Thank you for registering for the online seminar, Beyond the Grave: Uncovering Life Stories from Death Records!
As genealogists, we often talk about “filling in the dash” for our ancestors—moving beyond birth and death dates by uncovering stories that paint a more complete picture of our ancestors’ lives. To fill in this “dash” we shouldn’t just look to records from the years that they were alive. Death records include important details and clues about our ancestors’ lives that reveal rich stories and help us better understand their experiences. This five-session online seminar provides a detailed overview of death records through this lens of uncovering stories. We’ll discuss civil death records and substitutes; last wills and testaments; funeral, burial, and cemetery records; and more.
This course includes five 90-minute classes and exclusive access to handouts and recordings of each presentation. These recordings and all course materials will be available for the foreseeable future.
CLASS TOPICS
Class 1: Using and Understanding Civil Death Records
Presented by Melanie McComb
This first class will cover civil death records—what information they include, how to find them, and how to follow clues to ancestral stories. We’ll also discuss how to interpret and evaluate the information provided by considering the informant listed, cause of death, and more.
Class 2: Reporting Death: Civil Death Record Substitutes
Presented by David Allen Lambert
While civil death records can reveal a wealth of information about your ancestors, it’s possible that you may not be able to locate an official death record due to the time period, location, and/or record loss. In this case, there are a number of other death records that can provide similar details. In this class we’ll discuss death notices, obituaries, mortality schedules, coroner reports, final pension payments, and more.
Class 3: Last Will and Testament
Presented by Melanie McComb
Consider the important insights into a person’s life that can be gained by looking at their will—you’ll find information about how much money they had (or didn’t have), any property they may have owned, and who they chose to leave their assets to (and who they left out). This class will cover all of the life details and stories that can be uncovered in probate records.
Class 4: More Probate Records
Presented by Rhonda R. McClure
Building upon the previous class, in this session we'll discuss the types of records family historians can turn to when the decedent died without a will (intestate).
Class 5: Final Resting Place: Burial, Cemetery, and Gravestone Records
Presented by Rhonda R. McClure
There is so much more to uncover about your ancestors’ death (and their life) beyond civil death records and their will. In this final class, we’ll discuss how you can move “beyond the grave” to uncover ancestor stories through funeral, burial, and cemetery records.
COURSE HANDOUTS
Class 1 Handout
Class 1 Slides Worksheet
Class 1 Slides (large)
Class 2 Handout
Class 2 Slides Worksheet
Class 2 Slides (large)
Class 3 Handout
Class 3 Slides Worksheet
Class 3 Slides (large)
Class 4 Handout
Class 4 Slides Worksheet
Class 4 Slides (large)
Class 5 Handout
Class 5 Slides Worksheet
Class 5 Slides (large)
RECORDED PRESENTATIONS
Class 1: Using and Understanding Civil Death Records
Live Broadcast: September 30, 2025
Presented by: Melanie McComb
Running Time: 1:17:14
Class 2: Reporting Death: Civil Death Record Substitutes
Live Broadcast: October 7, 2025
Presented by: David Allen Lambert
Running Time: 1:23:08
Class 3: Last Will and Testament
Live Broadcast: October 14, 2025
Presented by: Melanie McComb
Running Time: 1:22:48
Live Broadcast: October 21, 2025
Presented by: Rhonda McClure
Running Time: 1:27:32
Class 5: Final Resting Place: Funeral, Burial, and Cemetery Records
Live Broadcast: October 28, 2025
Presented by: Rhonda McClure
Running Time: 1:51:12
RECORDED DEMOS
DEMO: Using JSTOR (from Class 4)
Presented by: Rhonda McClure
Running Time: 00:07:03
DEMO: Locating Published and Digitized Cemetery Records (from Class 5)
Presented by: Rhonda McClure
Running Time: 00:11:04
INSTRUCTOR BIOS
David Allen Lambert Chief Genealogist, has been on the staff of American Ancestors since 1993. David is an internationally recognized speaker on the topics of genealogy and history. Lambert has published many articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the New Hampshire Genealogical Record, Rhode Island Roots, Mayflower Descendant, and American Ancestors magazine. He has authored and or co-authored in the published genealogies presented to David McCullough, Ken Burns, Angela Lansbury, Michael and Kitty Dukakis, Nathaniel Philbrick, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. He has also published eleven books including A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries (American Ancestors, 2018), and Vital Records of Stoughton, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1850 (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2008). David received his B.A. in History from Northeastern University. David is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Mass., and a life member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati and the General Society of the War of 1812. David also serves as the tribal genealogist for the Massachusett Tribe at Punkapoag in Massachusetts. His areas of expertise include New England and Atlantic Canadian records of the 17th through 21st century; American and international military records; DNA research; and Native American and African American genealogical research in New England.
Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer specializing in New England and celebrity research as well as computerized genealogy; is compiler of more than 120 celebrity family trees; has been a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of ten books, including the award-winning The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition, Finding Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors, and Digitizing Your Family History. Her areas of expertise include: Immigration and naturalization, Late 19th and early 20th Century urban research, Missionaries (primarily in association with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions), State Department Federal Records, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research as well as Internet research, genealogical software (FTM, RootsMagic, TMG, Reunion), digital peripherals, and uses both Mac and Windows machines.
Melanie McComb, Senior Genealogist, assists library visitors, both on-site and online, with their family history research. She is an international lecturer who teaches on a variety of topics. Melanie holds a B.S. degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. She previously served as the social media coordinator for the NextGen Genealogy Network, a non-profit that creates a community for younger genealogists, where she managed the Facebook and Twitter accounts. She continues her interest in helping younger genealogists get involved at American Ancestors by assisting with educational programs from local schools, scout groups, and universities. Her areas of expertise include Irish genealogy, DNA, Atlantic Canada, Jewish genealogy, and military records.
OTHER RESOURCES
Facebook Live Event: All Things Macabre: Death Records, Cemeteries, and Witches
Facebook Live Event: Getting the Most Out of a Probate Record
Webinar: Grave Matters: Basics of Cemetery Family History Research
Webinar: Using Cemetery Transcripts in Your Family History Research
Webinar: Using New England Probate Records