Death Certificates

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

I just wondered if anyone else on here only buys death certs as a very last resort?

I started my research looking at Parish Registers and was absolutely fine with the Burials, every one I found just gave the name, age etc. and date of burial - sometimes a bonus of the date of death.

I knew the details for my Grandparents, but I was forced to buy two death certs for two Gt. Grandfathers, one to prove he died in Durham and not on the way from Cornwall, the other to prove that he also died in Durham and not Leeds.

However, I got very upset when I found out the cause of death ....... so I stopped buying them unless absolutely necessary. I use the Censuses to mark their last known date and type in for the death date, something like *Between 1871-1881* :(

In a lot of cases, I've managed to find entries in the GRO Indexes, so it's been whittled down to a three month span (with not proven written at the side of course) and I'm quite content with that. At least it leaves gaps in my Tree for other people to fill in the blanks doesn't it?

I also still have my Parents and Grandparents birthdays listed in my Birthday Book, because I can't bring myself to cross them out. I've just had a look at May Birthdays, ready to buy my cards ........ there are five entries in there and only one card to buy. :(

[Guy Etchells]

I seldom buy any certificates now but when I was researching that time period I would view the registers rather than buy a certificate, far more satisfying and still incidentally allowed by law.

However I view them in a different light to how you seem to, death to me is a fact of life and therefore the cause of death is not something to be upset over anymore than learning that an ancestor ended up in a workhouse or was a bastard.

To me such things are the building blocks that made me and my family who we are today, another set of blocks and we would be different.

Don’t be frightened by causes of death but recognise that they form part of your ancestor’s life and remember by speaking of such things you honour the memory of your ancestor.

Cheers

Guy

[mary elms]

However I view them in a different light to how you seem to, death to me is a fact of life and therefore the cause of death is not something to be upset over anymore than learning that an ancestor ended up in a workhouse or was a bastard.

To me such things are the building blocks that made me and my family who we are today, another set of blocks and we would be different.


I wholeheartedly agree with you Guy. Sometimes the details of an ancestor's life can make me sad, but never upset. And the more I learn about them (including their deaths) the more I understand who I am and what makes me unique.

Mary.

[Barbara Wilkinson]

I just wondered if anyone else on here only buys death certs as a very last resort?
I used to - thinking that - apart from the cause of death and the exact date - they would not tell me very much - and I also begrudged paying the fee for the certificate ..... :)

But ... I have recently broken down a really irritating brick wall with one branch of my family because I have finally made a connection between the informant on a death certificate and the wife of the "deceased" - so I may well try that route again ...:D

[susan-w]

Yes, before I bought any death certificates, I was pleased to see that many of my ancestors lived to a ripe old age.

Now, I've discovered that a high proportion had dementia.

Whenever I do something absent minded, the thought does cross my mind that it might be in the genes... particularly when I locked myself out - twice - yesterday. :)

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Yes I know you're right Guy, it's just me burying my head in the sand. One of them died *Injured whilst at work three years prior to death* (1911) the other from *Abscesses and Exhaustion* (1874).

They were both Coal Miners, as was my Grandfather - he died from gangrene of the leg in 1948 after an accident in Caphouse Colliery at Middlestown, now the site of the Yorkshire Mining Museum as you know.

I went on a trip down there, had a panic attack and couldn't get out fast enough, so I could understand why he hated going down there so much, without all the 'mod cons' which you see now of course on the tour!