ResearchBuzz

Genealogy buffs! Now you can take a look at Missouri death certificates covering 1910 to 1957 — that’s over 2 million certificates available at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/ . Access is free.

The index is searchable by first and last name, county, and year of death. My search for Smith found 23,878 results. Results are presented in a table that shows name, date of death, county, city (there’s not always a city) and certificate number. There’s also a link to an image of the death certificate itself. These are good-quality images but some of the handwriting makes it a tough read.

If you want more Missouri records, there’s a pre-1910 database at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/ , and a FAQ about the Missouri death certificate project at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/deathFAQ.asp .

The state of South Dakota recently announced an index to a database of cemetery records. You can now do Cemetery Records Search at http://apps.sd.gov/applications/DT58Cemetery/ . As the site makes clear, this is NOT an index of all burials in South Dakota, but mostly the result of a survey of cemeteries in South Dakota in the 1940s. (The “Graves Registration Project”.)

You can search by first and last name, city and county, and cemetery name. A last name search for Smith found — argh — a lot of results, with no result count, from Fred Bauersmith to James H Smith (I am suspicious this is incomplete.) Result listings include name, death date (occasionally unknown), block and lot number, city and county, and cemetery name. And that’s it. You can request the full cemetery record by going to the archives (of course) or filling out the Cemetery Record Information Request form. Requesting one name is $10.60, but 2 to 5 names will run you $21.20.

I mentioned this way back in March and now it’s finally arrived! The National Archives of Ireland has released the 1911 census for Dublin, now available at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ .

You can search by first/last name, approximate age (within 5 years), gender, and DED (District Electoral Division). I did a search for Smith and got over 2400 results. Results are sorted by surname by default, and are in tables which include name, townland/street, age, sex, and DED. Click on a name and you’ll get the information on the entire family living at that address. On the family page you’ll also find links to census images (which are in PDF format, be warned) that include the basic household form but also forms for buildings, outbuildings, and other forms unique to households or situations.

I am not a big fan of PDF census forms but these were pretty easy to read/magnify/manipulate. Information on these forms included the religion of the family, whether each member could read/write, marital status, where they were born, whether they spoke only “Irish” or both “Irish and English” and any conditions that the census especially took note of (”idiot”, “lunatic”, etc.)

You can also BROWSE the census, which is pretty interesting! You can browse by DED, which will take you through the townlands/streets of Dublin and list houses and families as well as significant buildings in the area. To get a sense of what the city was like in 1911, the site also has several articles and photographs covering a variety of topics including religion, transportation, poverty, and law.

Be sure to check out the future plans page, which shows the order in which census records will be made available. 1911 will be done first, then 1901. Something to look forward to!