Genealogy Chat

Is it worth getting a copy of a death certificate - what information will it give me. If I already have the womans maiden name and dob? Thanx

Kerry, The death certificate has reg. district, sub-district and county. When and where died, name and surname, sex, age, occupation, cause of death, signature, discription (relationship to deceased) and residence of informant and when registered, signature of register. I have found some really interesting info on death certificates and like to kill off the names on my tree if possible. Hope this helps Kim

hi there the information on adeath cert, is the date they died, age and address were they were living at the time.and who registered them . there is alot more on birth cert, ie, fathers and mothers name and address, then you could get marriage of parents and so on . hope this helps. anne

Sometimes they pose more questions. We bought one recently and found that the informant of a great aunt's death was Daisy........, daughter. Daughter? The aunt didn't have any children of her marriage, but we've since discovered that there was a Daisy born with aunt's maiden name. We have Daisy's married name, (perhaps) from the death certificate, so here we go off on another tangent.

also on the cert is the place they were born not quite sure if this applies to older certs but recent ones have got it on hope this helps susie

Thanx everyone. Think I'll leave it for this one as the death was only 16years ago and I already know where she was born / lived etc.

Older certificates can fill in info about addresses, though they are often very vague and just give the name of a village. I found my Norfolk gt grandfather died in Finchley, at the house of his youngest son, but now I want to know if he was living there permanently, or just went there when he was ill. Not to mention how they transported the body back to Norfolk in wartime [1917]. The handwriting can be hard to decipher, but I have considerably widened my knowledge of medical terms. Ugh! Some of the things they had were quite gross! and many of them things you never hear of these days. Good job too!

I sent for a death cert for my 2 x great grandmother. I nearly didnt send for it as I knew when she died and where she was buried, there was a gravestone. I decided to send for it anyway. When I looked at the indexes, I couldnt find her where she should be, (Oakham, Rutland). The only one that fit, age and date, was in Stamford, Lincs. I risked it. It was her, the informant was her brother in law. I had never heard of this brother in law. When I researched him, I found my 3 x great grandfather had married for a third time, had a family I knew nothing about and I also found his death. I had lost him after he retired from the army in 1819. He appeared on the census for Stamford, Lincs on the 1841 and 1851 census. NEVER assume a death cert wont give you much info. That one broke down a brick wall that had been there for 20 years. Margaret

SCOTTISH certs give the name of the dead person, if they were married the name of partner and also name of parents. Also witness. They have been very helpful but also frustrating when the age is wrong or I cant find marriage cert of the dead parents, presumably they were known by middle name.