Ohio Death Certificates

Those of us researching Ohio ancestors can really count ourselves lucky. We have the ability to get actual copies of death certificates for those people who died in the state from 1908 - 1953. Our thanks need to go to the Mormon Church for putting the records on their FamilySearch Labs site.

The entire FamilySearch Lab website is a great resource for all genealogy researchers, but having the ability to save and/or print actual death certificates for my Ohio ancestors and relatives is one of the greatest brick wall busters that I have found recently.

To easily find the Ohio death certificates, click on one of the links in this posting. Once there, you will see a list of current projects. Click on the second one titled RECORD SEARCH. This will take you to a page with a search box and a map. Control your desire to begin searching for now! Click on the United States portion of the map and then, on the new page, scroll down to find Ohio Deaths 1908 - 1953. Clicking on this link will give you a search box that concentrates only on the death certificates.

The search box has a lot of capabilities. You can search using only some information or use as much as you know. Play around with the different possibilities. In some instances, I knew only a county and was able to locate members of my family that were previously unknown to me. As you filling the location boxes, you will be prompted with various locations to choose from. Using these will insure that your search is processed correctly.

We all know that finding women once they have changed to their married name is sometimes near impossible. Click on the MORE link and try filling in nothing but one or both parent names. I found quite a few women that I didn't know even existed until I did this. I also found some family members that had been in hiding due to their childhood deaths.

Once you have found someone of interest, you have several viewing options. Hovering the cursor arrow over the name will automatically bring up a box with the pertinent information about that person. Clicking on the name itself will show you the same information in a different format. To view the actual death certificate, click on the little icon next to the name. The image will load and you can zoom in, rotate, save, or print your certificate. To return to the full searched list, click on the small arrows at the top of the search window.

There is also a list of ways to narrow your findings that can be useful if too many possibilities are returned. You can also revise the search elements that you used by clicking on the link in the top left corner.

After searching the Ohio death certificates to your heart's desire, go back and see what else is available for other portions of the United States and world. The Mormon Church is in the process of adding more and more records to created an even bigger website so it is worth bookmarking for future visits. I hope you enjoy this tip. Let me know if it helped you by leaving me a comment!

Dead Fred for Photographs

If you are like me, one of your goals is to have as many photographs of the people in your family tree as you can. It's always fun to compare past and present facial features to see if any of the "genes" are recognizable. Photographs also help us imagine what their lives and circumstances might have been like.

Hopefully, you already have some photographs of your ancestors. If not, or you are looking to increase the number in your collection, try the searching the website Dead Fred. This website is chock full of photographs and it's free!

Currently, Dead Fred has over 16,000 searchable surnames and over 94,000 records. There are five ways to search for your ancestors. The Quick Search box allows you to enter a surname. You can also search, then browse by the first letter of a surname which is helpful if there are numerous spelling variations. The Detailed Search has different fields for you to input known information in hopes of finding a match. If you would like to search just a location or photographer, the Detailed Search is what you need. There is also a Keyword Search and a Mysteries Search box for photographs of people yet to be identified.

If you are lucky in your search and would like a copy of the photograph, all you need to do is right-click and save to your hard drive for personal printing, although you may not use it for commercial use. It is also possible to contact the submitter to see if the original is for sale. If Dead Fred owns the original, proof of relation to the individual is needed and if no else claims to be a direct descendant within six months, then the photograph will be yours. A digital copy is maintained on the website for others to enjoy.

If you have photographs you would like to share, then Dead Fred can help you. You can upload digital copies of your photos and after reviewing for approval, they will be entered onto the website. The site also accepts original photographs that you may no longer want. Details on this can be found on the FAQ's page of the website.

Dead Fred also maintains a blog and publishes a newsletter for which links are found on the website. There is also a Yahoo Group to join. If you are looking for photographs of your family tree members, try Dead Fred. You might be surprised to find your great-grandfather "living" there!

The Brown County Press

One of the resources I use for Brown County, Ohio and surrounding area is the online site for The Brown County Press. This newspaper is a good source of news for the county, but if you don't have any need for current events, the obituary and social sections can help with your research.

The obituaries reported in the Brown County Press include not only those from the county, but also surrounding areas. Today, I saw several from Maysville, Kentucky, Hillsboro in Highland County, Ohio, and New Richmond in Clermont County, Ohio. Even though, thankfully, none of the deaths reported were people I know, I was able to find several names among the relatives of the dead that connect to my collateral lines.

I almost didn't click on the newspaper's social section link, but I'm now glad that I took the time to read over the news items I found there. One of the wedding anniversary announcements gave me a marriage date that was missing in my tree. Someday, one of these announcements might also provide a clue to a maiden name, marriage location, or names of the couple's children so I'll continue to check them out periodically.

If you have the need for a resource in southwestern Ohio or northern Kentucky, take a look at The Brown County Press. Who knows what you might find!

Ohio Catholic Records

While looking for evidence of some long ago ancestors, I happened upon the website of the Catholic Record Society of the Diocese of Columbus. The site was a pleasant surprise as I found a treasure trove of information about early Catholic baptisms, marriages, and cemetery records for central and eastern Ohio. One word of caution - Do not take a look at the map of the counties included in the diocese and rule out your ancestors before taking a closer look at the data available here. My early Ohio ancestors, the Gates and Guy's, settled in Brown and Adams Counties, which are not one of the counties highlighted on the map. However, remember in those early years of Ohio history, families were not able to travel to distant churches. Priests visited settlements to perform baptisms, marriages, and funerals of which the records of these visits to outlying counties were kept and are included in the data found on this site.

The society newsletter, Barquilla de la Santa Maria, which has been published since 1975, is available online as .pdf files. These contain dates, names, and events that will enrich your family history and might even help you scale that "brick wall" that you are facing. Issues from 1975 to 1987 can be accessed as .pdf files free of charge. Issues from later years are available from the society for $1.00 each. There is an easy-to-find link to the order form.

Links to the Name Indexes for years 1975-1987 will help you locate your surnames and then find them in the appropriate newsletter issues. The indexes for years 1988-2008 tell which issues to order for your research. The Subject Index will allow you to find other topics of interest that are mentioned in the newsletters. It will help you find articles on ethnic groups, genealogies, and Catholic history and education in Ohio. There are also biographies of Catholic bishops and other clergy that served in the state.

Under the "Research & Records" tab, you will find additional links to early Catholic baptism, marriage, and cemetery data. A catalog of the society's photo collection is still under construction, but shows great potential if completed.

If you have Ohio Catholic ancestors, the Catholic Record Society of the Diocese of Columbus is well worth your time.