Genealogy Chat

I didn't until I ordered one, just out on interest, and found that the name of the informant confirmed some information I had found earlier.................................................... Received another one yesterday for 1949 and the informant is a son I had been hunting for, in the wrong place, and it's got the full address of the person who died and the informant....................................................... Might order another couple now ..................................... Linda

I have only got about 4 death certs out of about 20 certs in total. I am being made redundant from work next week so with my redundancy money I have promised myself 10 certificates at once as a treat. I have drawn up a list of ones I really want most and about 7 of the 10 are death certs so hopefully I may find some new info! Sam x

The answer is no. But, like you, I have got odd bits of useful info from them. Usually the informant is someone useful! It comes down to cost in the end... Lx

I am lucky in the fact mine are Scottish so I get them from Scotlandspeople and print them out. a lot cheaper than sending for the certs. Marion

I have ordered a few, mainly to get addresses and to see who the informant is, I have got a few new leads in this way. I am also quite nosey to see what they died of !!!!

Ann Snap .. the nose gets the better of me too lol Marion

Death certs are generally considered to be the ones that are least useful. But sometimes they do have good leads to help you trace family. I like to get the ones for direct ancestors or any that died young, as I am morbid and like to know what they died of. Sometimes I just put the ref for the cert if I know I've found the right one in the GRO indexes, and wait till I have more funds. I prefer to spend £7 on a marriage cert as it has more information usually. nell

I ordered one when I first started for a child I couldn't palce but not only did it show me the name of the mother (in the occupation box) & made me think the child was illegitamate. Not only that the informant was an aunt I hadn't heard of before so with a bit of investigation I found a whole new family!

I have tended not to, simply because the first couple I got didn't tell me anything other than what they died of. Informant was just who you'd expect etc etc. I decided birth & marriage certs were better ''value for money''. But I have struck it lucky with a couple of more recent ones. In my attempt to trace all the descendents of my 3x gt grandfather, I had a bit of a mystery with an 8-year old chap Charles Robert Spearman turning up on the 1851 census, described as 'nephew' to Elizabeth Common, head of household - who is unmarried - running the village shop. I thought this chap's mother was Elizabeth's sister Catherine, but haven't been able to find either a birth or marriage certificate to prove this. Infuriatingly, there was no sign of mother or father on the 1851 census. By 1861 the child is living with a Catherine & Ralph Black, described as son-in-law. (haven't found this marriage either) I took a chance & ordered a death certificate in 1848 for a Charles Robert Spearman, who I thought could be the child's father. He's aged 26, unmarried, son of (etc)... but - the informant was Catherine Common. no wonder I couldn't find the marriage - there wasn't one!

I actually like death certs *spooky music plays in background* they tell you so much, for example, one of the death certs I got yesterday told me thta my ggg grandmother had gangrene and then had her leg amputated, and then finally dying of exhustion. This means that I can now try and locate any hosital records etc. Also, I have a couple where it says an inquest has been held, and although lots of inquest records haven;t survuved, there are always local newspapers, haven't ooked yet but intend to when I can get there! Also, as people have said, person registering the death, and I don;t know if it is just me, but death certs seem to have the place of death as being more specific.

I used to think that it was quite enough to get the reference from the index. When I was feeling really flush, I mopped up a dozen 'boring' deaths: the ones where I already had a burial or a will. Out of that dozen, three of them had reports in the paper, because of the way they had died: one suicide, one heart attack, and one collapsed in court while his son was bringing a case for assault against a neighbour. It has taken me a very long time, but I have acquired virtually all death certificates for my direct ancestors. These highlight very clearly the support mechanisms in place. Sometimes it's the officious elder brother, sometimes the married sisters, but a definite pattern emerges. It is also interesting to see where people died: not always where I had supposed. For those who haven't the funds at present, it ought to be the case that when the system changes in a few years time it will be cheaper to obtain death details as they won't be certificated.

Reply for Vicky - there probably isn't a marriage for your son-in-law. The term used to mean stepson or ward. i.e. legally your son, but not actually your son Lx

Linda, I took it to mean the child is the son-in-law (ie step-son) of Ralph Black. I haven't found a marriage for Catherine & Ralph, to prove she's Catherine Common. Gosh, isn't this family history stuff confusing at times.

Vicky - VERY confusing... Sometimes you wonder if they did (or didn't in your case) things on purpose to confuse us! Lx

I have ordered a few when I have definitely found the death of one ancestor but can't find the death of the spouse. It helps when on a woman's death cert it says something like 'wife of ....' then I know I am looking for the husband's death after hers. If it says 'widow of.....' then I know the husband died before she did. On a morbid note I have started collecting the birth and death certificates of ancestors who died without having children. That way I feel that they are not forgotten (having no direct descendants who would include them in their family history)

Hi Tracy, You sound just like me. It's expensive being a softie. Linda

I have the death certs of many children who died young, including 1 from my great uncle who was knocked down by a car at the age of 7 and a girl of 15mths. Perhaps its being a mummy myself but I just feel these children need to be remembered!

just got another useful one yesterday. trying to find 2xgt grandmothers death - not in the area she was born & lived all her life. - again, it was a bit of a long shot that paid off... After half an hour on Ancestry, I confirmed this cert is the right person. She was found 200 miles away, living with a married daughter. Hadn't been able to find daughter's marriage - but have now got her husbands name, as he was the informant! as an aside - age at death 90 - cause of death old age LOL

I don't tend to buy them,but we were told a story that my Great Grans baby died in a fire while being held by its Grandmother.We were also told a twin had died and everyone believed the twin and the baby in the fire were the same. I found the baby and his gran on the death indexes and my sister went for the certificate,she chose the Grans. When she brought it round she asked me what I thought about the cause of death,it said 'Shock from burns.Accidental death' so I said 'Whats wrong with that?' She thought it said 'Shock from twins accidental death' !!!! And it really did look like that! So we reckoned someone else thought that years ago when they had the original death cert and started a family myth!!