Methodology Monday~Funeral Home Records

Funeral homes became the norm when embalming practices were invented to help with the preservation of the many casualties to be transported back to their homes during the Civil War.
Even before Funeral Homes were in existence a family may have used an undertaker who kept business records. Due to the nature of the record, they contain primary information about the death and burial of an individual. After all, a funeral home record is not created until after someone has died and is usually done very close to the event.

Searching for these valuable documents may help to provide family history information to break through a brick wall.

Source: Shelley-Brunson Funeral Home, (Sumter, South Carolina), "July 1928-May'1933," Sumter Genealogical Society Sumter. South Carolina.

 

Funeral Home Records May Contain:

• Name of Deceased
• Date of Death
• Cause of Death
• Name of Spouse
• Names of Parents
• Date of Funeral
• Place of Funeral
• Date of Burial
• Place of Burial
• Employment
• Church Affiliation
• Names of other family members
• Cost of Funeral
• Name of Person to be Billed
• Items purchased for burial such as a casket and clothing
• Plot Number

A copy of the death certificate and receipts of payment for services may be included.

Tips for Finding Funeral Home Records

 Begin with What You Know. 

Most death certificates record the name of the Funeral Home. If you don't have the certificate for the person you are looking for, check those of other family members. Families often obtained services from the same funeral home for several generations.

Locate the Records

If the Funeral Home is known, contact them to ask about the availability of records. Earlier Funeral Homes may have gone out of business. Check with local genealogy societies, historical societies, archives and libraries to see if their records may have been donated to their repositories. Some of these may have been digitized or transcribed and put online.

 Finding Unknown Funeral Homes

Check City Directories for names fo those in your ancestor's community. An internet search for. Again, take advantage of local societies, archives, libraries and historical societies. They often have employees or volunteers who are experts in the area in question and can point you in the right direction.

 Use a map to determine which Funeral Homes may have been close to your ancestor’s home. This is helpful in large communities where there may be several to choose from. Start with the closest and then work your way one at a time to the farthest.

Search the Internet

A simple google search helped to find records for the Funeral Home used by my ancestors. Digitization projects through societies, libraries, and other organizations add more records every day. Funeral Home Records are among them.

 Use Online Data Bases

The U.S. Cemetery and Funeral Home 1846-2015, can be searched on Ancestry.  This collection is a compilation of obituaries and Funeral Home Records from across the country. While not complete with every funeral home, it's worth taking a look.

Source: Shelley-Brunson Funeral Home, (Sumter, South Carolina), "July 1928-May'1933,"p.58, for David Daughrity burial entry.9 June l93l: Sumter Genealogical Society Sumter. South Carolina

Funeral home records have helped me to resolve a conflict about a death date, build families ties and break down brick walls. 

Don't overlook this important record set when researching your family!

Have you used Funeral Home records? What discoveries did you make?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Helping you climb your family tree,

Celebration Sunday~Genealogy Happy Dance!

You know the dance. You know you've done it. The one every researcher does after finding something new. The one where you want to jump up and down and shout to everyone around that you found the document, contacted a cousin who has the family Bible, made a DNA connection or found a whole new branch to your tree. The one that is met with glazed stares and eye rolls.
                                                          Celebration Sunday is a place to share your discoveries. 
This is a weekly series to enable everyone to tell about their Genealogy Happy Dance moment. This can be done by scrolling down and adding your story to the comments section. You may also put a link to a blog post. 

My Happy Dance This Week:  

This week I was able to look through original probate records from the 1880s. The earliest from 1842,
There were 13 books in all ranging from indexes to guardian ship to will books. 
If you haven't had the opportunity to research in original records, put it on the top of your list! Get out from behind your desk and get out to the archieves and courthouses. Not everything is online and nothing feels or smells like old books and documents. You'll be so glad you did!
I am still doing a jig just thinking about it!! 
                                                                                    Share your discovery!

                                                                                   Let the dancing commence!

Share the fun! Click below to tweet this post! 

Looking forward to reading about your Happy Dance moment!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Helping you climb your family tree,

Making Sense of the Census-Finding Nancy and Helen

Are you having trouble finding people in the census when doing a search on ancestry, familysearch or other genealogy content providers? 
Sometimes, you need to be thinking creatively  with how you search and when viewing the results when they pop up.

My great grandfather Jubal Ransom Early (1888-1964) was an interesting man. So far, I have discovered three marriages and several childen during his lifetime. Divorce wasn't legal at the time so it's likely he just walked away and started over with each new family.

Looking for Jubal in the 1910 and 1920 census of both North and South Carolina has not been successful. I have tried all the tricks. Using just his first hame, his last name, initials, birth date,and also looking for all the Earlys in a county and state. Nothing. 
In 1915 and 1916 he had children with Nancy Horton Early (1892-?) in Iredell County, North Carolina. One of those, a son died in 1916. 
In the 1930 census, Nancy and daughter Helen (1916-1971) were in Greensville, South Carolina where Nancy is listed as a widow although Jubal didn't die until 1964. This was a common practice expecially in states where divorce was not legal. Many woman claimed to be widows after their husbands left them.

Not finding Jubal-you'd think I would with a name like his- I changed my search to try to locate wife Nancy and daughter Helen hoping he was with them. 
No hits in the areas the family was from came up. Where was this family? I decided to expand the search into other areas.

Then I noticed a curious entry.

Could this be Nancy and Helen? 

1920 U.S. Census Lee County, SC, population schedule, Mt. Clio Township, Enumeration District ED 20, p.4 B (penned), dwelling 78, family 80, Nancy Early, digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com:accessed 21 Jan. 2018); from National Archives microfilm publication T623 roll 1524

I believe it is them. The ages match up even though the location is not where I would expect them to be. Why was Nancy living in Lee County, SC? She is listed as married so where is Jubal?
Then I realized.  Jubal was most likely next door in Sumter County, where he met my great grandmother! This was 1920 and my grandmother was born the same year! He's doesn't appear on the census of that county, but he obviously was there at some point. 
So, did he have his wife and daugter boarding in the next county while he was courting my great grandmother? It appears so. The cad.  

Where exactly was Jubal while the census was taken in 1910 and 1920? That's a question that still needs to be answered. Hopefully more creative searching can find him.

Do you have people you can't find in the census. Making sense of what the search engines bring up sometimes take creativity and thinking outside of the box.

It helped me find Nancy and Helen. Who has it helped you find?


This post was written for #52 Ancestors from Amy Johnson Crow. Week 5-In the Census.

Thanks for stopping by!
Helping you climb your family tree,