10 Resources for Finding an Ancestor’s Death Date

A death certificate is a wonderful – and important – source of family history information.

But genealogically speaking, vital records are a relatively new invention. Most states did not require death registrations until the early 20th century.

If you are searching for an ancestor’s death date in the time before death certificates, you may need to get creative. Even if your ancestor died after death registrations became the norm, you will still need to know the state in which s/he died in order to request a death certificate.

The following are a few suggested places to look for clues to an ancestor’s death date.

1. Cemetery Records

The most obvious place to begin searching for an ancestor’s death date is the cemetery where s/he is eternally resting.

It’s important to remember that not all burial sites have grave markers, and not all grave markers have complete dates. And some grave markers even have the wrong dates. So you may need to do more research in order to determine the correct date of death for your ancestor.

Where to Find Cemetery Records Online

There are many places online to find images and transcriptions of grave markers:

• Find A Grave – Worldwide
• Billion Graves – Worldwide
• Interment.net – Worldwide
• USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project – United States
• Ancestors at Rest – United States, Canada, England, and Ireland
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator – U.S. military veterans and family members

If you come across a grave marker that only has a death date, followed by the deceased person’s age stated in years, months, and days, try using a birthdate calculator to determine the approximate date of birth. I like this Tombstone Birthday Calculator from Ancestor Search. You can find links to more of these calculators on the FamilySearch Wiki.

Locating a deceased ancestor’s grave marker is a great place to start, but don’t stop there. If the cemetery has an office, you’ll want to contact them to find out if you can get copies of your ancestor’s burial records. Search for the cemetery’s website for office hours, as well as an email address and/or phone number

2. Church Records

For many families, the church was an integral part of their life. And the church kept records of major life events such as births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials.

If your ancestor was one of the many who attended a church, there may be records of her/his death and burial available.

That said, finding church records can be tricky.

The first step is to determine the religious denomination to which an ancestor may have belonged. This will be an easy task if your family has practiced the same religion for generations. However, if your ancestors changed religions over the years, this may prove to be more difficult.

The FamilySearch Wiki for United States Church Records offers helpful tips for determining an ancestor’s religion, as well as information about religious denominations and links to church records organized by state.

3. The Family Bible

Before vital registrations were required – and for many years afterward – families kept track of birth, marriage, and death dates in the family Bible.

The family Bible was so important that it was passed from parent to child and on down the line. If you are one of the rare family historians who still has the family Bible, you have inherited a priceless treasure!

Sadly, for most of us, the family Bible didn’t survive the passage of time. It may have been lost in a move, or it simply disintegrated from improper storage and handling. It may even have fallen into the hands of a descendant who sold it at a yard sale or tossed it out with the trash.

Where to Find Family Bibles Online

While the majority of us aren’t lucky enough to have the family Bible in our possession, we may be able to track down a copy of those all-important family data pages. A few places to look online for family Bibles:

• Daughters of the American Revolution > Bible Records & Transcriptions
• Ancestors at Rest
• Family Bible Website
• Bible Records Online (this site is a bit dated, and the search feature doesn’t work)
• Cyndi’s List > Family Bibles
• Digital Libraries
• eBay

If you know that another family member is in possession of the family Bible, contact that person as soon as possible to ask for copies of the family data pages.

BTW, if you are a descendant of Jeremiah Nigh and Elizabeth Deats, their family Bible pages are here > Found: Records from Elizabeth Nigh’s Family Bible

4. Social Security Death Index

When researching U.S. deaths from the late 1930s through early 2014, you will want to take a look at the Social Security Death Index.

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a database created from the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF), which is an index of deceased individuals whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration.

The SSDI has been kept since 1962. It includes information about a few deceased persons from 1937 to 1961, about 50% of deceased persons from 1962 to 1971, and about 85% of deceased persons from 1972 to 2005.

The information available may vary from person to person, but here’s what you can typically expect to find:

• First and last name
• Social Security number (only at Ancestry and Findmypast)
• Birthdate
• Death date
• Place of issue of the Social Security number
• Last place of residence (not necessarily the place of death)

Where to Find the SSDI Online

There are many places online to search the SSDI. Some are free to use but also require a free account registration. And each database offers slightly different information, so it’s a good idea to check each one.

• FamilySearch
• GenealogyBank
• MyHeritage
• Findmypast
• Ancestry (requires a paid subscription or Ancestry Library Edition)

Most of the available SSDI databases that are available online have been updated through February 2014. Records for the most recent 3 years are not available due to federal restrictions.

5. State Death Indexes

Many states keep and publish their own death indexes, and some can be accessed online for free.

These indexes most often include people who died since vital registrations began in that state; however, some agencies have compiled lists of deaths that occurred prior to vital registrations.

As you might guess, the trick here is that you need to know the state in which your ancestor died.

Where to Find State Death Indexes Online

The best place to look for state death indexes – as well as many other useful links for finding death dates – is Joe Beine’s comprehensive website Deathindexes.com. The site includes links to free websites, as well as some that require a subscription.

6. Newspapers

Family historians love a good obituary… especially one that is chock-full of juicy details about the deceased person’s life and family!

But don’t overlook other types of death-date-related news articles, such as:

• Death and funeral notices
• News stories about how the person died (accidental or not-so-accidental)
• Articles about persons suffering from an illness (often found in the social column)
• Notices of estate and land sales
• Ads searching for heirs of the deceased

Where to Find Newspapers Online

There are many, many places to search for newspapers online. I happen to like Newspapers.com because they have newspapers for the locations where my ancestors lived. Depending on where your research takes you, you might have better luck at NewspaperArchive, GenealogyBank, or Chronicling America (free), to name a few.

Wed, May 6, 1908 – 2 · Herald and Tribune (Jonesborough, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com

To find more digitized newspapers online, visit United States Online Historical Newspapers and/or The Ancestor Hunt for a list of newspaper collections by state.

7. Census Records

Most of us have realized that if an ancestor is enumerated in one census, and missing in the next, s/he may have died during the intervening 10 years.

But did you know that there were specific census schedules that “enumerated” the deceased? These are called mortality schedules, and they are extremely valuable to family history researchers!

In 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and in six states in 1885 (Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota), the U.S. census included questions about persons who died in the year immediately preceding enumeration. This information was recorded on the census mortality schedules.

The questions asked typically included the following about the deceased person:

• Name
• Age at last birthday
• Sex
• Race
• Marital status
• Profession, occupation, or trade
• State, territory, or country of birth of the deceased person and parents
• Length of residence in the county
• Month in which the person died
• Disease or cause of death
• The place where the disease was contracted (if not at the place of death)
• Name of the attending physician

Where to Find Mortality Schedules Online

Ancestry has a collection of mortality schedules with indexes and images for the years 1850 to 1885.

FamilySearch offers free access to the 1850 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule for available states.

Mortality Schedules has a list of other places to find mortality schedules online for free. Many of these are links to transcriptions rather than images.

It is important to note that mortality schedules are not available for every state and every year. You can find a list of existing mortality schedules in this document from the United States Census Bureau.

8. City Directories

You probably don’t think of a city directory when looking for an ancestor’s death date. However, you shouldn’t overlook city directories as a possible resource.

Here’s why: if you’ve been tracking an ancestor through annual city directories, and s/he suddenly vanishes, it could be a clue that s/he passed away during the previous year. Be sure to check the following years’ directories to make certain that s/he didn’t move out of the area, marry (women), get left out of the directory, or a variety of other possibilities.

City directories are particularly useful for determining if a married man passed away. Unless she remarried right away, his wife would most likely be listed in the following years’ directories as “wd” or “wid” to indicate that she was a widow, which would be a clue to his passing.

Where to Find City Directories Online

A good place to look for city directories online is Archive.org. There are hundreds of city directories available for the years 1740 to 2020 so you will need to refine your search by location.

If you have a subscription to Ancestry (or access to Ancestry Library Edition), be sure to look at the collection of City and Area Directories that includes directories for the U.S., U.K., Canada, and more.

Other places to look for city directories include:

• The Ancestor Hunt – Directories
• DonsList of Directories, Almanacs, Businesses, Registers, Street Guides
• Cyndi’s List of Directories: City, County, Address, etc.

9. Military Records

If your ancestor served in the military, his death date may be listed in one of his military files, even if his death occurred after his service ended.

There are many types of military records that could contain an ancestor’s death date, but here are a few places to start looking.

Compiled Military Service Record

If your ancestor died in battle, there should be a notation of his death date in his Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR). An exception to this would be Civil War Confederate records, which, unfortunately, are not always complete.

Pension Records

If your ancestor lived long enough after service to apply for and receive a pension, you may be able to find his death date there. Payments would have stopped after his death, so there is usually the notation of a death date or date when payments ceased.

Another clue would be a note that pension office mail was returned to sender, or a letter from a friend or family member noting that the veteran had passed away.

After the veteran’s death, his surviving widow may have applied for his pension. Widows’ pensions are often jam-packed with family information, and the veteran’s date of death would be included in the widow’s application.

Applications for Grave Markers

Your ancestor may have received a government-provided grave marker in recognition of his/her service, and the application for the grave marker should contain his/her death date.

Where to Find Military Records Online

• Fold3
• HeritageQuest Online (free to use remotely via some libraries)
• Ancestry
• FamilySearch
• The U.S. National Archives (some records from fold3 are free)

Be sure to check the FamilySearch Wiki for United States Military Cemetery Records for additional links and information.

10. Probate Records

An ancestor’s will – or lack thereof – can provide excellent clues to her/his death date.

Sometimes an ancestor’s date of death is mentioned in the will. But if it isn’t, there are two other important dates to look for:

1. The date the will was written.
2. The date the will was “proved” or presented in court.

You can reasonably conclude that your ancestor was alive at the time s/he wrote the will and deceased at the time the will was presented in court. This should at least help you narrow the time frame of the ancestor’s death.

If your ancestor died “intestate” without leaving a will, or if the will is declared invalid, the court may have appointed an administrator (male) or administratrix (female) and issued Letters of Administration.

There may also be an inventory, which determined the value of her/his estate, followed by a sale of land, property, and household items to pay the debts.

Your ancestor would, of course, have died prior to these events. If the death date is not explicitly stated in the probate documents, you would at least have a starting point for determining when s/he died.

Where to Find Probate Records Online

FamilySearch has a very good collection of probate documents for many states and counties. The downside is that most of these collections aren’t indexed, so you will need to patiently browse through the images in order to find the documents you need. Start by checking the catalog for the location of interest, and then click the drop-down arrow for Probate records.

You may also want to try Ancestry’s collection of “U.S. Wills and Probates.”

For links to other sites with free access to probate documents, visit The Ancestor Hunt > Probate Records and Wills.

And don’t forget to check Cyndi’s List of Wills and Probate links.

Wrap Up

Finding an ancestor’s death date is important for putting that final punctuation at the end of his or her life. It gives us closure to know when and where an ancestor died.

What are your favorite resources for finding an ancestor’s death date? Please feel free to share in the comments!

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