Hi there! I'm Lisa Lisson, and I'm passionate about helping people like you discover their ancestors and expand their family tree without feeling overwhelmed or uncertain about the next steps.
Your ancestor's death certificate is hiding something
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Hi, Reader, You found the death certificate. Name, date, cause of death confirmed. Filed away. Most genealogists stop there, but the four most useful clues on the document are still sitting unread. I just updated this post with exactly what to look for and why each one matters: → 4 Death Certificate Clues Everyone Misses The first I'd start with: the informant. Who reported the death? If it's a neighbor instead of a family member, that's not random. It's either evidence of estrangement, or a relative you don't know yet using a married name. Either way, it's worth researching. The other three are birthplace discrepancies, occupation changes, and death location. They look like administrative details. They're not. If you have death certificates you've already found, this is worth going back for. The records haven't changed. What you're looking for in them is about to. If you want to go deeper, my Beyond the Grave webinar covers the full process for finding an ancestor's date of death when the obvious sources aren't working. $37, one hour, instant access. Happy Ancestor Hunting, Lisa |
Are You My Cousin? Newsletter
Hi there! I'm Lisa Lisson, and I'm passionate about helping people like you discover their ancestors and expand their family tree without feeling overwhelmed or uncertain about the next steps.
Hi, Reader, With Labor Day coming up, I’ve been thinking about work, specifically, the work our ancestors did. When I look at my own family tree, I see a lot of farmers. Farmer. Farmer. Farmer. Not particularly exciting at first glance. 🙂 But an ancestor’s occupation can tell us much more than simply how they earned a living. Their work could influence where they lived, why they moved, who they interacted with and even the types of records they left behind. And sometimes, understanding why an...
Hi, Reader, Apparently August still triggers the part of my brain that thinks I need new school supplies. I haven’t actually gone back to school in quite a few years, but give me a good pen, a fresh legal pad and an excuse to wander through the office-supply aisle, and I’m happy. So after last week’s look at school records, I thought we’d continue the back-to-school theme with a different question: What are the “school supplies” I actually use as a genealogist? I’m fairly minimalist when it...
Hi, Reader, Where I live, “back to school” is a little complicated. We have traditional-calendar schools, year-round schools, modified year-round schools…basically, somebody is always going back to school. But August still feels like back-to-school season. And for genealogists, it’s a good reminder to ask a question we often overlook: What records did our ancestors leave behind when they went to school? School records can be surprisingly useful especially when you’re trying to place a family...