Detroit death

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:49 am

Anyone know how I would trace a death in Detroit after 1930? I can see where you write for a certificate but as I don't know the date of death I'm kind of stuck.

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:16 pm

Hi Mallog,
Have you tried to see if the death is in the Detroit Area Death Notices site?

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~steinie/

No index, but they are there, year by year.

Other exploring on the somewhat disorganized Wayne county, Michigan GenWeb site may give you other clues.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~miwayne/index.htm

Let us know what, if anything, works!
All the best,
Sarah

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:48 pm

Will have a look ta

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:03 am

Hello,

I lived outside the city of Detroit for 48 years. Can't promise wonders, but if you have a little more information maybe I can help.

Detroit is perpetually short on funds so it and Wayne County have farmed out their vital records to some company called Vital Records something or other if you need to deal with them online. This is fine if you know everything already and just need a copy of a certificate. If you don't know everything, good luck. If you can show up downtown, you can probably find somebody to wade through things and help but it's a long trip!

Do you have anything like an address? Was this person living in Detroit proper or "near Detroit"? Do you know where he/she was buried? When I was looking for my great aunt earlier this year, the cemetery staff was able to look up her burial records and give her date of burial and other information.

If you can give me some of the above, I'll see what I can find out for you over here. If you prefer, send it in a private message.

Carol

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:43 pm

Thanks Carol. I will pm you

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:49 pm

Sarah,

The Michigan genealogy sites aren't very complete. However, the Detroit Public Library has a very significant genealogy collection. Unfortunately, you need a library card and a password to access it.

Fortunately, I have a friend who works in the city and is a history buff. He has been known to do some research on occasion so I'm going to try to catch up with him this weekend.

I'm hoping to find an obituary or even a phone book from sometime after 1930 to pick up some clues for mallog.

We'll see!

Carol

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:19 am

Great, Carol!
I went on the library site in my initial looking around and realized we needed a person on the spot! Wonderful that you have a contact

Regards,
Sarah

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:05 am

Sarah,

Wouldn't you know, he seems to have retired and is out running around visiting his kids! His phone number is still current though so he has to come home sometime!

I'm off to the library tomorrow if it's open on Columbus Day. There must be a way into the DPL collection by remote access from somewhere down here.

Carol

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 4:28 pm

Everything comes to she who waits--and waits and waits, oh, about 6 months!

Have your grandfather's date of death and will have his obituary in a few days! Will pm you the info shortly. $\:D/$

Carol

Post by **SarahND** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 4:35 pm

=D> =D> Nice one, Carol!

[talkingscot]

Sarah