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-week online seminar will provide 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.
September 30 - 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.
October 7 - 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.
October 14 - 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.
October 21 - 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).
October 28 - 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.
