Genealogy Chat

I have managed to locate the reference for the death certificate of a member of my tree but not th birth or marriage. Is it worth ordering the death cert to find other info and if so what info will be shown on the death cert?

Name of deceased,place,date and cause of death. Name and rank/profession of informant (possibly a rellie but not gauranteed) Glen

Yes - death certs are always worth a go, especially if you dont have any other certs for this person. It can provide clues - the address at death, the informant often turns out to be a rellie. Depending on when, the more recent death certs give a dob. Even if it turns out to be uninformative (some do) I still think its worth £7! OC

I have one dated in 1926 and that also shows the age, but I am not sure if they do in the 1800's. I have just sent off for one, so guess I will know soon enough!! fuzzy x OC thanks, you have just answered my question!

I really wish they'd include the place of birth. Particularly handy for rellies that were born abroad but died here.

Rebekah Well, modern day ones do state place of birth. However, when you consider that a lot of these people couldnt even give their correct place of birth when they were alive - see census returns - and that any such information on a death cert is given by at best, a relative, then it probably wouldnt be much more help! OC

Ages started to appear on certs from around 1870/75,but they are only as accurate as the information supplied by the informant,so can be out by a few years,a bit like ages on marriage certs Glen

I have an 1848 death cert and it gives the deceased's age .Elizabeth's occupation is,'wife of Thomas Webb' and it also lists his occupation.

The good news for your future family researchers is that, as of December 2005, the death certificate of a married man or widower will state his wife's name and occupation. Until then, only women's certs contained such info about their husbands. Jack

I have never seen a death cert without an age given. (ages are only on the death INDEX from 1866) date and place of birth is on death certs from 1969. Obviously this info is only as accurate as the informants info! Merry

death certs have always had the age of death on them, it is just the indexes that ddidn;t have the age of death on unitl about 1870.

True My mistake (says he putting away mid 1850's death certs. Glen

i have a death cert from 1957 that has the woman's maiden name on (as well as her husband's name) oh how I wish we got this 100 years earlier!

Laura, But over 20 years is a big difference (esp for a woman who presumably had children - when did she have them?!) are you sure you have the right person on the census? Not many old ladies who reached well over 90 forgot to tell all and sundry, esp a few years back! It wouldn't be something like.....your ancestor was born 1903 and when she married she put her GRANDFATHER'S name on her marriage cert, so you come along and find him with his DAUGHTER (same name as his granddaughter) in 1881.......... Merry