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