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I came I know
not w[h]ence.
I go I know not whither.
Grave marker of Charles A. Miller,
Vineland, New Jersey (Louis B. Schafer, Tombstone of Your Ancestors, Bowie,
Md.: Heritage Books, Inc., 1991, 105).
Vital records birth, marriage and divorce,
and death are the foundations of genealogical research. What we learn
from the vital records of a person's days on this earth provides the framework
for our search for other records that may illuminate his life and times and tell
us who he was. The end of a life marks the beginning of our research.
The U.S.A does not have a nationwide system
of vital records registration and, with the exception of the New England states,
where many towns have kept vital records from their beginnings, the states did
not attempt to keep centralized vital records until the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. For details of the dates for which centralized vital records are available
for many countries and for the U.S. by state, the forms needed to request such
records, and the addresses, telephone, and fax numbers of the records keepers,
consult International Vital
Records Handbook, by Thomas Jay Kemp.
On the Web, visit Vital Records Information for United
States for information about birth, death or marriage certificates.
Also try the VitalChek Network.
In the absence of centralized death records for earlier years,
the American researcher should determine what original vital records exist at
the county and local levels, some of which might have been transferred to state
archives, and whether any have been published. When it is possible to consult
original records or microfilmed copies of them, it is preferable to do so rather
than to rely upon published abstracts, transcriptions, or indexes, which might
be incomplete and almost certainly contain errors, no matter how conscientious
the transcriber. However, published abstracts, transcriptions, and indexes provide
valuable assistance as finding aids to the original records.
The Family History
Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, has microfilmed records from many
countries and U.S. states, and continues to do so. In some cases, the microfilmed
records are all that remain as evidence of records lost to the ravages of war
and natural disaster. Researchers have access to most of the microfilmed holdings
of the FHL through local Family History Centers (FHC).
To replace
or supplement civil death records,
other sources include:
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Bible records and other family papers
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Court records (wills and administrations)
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Census records (mortality schedules)
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Military service and pension records
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Newspapers (death notices, obituaries, and news articles)
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Cemetery records and tombstone inscriptions
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USGenWeb
Tombstone Project
In the UKGenWeb Archives
there are a large number of files (by letter of alphabet) of World War I Deaths,
Kirkintillach News (extracts)
Swedish Vital
Records. Records for Lindesberg, Orebro, Sweden are being placed online in
a searchable format.
Spanish
Baptismal Records. Digital images of the actual registry entries covering
200 years of baptismal records of the Roman Catholic church in Albanchez, Almeria,
Andalucia, Spain are being placed online in a searchable format.
In the MediterraneanGenWeb
Archives there are burials in the American section of the Protestant Cemetery
in Istanbul, Turkey
In the SouthAMGenWeb
Archives there is a text file for the North American Cemetery (Campo) in
Sao Paulo
In the CaribbeanGenWeb
Archives (Islands of the West Indies) there are, for example, Jamaican cemetery
records and wills.
Association
for Gravestone Studies
AGS online
bookstore
AGS computer program
for recording gravestones and cemeteries
Virtual Cemetery Tour
Find
A Grave. Search by: Name, location, claim to fame.
OCFA Ontario
Cemetery Finding Aid features a database of more than two million interments
in Ontario (Canada).
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial Just outside Cambridge, England, there is a little piece
of the USA. In honor of her people who gave their lives during World War II.
Graveyards of Chicago
City
of the Silent for taphophiles — lovers of cemeteries as cultural artifacts.
Haunted
Cemeteries in the USA.
Enter if you dare and explore these sites. Every April 5th and November 1st
a beautiful woman in a black satin dress appears and lays flowers on the grave
on John Edward Cameron, who is buried in the Masonic
Cemetery in Central City, Colorado. Once 12 people gathered together at Cameron's
grave on November 1st to see the ghost. At sunset, she appeared as always. Two
men tried to grab her, but she flew off and vanished on a hill not far from
the cemetery. |

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Suggested Reading
& References |
Bouchard, Betty J. Our Silent Neighbors:
A Study of Gravestones in the Olde Salem Area. Salem, Mass.: T.B.S. Enterprises,
1991.
Chase, Theodore and Laurel K. Gabel.
Gravestone Chronicles. Boston: New England
Historic Genealogical Society, 1990.
Howe, W.H. Everybody's Book of Epitaphs:
Being for the Most Part What the Living Think of the Dead. London: Saxon
& Co. Publishers, 1995.
Inskeep, Carolee. The Graveyard Shift:
A Family Historian's Guide to New York City Cemeteries, Ancestry.com,
2000.
Jones, Mary-Ellen. "Photographing
Tombstones: Equipment and Techniques," American Association for State and
Local History Technical Leaflet 92, History News, vol. 32, no. 2, Feb. 1977.
Kemp, Thomas Jay. International Vital
Records Handbook. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.,
1994.
Williams, Melvin G. The Last Word:
The Lure and Lore of Early New England Graveyards. Boston: Oldstone Enterprises,
1973.
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