Death records have been a great help to many genealogy and family history researchers, providing valuable information and clues to an ancestor's or relative's death. Over the last few years, many people and organizations have been publishing death record archives on the Internet. Some with thousands of records, others with millions. Presented on this website are individual "State Guides" designed to show you where all the best death record archives and databases are found.
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Death Records News     
Ancestry.com Launches UK & Ireland Obituary Collection Yesterday, Ancestry.com launched its collection of obituaries from UK and Ireland based newspapers.
According to the website, the collection contains recent obituaries from hundreds of newspapers. They extract obituary information from online newspaper sites, and incorporate them into this database. While obituaries are not "death records", they do often provide information useful towards obtaining copies of death certificates. They can also help towards locating the final resting places of ancestors. Use of this new obituary database for UK and Ireland requires a subscription, of $34.95 per month, or $279.95 per year. Of course, the subscription also gets you access to other UK&I materials, such as their UK&I birth, marriage, and death registers, census images and records, and others. Click here to see the UK & Ireland Obituary Collection Online Indexes Of Barnsley (South Yorkshire, England) birth, death and marriage records A NEW website that gives members of the public access to indexes of Barnsley birth, death and marriage records dating back to 1837 has been launched.
The Barnsley Indexing Project enables internet users to search indexes held by Barnsley Register Office, select a birth, marriage or death record they are interested in and download an application form. The register office staff will send a certificate containing the record of interest. There is no fee to use the online facility, but a charge of £7 is made for each certificate. The online resource can be accessed from http://www.barnsley.gov.uk/registrars/index.asp Based at the Town Hall register office, the Barnsley Indexing Project is a joint initiative by Barnsley Family History Society and Barnsley Council. Family history society members began inputting details for the index directly from original birth, death and marriage registers in October 2004. Given the enormous scale of the indexing task - almost 1,000,000 birth and death records, and 400,000 marriages - it is fair to say work will continue for some time. A complete index will be made of the marriage registers of nearly 150 churches in the district. That will be followed by the register office marriages. Only once that has been completed will the project move on to the birth and death records. David Greenwood, Superintendent Registrar for Barnsley Registration District, said when complete, the project would be an important online resource for family historians and people seeking to trace their ancestors in the Barnsley area. "This is an extremely timely project because the interest in family history research has never been greater," he said. "There are many similar projects going on around the country, but this is the first time there will be a comprehensive civil registration resource just about Barnsley people. In time, the Barnsley Indexing Project will become a very useful tool." He praised the efforts of Barnsley Family History Society members who have taken great care when inputting index details. "It is not always an easy job," Mr Greenwood explained. "With very old records the handwriting is often quite poor or difficult to read. The registrar's recording ink, used to write the records, is supposed to last longer than the paper. Unfortunately not all the records were completed using this type of ink." The society's project co-ordinator, Doreen Piper, is encouraging new volunteers to help with "a unique task". She said: "Patience, diligence and an eye for detail are required. There is also great importance placed on the confidentiality of the records. If you are interested in finding out more about helping please contact me by email." The contact address is projects@barnsleyfhs.co.uk IT equipment for the project has been provided by the council's IT department. Officers also developed the project website and created software to collect the index details, and a sophisticated search facility. Mr Greenwood offered a word of advice for people interested in using the online index: "Perseverance and tenacity are needed in large amounts when delving into your family history. There is, however, a great sense of satisfaction in finding out about our descendants and the Barnsley Indexing Project will be a very useful tool in assisting the process." Butler County, Pennsylvania Obituary Index Online The Butler Area Public Library, Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania has placed online a searchable "obituary index" of 100,000 obituaries published in Butler County newspapers from 1818-2000. This project was a joint effort of the Genealogy Department at the Butler Area Public Library and the Computer Science Department at Slippery Rock University which undertook to convert the libraries database into a web friendly format.
The database is located here and has a basic search function which searches last name, first name and year obit appeared in a newspaper and an advanced search which adds fields for maiden name, nick name, year of birth, etc. to help cut down the number of hits. This is a wonderful resource of very valuable information which you can use at no cost. If you find something you are interested in, you can request a copy of the obit at a cost of five dollars for one or ten dollars for up to five. The library cannot process requests for more than five at a time. The online form for requesting obits really isn't online. You must print it out and mail it the usual way. Killingly Society Holds a Large Collection of Connecticut Records An article in the Norwich Bulletin reports that the Killingly Historical Society has amassed a large collection of historical Connecticut records that few other organizations can rival.
From vital records to community histories to photographs, historical treasure-seekers can find information from every Connecticut town, plus information from all across New England and New York. Even Mayflower documentation is available.According to Ed Ledogar, Killingly's executive director... "There must be 35, 40 books of births, deaths, and so on, here, and we have good historical references."For more information about the Killingly Historical Society, visit their website. South Dakota Newspaper Association Denied Access to Death Indexes The Marshall County Journal reported earlier this month that the South Dakota Newspaper Association was informed by the State's governor that they can no longer receive copies of death indexes, due to a new State law that went into effect last Summer.
Newspapers had relied on death indexes as a source for research, and as a way to identify deaths of noted persons. Under the new law, they will only be allowed to received "informational copies", which provide information on a specific person, and only if they specify which person they are interested in. The report went on to say that an agreement was worked out with the State's genealogy society so that they can look at the records if they show genealogy identification. That same arrangement was offered to the newspaper association last year but the group refused, citing they should not have to show identification to receive government information. Read more... Genealogists May Lose Access to State Death Records Terry Allen writes an article for "In These Times", discussing the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, a law that could make it impossible for genealogists to access State birth and death records.
In These Times has obtained a draft of the proposed regulations now causing widespread concern among state officials. It reveals plans to create a vast database of vital records to be centralized in Washington, and details measures that states must implement, and pay millions for, before next year's scheduled implementation.People will still be able to obtain copies of their own birth and death certificates, and in some cases the certificates of their relatives. But because this is a federal law, it sweeps across the entire nation, perhaps with a potential to hit genealogists like a brick wall in one fell swoop. Read more... |
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