ROOTSTECH/FHL FINDS ~ The death certificate for James F. Forsyth (1864-1951)

 

Now...where is that film?

It wouldn’t be a trip to the FHL if I wasn’t looking for records from my birth state, Michigan.  So many ancestors were born, married & died there.  It seems I never run out of records to look for.  As we know, not all are available online.

As always, I prepared ahead for my trip.  Finding which microfilms I needed to look at.  I had located the index for James’ death online.  However, you never get all the details in an index.  And, you run the risk of a mis transcription. 

Here is the index record.

Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952

Name: James Ferris Forsyth
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 01 Feb 1951
Event Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 86
Marital Status: Widowed
Birth Date: 01 Mar 1864
Birthplace: Michigan
Birth Year (Estimated): 1865
Father's Name: John Forsyth
Mother's Name: Catherine Ferris
GS Film number: 001973236
Digital Folder Number:005363696
Image Number: 01330

You can see the film number listed with other details, like the digital folder number and image number. #1,973,244 (Michigan, death certificates, 1912-1952).  Easily located and placed onto the microfilm reader.  The additional details of the digital folder number and image number help us find records on a microfilm. 

These records were arranged by date, so all I had to do was scroll through the film and find the year or years I was looking for.

I soon located February 1951 and found the certificate for James Ferris Forsyth who died on 1 Feb 1951 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan.  James is the husband of my maternal great grandaunt, Louise Gillespie.  They were married for about 63 years. 

NOTE:  In writing this post I realize that I don’t have their exact marriage date, nor have I looked for any newspaper articles that would have announced their 50^th or 60^th anniversary.  Writing blog posts invariably leads me to look for more information on my ancestors. I will have a look for these items later.

Here is James’ death certificate.  You can enlarge it or zoom in to see details more clearly.

I now have further details, which confirm that I have the correct certificate (occupation, marital status, names of parents).  I can now record these details in my Legacy program and site this certificate as my source.

Another successful day at the Family History Library.  Yes, I found other records that day, but I’ll save those for another post.

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

FRIDAY FINDS ~ Newspaper article for death/possible suicide of Ralph Gillespie Forsyth ~ 1952 (this was James & Louise’s son)

FOLLOW UP ~ Why did Ralph Forsyth jump from a 9th story hotel window to his death?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

FRIDAY FINDS ~ Michigan Death Certificates from 1946 - HART, LINDSAY & GROUT

Every 75 years the State of Michigan releases death certificates to public domain. There is a website dedicated to presenting these certificates, it’s called Michiganology.  Many of you may remember the former site we used, it was called Seeking Michigan.

I use my Legacy database to determine which of my ancestors died in a particular year in a certain place.  The list this year was a short one with only five people on it.  One of those 5 was my great grandmother, Mae Thorp Gould.  I had ordered her death certificate years ago.

The others on the list were:

John Murray HART, my half 1^st cousin 3 times removed

Roy Jerome HART, my half 2^nd cousin twice removed

Robert “Bobby” LINDSAY, Jr., my 2^nd cousin once removed

Nellie E. Tibbits GROUT, my 1^st cousin 3 times removed

I was able to go to the Michiganology website and conduct the searches to find all 4 of the death certificates. In one case I had to get creative with my search, but eventually located the correct certificate.

Why is it important to locate the actual vital records for our ancestors?

·       To obtain unknown information

·       To verify information we may already have

·       Because it helps us complete the picture of that persons life

·       Because as genealogists we cannot have enough evidence to prove the “facts” we have listed for our ancestors

Here are the four death certificates I downloaded and saved.

They have been added to my Legacy database and each one was sourced and information gleaned from them.

Click on any image to enlarge it

You can see that these certificates contain a wealth of information.  Do they add to already known facts or events? Does it give me new information to verify? Let the fun begin.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

USING MICHIGANOLOGY WEBSITE–Finding death certificates from 1944 & 1945

For a very long time I made use of the Seeking Michigan website.  They offered us death record images that were 75 years or older and various other historical documents.

Every year I looked forward to January 1st when the new records would come online.  I would use my Legacy program to figure out which of my Michigan ancestors died in a certain year and look for those records.  I believe we were up to 1942 or 1943 death records, when the Seeking Michigan site was taken down and all records were transferred to Michiganology. 

When this change over first took place it was nearly impossible to find records that were so easy to locate on the Seeking Michigan site.  Many of us with Michigan roots were pretty frustrated.  I offered a LOT of feedback to the new site, as did others.

In the ensuing 4 or so years I have pretty much avoided the website. 

Recently I decided that there really were records I needed and maybe, just maybe there had been some improvements in the search engine on the site.

I’m happy to say that I was well rewarded for my efforts. 

I went in with a list of 1944 and 1945 deaths for which I needed a certificate.  There were 11 people on my list.  In review I had two of the certificates already, shared with me by my cousins Paula & Marion. 

That left 9 death certificates to find.  

How many was I able to locate?  8 of the 9.

I found that the less information I entered the better my chances were of finding a record.  Just a first and last name or even just a last name and year of death. It seemed to me that the website was working better than it had a few years ago.  I still think there is room for improvement.  On the occasion when I didn’t enter a year of death I was given a list of names and the county they died in.  When you get a long list of results with the same name, it would be nice for them to list the year of death to narrow it down a bit.

As you can see below, in entering William Gould, I received 31 hits. This screen shot just shows the first few.  But, if I didn’t know what county I might end up having to look at all 31 records.  Having a death year would improve this. 

(Please click on the image to enlarge it)

Here are the list of names for those death certificates I located

CURRY, Frederick William – 5 Nov 1944, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

ERB, Catherine – 8 Dec 1945, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

GOULD, Helen C – 17 Feb 1945, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

HEAD, Emogine – 19 Nov 1945, Three Oaks, Berrien, Michigan

LINDOW, Charles Herman – 10 Feb 1944, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan 

McTAGGART, Sarah – 10 May 1944, Bad Axe, Huron, Michigan

PRATT, James William – 26 May 1944, Richmond, Macomb, Michigan

SINE, Hattie – 6 Apr 1944, Albion, Calhoun, Michigan

I was not able to access the record for Grace M. Thorpe Stanton, who died May 29, 1945.  It’s possible those images just haven’t been uploaded yet.  I’ll try again later this year.

UPDATE - On March 15, 2021, I went back to the Michiganology website and searched again for Grace Thorpe Stanton's death certificate and found it.  Perhaps I hadn't searched correctly the first time.  Never give up!

Overall, I’m very pleased with being able to locate this many death records.  Wouldn’t it be great if all states had vital records available like this?  I know many do….but not all.

If you have Michigan ancestors and haven’t used the Michiganology website in a while, I’d encourage you to try again. 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FRIDAY FINDS ~ ALPHABETICAL LIST OF DEATH DATES IN A CITY DIRECTORY

We all know that city directories can be wonderful resources for information about our ancestors.  I continue to discover more and more surprising and wonderful things in these directories.

Most of my experience with directories involves Detroit, Michigan.  Just last year I wrote about finding an exact death date listed in the alphabetical name and address portion of a Detroit directory.  You can read that post here.  I was very happy to find that reference to the death date for my 2nd great grandfather, William Lindsay.  One more piece of evidence is always welcome.

At the time, I didn’t explore the rest of that particular 1899 Detroit directory.

Fast forward to this week.  I’m doing a little research on some great grand uncles, who are listed in a probate record, as living in Detroit, Michigan in 1884.  These family members were born over in Devonshire, England and I knew some of the immigrated to the U.S.

Sure enough in a search on Ancestry.com, there is a reference to the 1884 Detroit city directory.
 

William Burgess

in the U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

Name:
William Burgess

Residence Year:
1884

Street address:
33 Leverett

Residence Place:
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Occupation:
Packer

Publication Title:
Detroit, Michigan, City Directory, 1884

Here’s the image for this entry.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

The next thing I wanted to look for in the directory was the listing of specific addresses, which will usually tell you the person who owned or rented at that location.

Instead of finding that I found, in “Miscellaneous Information” 

LIST OF DEATHS IN DETROIT from May 15th 1884 to May 6th 1885 – Compiled from City Mortuary Reports



WHAT?

I didn’t know this list existed.  Do the directories from other years contain this list?  I know information can vary from year to year.

I quickly created a search list in Legacy using the exact criteria.



And, got the following results:



I know that Elizabeth’s married name was Burgess. 
I located here on page 86.

• Burgess, Elizabeth……………May 16, 1884

I didn’t  locate William G. Thorpe.  He was just a baby who died at one month and two days of age.  Perhaps they didn’t list children?  Or, he wasn’t taken to a mortuary, since this list results from mortuary records?

I plan to continue my search in the Detroit directories for more death dates.  Who knows what I’ll find?

Have you found records like this in directories from your research areas?  If so, I’d love to hear about them.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

DAY TWO OF THE MICHIGAN DEATH CERTIFICATES JOURNEY–NOW WHAT?

So, we’ve all been online checking the SeekingMichigan site for those 1921-1939 Michigan death certificates.  I had great luck in finding mine. 

The end count was 33!

 

After I created my list from the search feature in Legacy 8, I began going through it for those who might have died in Michigan.  Please see my post from yesterday for details about creating that list.  Here is the link: http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2015/03/michigan-death-certificate-images.html

Here are the steps I followed:

• Once I see a name on the list that is a “possible” I go to that person in my Legacy 8 database.
• I check whatever death record information I have for that person.  In some cases, I had already noted that the death record was on FamilySearch under the Michigan Death Certificates 1921-1952, but with no image.  When I find an index only, I copy and past the information under “notes” for that event on the Individual’s Information in Legacy.

You can click on that little plus sign next to each event and it brings up your options for Adding Addresses, Notes, Pictures and whether the event is shared.  I use this feature in Legacy every day. 

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

• Next I went to the Seeking Michigan site, which was already opened on my browser and I began entering the search criteria for that person.  When I did this I made sure that I was ONLY searching the death certificates for 1921-1952 (we know they only go to 1939 right now).  But, there are many databases on the Seeking Michigan site and I only wanted to search this single one.  A fellow blogger, Amy Johnson Crow, wrote a post with some tips for using this new collection.  Here is a link to her post: FINDING NEW DEATH CERTIFICATES ON SEEKING MICHIGAN
• Once I located the correct death certificate I wrote down the RIN number and name on a piece of paper (yes, a piece of paper), on my desk.  I just wanted a real quick way to keep track of what I was finding.
• Next, I downloaded the image (I always use the “large” option when saving).  My computer automatically opens any image in an editing program that I find very easy for everyday cropping, straightening and resizing etc.  I use Microsoft Office 2010 Picture Manager. I wrote a post about this and will site it at the end of this article. 
• I straightened, cropped and enhanced the image and saved it in the proper surname folder with my standard, consistent naming method.  I will not allow any of those black borders or crooked pictures to be added to my database.
• The process of editing and properly saving your images immediately, guarantees they will be in the correct place on your computer.  And, it only takes a few seconds to do. After all, we get interruptions in our daily life and may not get back to them right away.
• Now I’m ready to begin the process of adding all this wonderful information to my Legacy database.

THIS PROCEDURE WILL INVOLVE THE FOLLOWING STEPS

• Start with the first name on that list I made.
• Adding the death certificate image in the “pictures” area next to death event (see my RED arrow in the screen shot above).
• Adding the source citation in SourceWriter.  I already have a Master Source for Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952.

•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
• 
  
• Copying the citation to the clipboard so that I can add the source to whatever fields are necessary.
• Adding information to the Events/Facts area of the Individual’s Information.  I have created my own events when I didn’t find the ones I wanted on the list. Here are my additions:
• Informant on Death Certificate
• Funeral Home or Mortuary
• Residence at time of death
• Autopsy at time of death
• Occupation at time of death
• Physician listed on death certificate
• I will also go to the Parents list for that person and add the source (using the clipboard).
• I’ll add the cause of death in the medical notes.
• And enter the date of burial and location (if listed)

At that point I will consider myself done with this important piece of evidence in the life of my ancestor.  Since there is no paper copy, there will be no need to create one.  I do not create paper when I don’t have to.  When I send for and receive vital records I do save those in a binder after they’ve been scanned, but that’s about the only paper I have. 

Have I missed anything in my procedure?  Is this how you process your records or do you have a different method?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
EASY DOCUMENT EDITING
DIGITAL FOLDER ORGANIZING AND NAMING MADE EASY

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MICHIGAN DEATH CERTIFICATE IMAGES RELEASED–1921 - 1939

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. 
 

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.



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

MICHIGAN DEATH RECORDS ONLINE–Where can you find them?

UPDATE - 16 Oct 2019 - One of the primary sites for finding Michigan Death Records was seekingmichigan.org.  That site no longer exists and all of their collections have been moved to Michiganology.org.  Unfortunately, there is no redirect and you must actually go to the new site.  I have updated my post to reflect these changes.

This post was prompted by a private message sent to me today on Facebook.  The inquiry concerned where to find Michigan death in the 1900’s.  

I answered the inquiry and that resulted in a couple of more questions about death records in Michigan.  

So, here is a quick reference on what records you can find and where you can find them.

Michigan began keeping death records, by law, in 1867.  Registration of these records was not enforced until a 1905 law made the filing of records much more effective.

WHERE TO FIND RECORDS ONLINE

1867-1897

You can find an index for these records on the website
Genealogical Death Indexing System (commonly referred to as GENDIS) http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/gendisx/search.htm

(See the update below regarding viewing images of these records)



-- REMEMBER CLICKING ANY IMAGE ON THIS PAGE WILL ENLARGE IT--

Once on this page you can enter the descendant's name, father’s last name, county of death, and a range of years from 1867-1897.  You can sort by any of those criteria using the drop down list in the lower right hand corner.

NOTE:  My experience in using this database is that you can usually just enter a last name and click on search.  Unless, of course, your searching for Smith or Williams or another fairly common name.  There are few enough records on this site that entering just a last name will give you the biggest result.  If you find there are too many records (or the site tells you there are too many), then narrow your search by entering more information, such as a first name.  As with any search, less is usually better, so that you don’t miss anything.  I throw a big net and then narrow.  Some people like to throw a narrow net and then enlarge it.  Whatever you are comfortable with will work.  

When I entered the last name HART, I got a page full of hits.  And, the site told me the query was too broad to show all matching records.  In that case you’d want to enter more criteria.

Here is a sample from that page.



Let’s click on the first name on the list, Abigail Hart.

Here is our result.



As you can see this is some really good genealogical information.  Everything from the date of her death to her cause of death to her father’s name and much more.  

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Deidre who reminded me that the images to these records from 1867-1897 are now available on familysearch.org.  This link will take you directly to the death records search page https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1452402

Once you have entered the search criteria for the person you are looking for you will see a screen like this.

 

As indicated above, click on "View Document" to bring up the image.

NOTE:  Be sure to go to the next page in the record in order to view all the data available.  Many times the first page you see will not contain everything.


1897-1920

These records came online slowly, but steadily, until they were finished a couple of years ago.  We waited with great anticipation, knowing that they were loading images as well as the data. 

These records can be located on the website

michiganology.org

 Here is what you’ll see when you open the site.

Scroll on the page until you see Death Records and then click "view collection"

This opens a screen that looks like this:

NOTE:  Thanks to reader, Sonja, for letting me know that the images for this group of records will be gradually added to the michiganology.org site.  Due to restrictions on the release of death information, they will only show those that are over 75 yrs. ago.  So, as of 2019 they have posted images back to 1944.  I look forward, each year, to the new set of death records to view.




Isn’t it wonderful to see an actual image, online?  Now you can use your own skills to determine what each entry says.  Transcribers don’t always get it right, do they?

NOTE:  Before I would save this image to my computer and add it to my database, I would want to get rid of that awful black border, maybe darken the image a bit and possibly straighten it just a tad.  I do this ALL the time with images from Ancestry, familysearch or other sites where I find images.  

Here is my blog post about the method I use for making the images look great: 
EASY DOCUMENT EDITING    http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/11/easy-document-editing.html

Here is the image after I cleaned it up.




1921-1952

The index for these records is available on familysearch.org.  There are 1,681,256 as of 29 Apr 2013.  No images have been added yet, but at least there are transcriptions of a portion of the death certificate.  

Go to familysearch.org, Search, then click on United States, then on Michigan and you will get all the Michigan selections.



You can see the fourth selection from the top is Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952.

Another place to check for vital records is at the county level.  Many counties throughout the U.S. have websites.  Some, like West Virginia and Missouri have indexes and images.  

That’s it.  Those are the available online death records for Michigan.  I hope you’ll have great success in using these resources.  I know I have.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2013  Diane Gould Hall