| Death Certificates | | | | additional tips on how to make an |
| The United States began authorizing in | | | | extensive family research refer to this |
| the early part of the 20th century. - a | | | | guide - |
| directory of online death indexes listed | | | | Cemeteries and Burial Indexes |
| by state and county. Included are death | | | | If you don't know where someone is |
| records, death certificates indexes, | | | | buried, death certificates often list |
| death notices and registers, obituaries, | | | | place of burial. Some cemeteries have |
| probate indexes and cemetery and burial | | | | placed their burial indexes online, |
| records. You can also find information | | | | while others have been transcribed by |
| here about searching the Social Security | | | | volunteers. |
| Death Index Online. You can also utilize | | | | Probate Records and Wills |
| its digitized copies of death | | | | Wills and Probate Records are also vital |
| certificates are available for online | | | | resources for tracing one's family |
| downloading for five states. These are: | | | | history. They can provide information |
| Arizona (1878-1956), Kentucky | | | | about a person's heirs, their family, |
| (1911-1953), Missouri (1910-1937 & | | | | spouse, children, siblings, relatives |
| 1945-1956 with more being added), Utah | | | | and other personal information. Some |
| (1904-1954), and West Virginia | | | | counties now have recent probate indexes |
| (1917-1956). For links to those and | | | | online. The LDS Family History Library |
| links to online death certificate | | | | in Salt Lake City is a treasure box for |
| indexes for many other states (and some | | | | old probate records and wills. You can |
| counties). | | | | also try the death index directory I |
| | | | gave earlier or do a Google search. |
| Obituaries are vital for family research | | | | Microfilms can be ordered and viewed for |
| as they give date and place of death and | | | | a fee at local Family History Centers. |
| burial. Obituaries usually provides the | | | | You might also be able to find probate |
| following information: | | | | records in the courthouse where the will |
| - death or burial notice | | | | was probated or a local or state archive |
| - names of surviving and deceased | | | | or other repository if the records were |
| relatives | | | | moved there. |
| A good source of finding copies of | | | | Social Security Death Index (SSDI) |
| obituaries for your family research can | | | | Deaths reported to the Social Security |
| be found at local public libraries and | | | | Administration are listed in this useful |
| more recent listings can also be found | | | | index. It's available online at several |
| online. Be advised that you will not | | | | websites and some of them update it each |
| always find these kinds of newspaper | | | | month. |
| listings for everyone who died. For some | | | | |