname of one of his daughters husband. He had witness the death certificate. It was worth it for me since it now allows me to carry on. Bye Paul

Kerry Bookmark this, its a great resource about bmds and what is on them:- http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

As with any other cert, you never know if the information will be useful until you've seen it! Marriage certs that have vague addresses, give a father's name and just say 'deceased' and say the bride is 'full age' aren't much use, are they? I am a morbid soul and like to read the causes of deaths. Lots of certs can give you an idea - there were more infant deaths and premature deaths to my London relatives than those in the countryside for example. Death certs that have informants as daughters and give their married names are very helpful, especially if the maiden name is v. common and the married name unusual. Sometimes the cert says 'daughter' sometimes you need guesswork. Of course if it says the corpse died 'of old age' and the informant was someone whose name you don't recognise then you haven't got much further forward! nell

Got to say the one's i have are worthwhile. If your rellies died at home and lived in an area where the houses ae largely unchanged you can place the streets they walked,and of course with a date of death you can try and find graves etc. Through a visit to a graveyard looking for a grave i found over 20 more family members (mostly post 1901) which would have been far more difficult to find otherwise. A thread from this week detailed how someone placed a note on a grave asking for contact with rellies and found living members of the family,it can make a death cert very useful when you consider the information you can learn from them. Glen

Hi I find death cets very useful, i of which led me to the to lots more family members i wouldn't of found without it. Word of warning tho some can be very upsetting, i discovered my gt,gt grandmother commited sucide. I cried buckets over this. For my direct line back i try to get all death certs as well as marriage and birth. Julie

I obtained a death certificate for the grandfather I never met. There was an amendment to the cert as some details were incorrect. Because of this, I actually found out that the person who had made the amendments was my grandafthers first (and only wife) We now know that my grandparents never married and he had another family before the one that I knew!! Through GR I managed to get more information about this and now in touch with a lovely new cousin!! So yes I would say that you do sometimes find useful info!! xxx

Someone on here the other day asked the same question and one of the replies said that a death certificate that she bought gave a lead to about another 20 names in her tree, so it seems they can be really helpful if you're lucky.

Thanks girls for your thoughts of this query Kerri

I have a Death Cert for Devon dated 1842 and it contains: At the top Registration district Year of registration Death in the sub district of In the county of Then When & where died Name & surname Sex Age Occupation Cause of death Signature, description & residence of informant When registered Signaure of registrar I hope that helps. Maureen

You get when and where they died, their full name, sex, age, occupation, the cause of death, signature, description and residence of the informant and when the death was registered. Only you can decide if it is worth getting. I have some because I was curious (the couple who were actually 94 when they died but described as 100 on their tombstone - 1760 and 1766 respecitively, they had lost count!) but generally spend my money on the births and marriages before the deaths. And remember, the certificate is only as good as the knowledge the informant has of the deceased. Sometimes the knowing the name of the informant can tell you something though. Victoria

Details contained on a death certificate include: * name, date and place of death * date and place of birth (please note: before 1969 a certificate only showed the age of the deceased) * occupation and usual address * cause of death * the person who gave the information for the death registration

Are Death certificates worth getting in Devon (for 1867)? What information will be on it? Cheers Kerri