Death Records

New Online Databases Reveal WWII Cousin Casualties In Finland

OK, so the online databases I’m writing about aren’t brand new; they were just new to me. Finding them recently reminds me to check online from time to time for records of interest.Here’s the back story: In June of 2018, I visited Finland for the annual gathering of Finnish Americans known as FinnFest. It was

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Collecting Death Certificates–Payoffs and Pitfalls

Who, what, where and when are key questions that are answered by genealogical records. In the following discussion, we are adding two more questions: why and how. Who to collect death certificates for: ● Direct ancestors are a top priority. ● Ancillary ancestors are a second priority. ● Obtaining death certificates is becoming more costly.

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Hooray! Ancestry.com Adds New York Death Records

If you have ever tried to research death records in New York State, you know it was a big pain. The state death index existed only on microfilm and was accessible only in a half dozen libraries across the state. You had to know the year of death to be able to browse these records

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Mary Jane Van Court Huskonen 1938-2017

On Friday, 19 May 2017, we said goodbye to our wife and mother, Mary Jane. She had suffered from dementia as well as hip and shoulder problems during the last three years. After a brief hospital stay in April, followed by four weeks in a skilled nursing facility, she lived out her final days at

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Is Fayetta’s Death Date Wrong on Her Headstone?

If you want an example of a unique combination of given and family names, I would offer Fayetta Salome Flaugh as a good example.Nearly 20 years ago, I attended a meeting of the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group Greater Cleveland (CAGG for short) to learn about genealogy database programs. Several members were demonstrating features of the

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A More Complete Timeline for Grandma Grace

On 15 Dec 2016, I posted a timeline for my Grandma Grace that I found on my computer. I had forgotten that I had created it and discovered it during a search for other timeline documents. Today, I found another document in timeline format about Grace Green Dingman in which I had compiled some additional

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Harvesting Pennsylvania Death Records on Ancestry.com

I have a large number of ancestors who passed away in Pennsylvania. For years, it was necessary to visit one of five Pennsylvania repositories around the state to obtain a death certificate for a deceased ancestor. This effectively stopped me from obtaining these valuable records. A few months ago, the Pennsylvania State Archives announced that

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