Where Can I Find Death and Birth Information
The easiest place to begin looking for death and birth information is your family Bible, if you have access to it. Bibles were often used for more than religious reasons. In times past, most families would write down important dates in the front or back so the information was preserved. Of course, not all families are religious or keep a family Bible, but that may be one place you can look should your family have one.
If your family did attend church, you may be able to find some information through church reports. This is particularly helpful if your family went to the same church for a long period of time or if they were Catholic. They might record births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths of their members.
Some families also keep important records such as birth and death certificates or at least newspaper clippings of those events. There may be a family scrapbook which contains copies of these things. In more recent years, you could expect this type of information to be kept in a baby’s book, so you may want to see if there are any of those available, too.
If the above aren’t available to you, there are other places you can find the information you need. You can find a good deal of information online by visiting websites such as the United States Social Security Death Index (SSDI). This website will allow you to type in your family member’s name and will pull up information about them. Of course, there are some limitations as social security numbers weren’t given prior to 1936. The SSDI will also list the person’s birth date and last city of residence, as well as their actual social security number.
Some people have family members who emigrated to the United States from another country. Many of these people, particularly in the 1800s and early 1900s, went through Ellis Island prior to landing on US soil. You can visit EllisIsland.org to see if your family went through the immigration station there and which boat they were a passenger on. In many cases, if the family member is found, there will also be information about family members which traveled with them.
Check with obituaries for the newspapers in the area where your family member lived. Most newspapers have old papers saved to microfilm, microfiche, or in the newer digital format so you can find who you’re looking for. You can also look for obituaries online at websites which offer this service.
Do you know where your family member was buried? You can go to the cemetery and find their tombstone. This should give you their date of birth as well as their date of death. And, since many families are buried in the same areas of cemeteries, particularly older ones, you may also find other family members there you didn’t know anything about.
When you’re trying to find death and birth information for family long-since passed, it’s helpful to know which resources to turn to. Much information can be found by visiting family cemetery plots but you can also find a good amount online if you know where to look. Remember to write down, make copies, or take photographs for documentation for your records.
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