Now What? Expert Answers to your Genealogy questions - How to Find Records of an Accidental Death

Friday, August 31, 2007

How to Find Records of an Accidental Death
Posted by Diane

Q I have a family note that says Robert Samuel Robinson (born Sept. 18, 1877, in Chaffey, Muskoka County, Ontario, Canada), died in "western USA" Aug. 11, 1901, and that it was a work-related death. It had to do with electricity, according to family story. I'd love to get a copy of a death certificate and any newspaper articles about the accident, and then to really push my luck, a photo of his grave marker. (Posted by Tracy on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum.)

A You may not be lucky enough to find a death certificate, as most states—particularly those in the then-relatively unsettled US West—didn’t mandate recording of deaths until after 1901. (See our chart of statewide vital-recordkeeping dates.) Occasionally, counties or cities recorded deaths before the state required death certificates, so it’s worth checking with the county clerk where he died.

An accidental death also might have generated other records, including coroner’s reports, coroner’s inquests (if the coroner found negligence or intention), and, as you mentioned, cemetery records and newspaper articles. Depending whom Robert worked for, his employer might’ve had to fill out paperwork for a work-related accident.

It sounds like your first problem is you don’t know where Robert was at the time of his death. You’ll need that information to find coroner’s records, which are kept at city or county coroner offices (they also may have been transferred to the state archives and/or microfilmed by the Family History Library, which has branch Family History Centers around the world).

Finding historical newspaper articles, in most cases, also requires you to know where he lived. You might get lucky and find Robert by searching a database of digitized, indexed newspapers, such as the subscription sites GenealogyBank and World Vital Records (see our news blog for more information on World Vital Records' newspaper databases). But most newspapers haven’t been indexed and digitized, so you’d need to use a directory such as the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America to find newspapers covering his area. Then you could see if a library near you has the paper on microfilm, or try to borrow it through interlibrary loan.

I’d suggest searching a 1900 US census database to see if you can pin down a location for Robert in that year. Continue your research on his earlier life, which could turn up information on where and when he moved to the United States. You also should examine your research and family papers on his parents, siblings and other relatives—information on them might give clues to Robert’s whereabouts.

Check online cemetery records, such as Find A Grave and Cemetery Junction, just in case he’s in one of them. Likely, though, you won't find his burial place until you can learn where he died.

It also might help to do a little historical research on electricity-related happenings in 1901, such as cities that were getting electric power. This article, for example, discusses the dangers of electricity between 1901 and 1909.

birth/death records

Friday, August 31, 2007 2:53:56 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Thursday, September 06, 2007 7:48:53 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

This is very interesting but I have a similar problem. In doing research for a friend of my father's I ran into an unusual circumstance. A husband and wife were killed in an Indian attack and the only location of thier death I can find is "on the plains.' This was in the 1860's. Any ideas?

karen seibert

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 8:04:29 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Narrow the date as much as possible, then do some research on which areas had tense relations between American Indians and settlers at the time. Then you can read local histories covering those places and times, research records of nearby military outposts (at the National Archives and Records Administration for federal posts; military historians also may have written about military posts) and check Bureau of Indian Affairs records from the area. The BIA had field offices throughout the West. BIA historical records are usually at the National Archives regional research facility covering the geographic area where the field office was located.

If you think the couple may have been on a wagon train, see the Now What? question at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/nowwhatonline/jan4-07.html

Diane

Diane

Comments are closed.

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