Tuesday, March 17, 2015

MICHIGAN DEATH CERTIFICATE IMAGES RELEASED–1921 - 1939

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Michigan green sign

There is hardly anything more exciting to a genealogist than a long awaited release of records.  Especially when those records are IMAGES.

Today, the heretofore only indexed Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1939, have been released to us on michiganology.org

I heard this news early this morning and by now, I’m sure most of you have heard it also. 

WHAT DID I DO BEFORE GOING ONLINE TO LOOK FOR RECORDS?

I went into my Legacy database and ran a report that would give me the names of everyone in my database that died after 1920 and before 1940. 
 search 1920-1940

A list of 274 individuals was created.  Because I didn’t designate a place of death the list included those without a place of death and those with a place of death.  I found that when I designated “place of death” Michigan I got very few results.

I began going thru my list.  The people who died in another state could easily be ignored and I could concentrate on those whose place of death was either Michigan or those with no place of death.  Since I’m familiar with my family names it was easy to pick out those I needed to check.

Here is page one from my list of 274 names.

I can see that Adams & Ainsworth died in the correct time period and that they are buried in Michigan.  I can also see that Henrietta Barnes died during the 1921-1939 time period.  I know I can rule out the Allen & Armstrong names because they aren’t associated with my Michigan ancestors.

death dates bet 1920 and 1940_created 17 Mar 2015 1

Using this list, I began to enter the criteria into the seekingmichigan.org site for death records. 
I can tell you that it was a very successful day and I have located and saved 21 death certificates to my computer.

Rather than enter and source each one into my database as I found them, I decided to crop and adjust them and save them to my computer.  I made a list of the RIN number and the person’s name.  This will now allow me to go back and take the time I need to take to properly document each death certificate.
 
There are still more names to check from my list.  But, I will take these 21 certificates and complete my entry and sourcing before going on to find more.

I have to admit it was kind of difficult to stop myself today.  Having access to records I have previously had to pay as much as $22-36 for is indeed a treat.
 
Please share with me how many death certificates you were able to find.  Did you find any surprises?  Tear down any brick walls?  I don’t think I have yet, but there is more on this list to explore.
 
OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
OTHER MICHIGAN DEATH RECORDS ONLINE - Where can you find them?
REVIEWING A RANDOM PERSON IN MY DATABASE - How much can I learn in an hour?

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2015   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

5 comments:

  1. I will definitely be having a look at the site. When Pennsylvania death certs became available on ancestry.com I did the same thing. Made a list and went through each to get the record. Good thing too because I no longer have access. As always your "directions" are easy to follow. ~ Cathy

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    1. Cathy,
      This was such an exciting day. I ended up finding 33 death certificates. Now begins the second part of the process, which I'm going to write about. I hope you have good luck finding some too.
      Thanks for stopping by.

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    2. Congrats Diane! I found 9 of the 10 that showed up in my first search for death bef. 1940 and place Michigan. I know there are many more floating around without dates or places of death. Sending you a pm on FB. ~ Cathy

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  2. Diane,
    Thanks for showing how you did it on Legacy. I'm a brand new convert and I had no idea how to pull up the list.
    Great post.
    Debbie

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    Replies
    1. Hi Debbie,
      Glad you found the post helpful. Now the fun begins. I found 33 death certs in my journey since yesterday. I am about to write another post outlining my next steps.
      Thanks for stopping by :)

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I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.