"the
only thing sure in life is death and taxes"
Everyone
dies, and fortunately, or unfortunately, the death certificate is the one
document (in the US since 1903/6) which has lots of spaces that invite
information.
The doc
is there and gets date and time of death right, but there are a lot of other
blanks on the form, and there is no requirement that the person giving this
information really knows.
Usually
reliable, due to coming from driver's license, credit card and doctor:
… the
name given, though it is always good to consider nicknames, initials that have
turned into a name, or a total alias (those are the truly fun ones)
… the
date of death, the cause of death, and the doctor in attendance.
... last
residence
… how
long sick before death.
Usually
reliable because happening right then, or based on a record accepted as true by
the state.
The
evidence wiggle enters with all those other blanks that just beg for
information, and that information can be given by almost
anyone. Sometimes info is from close friend or family, and sometimes
by the clerk who met the ambulance.
This
little vagary in the information collection does not mean that death
certificates should be downplayed. Death certificates are truly
wonderful wonderful records, with lots of facts to plug into our family tree,
but sometimes also contain, along with the true, the probably, the
possibly and sometimes the "huh?"
A lot
depends on context (remember that letter? -- oh yeah, it's coming on Friday).
You got
the medical stuff - and name and date. Now look down at the bottom
of the form.
Have a
good look at the name of the informant. Every death certificate that I have
seen has this line down near the bottom, and the tendency is to disregard this
name. Please don't. This name is working very hard to
tell you the source of the information past the "medical-at time of
death" stuff. When the informant is close family --
spouse, parent, sib, or child -- the information tends to be good/valid/true;
the family knows brother/father/grandad Brian's birthday & year; they
celebrated it. His sibs would know the name of Brian's father and
mother, that's grandpa or grandma.
At the
other end of the reliability scale is the often noted "hospital
registrar," who got their information from the next door neighbor of the
now dead guy. The exception to this rule is a small town hospital,
where the registrar has known everything about everyone in the town since they
were born, and if the registrar doesn't know, his/her auntie will know, and the
registrar will call her with any questions before finishing and filing the
certificate.
Another
context to consider is how the person died. A traumatic death of a
child may result in errors even from a parent, specifically because they are
the parent. My grandmother misspelled her own name on the
death certificate of her daughter who died at 2 months.
My
bottom line is to put the information in -- but possibly not in
ink.
Other
stories to enjoy and consider: mine and second-hand.
- The death certificates of four brothers, all long lived, outliving their spouses and children, and not living near each other, did not agree on the names of parents or their birthplaces. It was clear that the information was coming from friends or neighbors; there was no family. The solution, and definitive information came when the death certificate was found for the fifth son, who died young, and was buried by his parents. Did they know their names, her maiden name and the towns they were born in? Absolutely! Case closed.
- My death certificate in my family has the father's name as Arthur Oakley Lucas. Nice name, only problem is that Oakley was the street where father lived. A family member (like me) reading this will recognize the error and it will not enter the codex of on-line family trees, but if others start with that death certificate. ???
- Also, a European town of birth may only and always have been heard by the children. In my family, one side came from Bruneholdshime, in Germany. I had much better luck when I went phonetic, and looked for Brunnholzheim.
Ditto for
mother's maiden names.
Cheers -
Liz
Ps -
death certificates are also very handy for lineage societies!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
2018
begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding
into short comments on matters genealogical. Published on Tuesday and
some Fridays, a letter may be visited more than once before moving
on.
© 2018, SE Ross