My great grandfather’s death certificate
I was born and raised in Washington state and moved to Missouri in 1989, when I was 26 (after going to college in Massachusetts, followed by five years in Washington DC). My mother was born in Missouri, but she and her parents migrated to Washington state in 1936.
Today, with the help of a Family Tree Magazine article on identifying vital records, I was able to download, free of charge, my great-grandfather’s death certificate from the Missouri Digital Heritage site. He died in Missouri in 1944. The state has a searchable database for deaths between 1910 and 1961. Once found, I was able to download and print a facsimile of his death certificate.
The death certificate gave me a host of information, including his mother’s name and birthplace, the fact that my great grandfather died at a Veterans Administration Facility, of tuberculosis, and that he served in the Philippine Insurrection. (I knew he was listed as “soldier” in the 1900 census, but I didn’t know what conflict he was involved in.)
I am so grateful to Missouri for making that so easy! It was a lot more trouble and money to order a death certificate the state of California, as I did for my paternal great grandmother. And when I ordered that one, I didn’t even know what information would be on the certificate.
I feel fortunate that I have a number of ancestors who died in Missouri between 1910 and 1961. I can’t wait to see what other states offer me!
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