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Death Records
includes Death Indices, Death Notices, Funeral Home Records and Federal Mortality Schedules
 

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Knowledgeables

Finding Records:  Death Records are considered a '" vital " record. Prior to the start dates shown for each state below, a researcher will NOT find any official records of death for individuals. However, a deceased person's death information may be found in obituaries, death notices, Bibles, tombstones, funeral home records and mortality schedules.  Obituaries are not, per se, a death record even though long ago a person was not considered legally dead until their obituary was published in a newspaper. Obits are in their own, separate section within our AAG web site. Death notices are also found in newspapers, most often submitted by funeral homes.

Mortality Schedules.  These are a list of deceased persons in that county for the entire previous year.  Therefore, they should only be classified as a type of county death record. Censuses are lists of living persons on the day that census was taken. Simply because both schedules were taken by the federal government does not make them a 'census'.

SSDI Index.  The Social Security Administration [SSA] was started in the early 1930's. If a person continued working beyond those years and died after about 1963, they should be found in the Social Security Death Index    Because wives did not usually work when the SSA was started, some of them did not apply or receive a Social Security Number [SSN] until after their husband's death. Therefore, the state where her SSN was issued may be different from where her husband's SSN was issued.  Generally speaking, all persons shown on the SSDI obtained their SSN prior to 1951 and were issued in the state where they were living at the time of application. Researchers may order a copy of an ancestor's SSN application.

Social Security Death Index  - at ancestry.com
The Social Security Death Index - at LDS
RootsWeb SSDI  
The Social Security Death Index - at World Vital Records
The Social Security Death Index - at Genealogy.com
 

Helpful Reading: 

 

 468x60_deaths_dark_1.gif
 
Georgia

Information about death records is available at the State Vital Records Office from 1919 to the present. 

Searchable Databases
GA Death Index 1919-1998
 Ancestry.com
1850, 1860, 1870 & 1880 Mortality Schedules
 Ancestry.com
1850 Mortality Schedule Database
 LDS
1880 Mortality Schedules
 statewide by surname
Early Death Certificate Images
GA Virtual Vault

 

Certified copies of death records are available from 1919 to the present. Death certificates are available to the general public.

Certified copies of vital records may be obtained from the state vital records office (all counties), or the county where the vital event occurred.

The person requesting a certified copy of a death record must provide the following information and a signed request:

Full name of deceased,
Date of death (month, day, year),
Place of death (city, county),
Age of deceased at death,
Sex,
Race (optional),
The number of copies requested.
Relationship to deceased.

 

 


 

GA County
Clerk/Health
Office

 Transcribed
Mortality Schedules

Transcribed County Records
On-line
1850 1860 1870 1880
[Codes]
Banks:
P.O. Box 7, Homer, GA 30547-0007; 706-677-6250 / FAX 677-2337		 NA x

x

 x Death Index
1921-1942
Cass/Bartow x x x x John Jones Funeral Director's Book
1926-1933
Barrow NA NA NA NA  
Cherokee Search all 4 simultaneously
or look at  just
 1880

1919-1923

1919 1929
1920 1930 - 1931
1922 1932 - 1933
1923 - 1924  1934 - 1936
1925- 1927 1937 - 1940
1928  1941 -1943
Clarke       x  
Dawson NA     x  
Elbert       x 1875-1876
Fannin NA     x 1919-1926
1927-1934

1919-1926
1927-1934
1919-1943
Floyd
 Health Department
315 West 10th Street
Rome, GA 30162
Phone: 706-295-6123		       x
  1919 1920 1921
1922 1923 1924 1925
 
Forsyth x     x  
Franklin x x   x  
Gilmer x

x

x

x

 1919-1920

1919-1923

1923
Gordon: 
Probate Court
100 S. Wall Street
Calhoun, GA 30701
(706) 629-7314		 NA     x  
Habersham       x  
Hall       x  
Hart NA x x x  
Jackson x x   x  
Lumpkin          
Madison x x x x  
Milton:
Records went to Fulton Co. in 1932; Order these from State Office		 NA     x  
Murray:
115 Fort Street, Chatsworth, GA 30705-0115
706-695-3812
FAX 517-1340		       x  
Oconee NA NA NA x  
Pickens:
50 N. Main Street, Suite C, Jasper, GA 30143;
706-253-8756
FAX 253-8910		 NA .pdf .pdf x  
Rabun:
25 Courthouse Square, Suite 215
Clayton, GA 30525
706-782-3614
FAX 706-782-9278		 x x x x  
Stephens:
205 N. Alexander Street, Rm. 108, Toccoa, GA 30577; 706-886-2828
FAX 886-2631		 NA NA NA NA 1927-2006
Towns NA     x  
Union x     x  
White NA     x  
Whitfield NA     x  

 

North Carolina

Registered Deaths were required in NC beginning in Oct 1913. 

For death certificates BEFORE 1930, contact the North Carolina State Archives.

Deaths occurring AFTER  1930 can be obtained from the NC State Vital Records Office:

1903 Mail Service Ctr, Raleigh, NC 27699-1903
(919) 733-3526.

The Register of Deeds office in each county maintains copies of the Birth, Marriage, and Death certificates for events that occurred in that county.  Links to each of these offices is shown below.

 

In order to process a request, Vital Records needs to know:

Full Name of Deceased

Date of Death

Place (City or County) of Death

Date of Birth

In addition, in order to receive a certified copy, you must provide the requestor's relationship to the person named on the record. If the requestor is not of the immediate family, a brief statement as to why the certificate is needed MUST be included. Certified copies of vital records are not available to everyone. North Carolina law [NCGS 130A-93(c)] specifies that certified copies of certificates are available only to the following people:

A person requesting a copy of his or her own vital records or that of the person's spouse, sibling, direct ancestor, direct descendant, stepparent, or stepchild

A person seeking information for a legal determination of personal or property rights or

An authorized agent, attorney, or legal representative of a person described in (1) or (2) above


NOTE: Proof of identity and proof of eligibility are required.

Searchable Databases
1850, 1860, 1870 & 1880 Mortality Schedules
 Ancestry.com		 1850 Mortality Schedule Database
 LDS		 1908-1975
Death Certificate Images
 Ancestry.com		 1908-2004 Death Index
 Ancestry.com


 


Register of
Deeds
Offices:

Transcribed
Mortality Schedules

 Transcribed County
Records Online
1850 1860 1870 1880
Alleghany x 1964-2007 SSDI
Ashe          
Avery NA NA NA NA  
Buncombe x       Index

"R" Deaths, Pages 1785-1788

county gov site search 1913-2008
Burke x        
Caldwell         county gov site search 1900-2008
Cherokee Pg 1

Pg 2

 Pg 1

Pg 2

    

1913-1927
A B C D E F G H I J K
L M Mc N O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z            

 
Clay:
PO Box 118, 54 Church St Hayesville NC 28904;
828-389-0087, Fax: 389-9749		 NA NA      
Graham NA NA NA    
Haywood x        
Henderson x   x x Corner Inquests
Jackson NA x      
Macon x x     Index 1913-1978
Madison NA        
McDowell          
Mitchell NA NA x   Death Index 1913-1940
Polk NA        
Rutherford          
Swain NA NA NA    
Transylvania NA NA x x 1913-1914 Certificates
Watauga          
Wilkes x x      
Yancey x        

 

Tennessee

TN State Vital Records Office - what records are available, where they are located, to whom copies are given, fees, and how to order on-line. Death records are kept for 50 years, then sent to the TN State Library and Archives "TSLA".

Certified copies of the original records are available only to the person named on the record and to certain family members or legal representatives.

Pre-1908 Deaths for Knoxville [from 1881] and Chattanooga [from 1872] can be requested by mail, if the year of the event is known.

 

Searchable Databases
1850, 1860,
1870 & 1880
Mortality Schedules
 Ancestry.com		 1850 Mortality Schedule Database
 LDS		 Death Index
1908-1912		 Death Index
1914-1928		 Funeral Home Records at TLSA

 

 

County
Clerk's
Office:

Transcribed Mortality
Schedules

Transcribed County
Records Online
1850 1860 1870
Not Available		 1880
Blount x x    
Bradley x x      
Carter          
Cocke:
360 Court Avenue
Courthouse Annex
Newport, TN 37821
423-623-8791		 x        
Grainger:
P.O. Box 116
Rutledge TN 37861
865-828-3511		         1914-1925 Death Index

1949-2005 Index
Greene:
101 S Main St
County Courthouse
Greeneville, TN 37743-4945
(423) 638-8118		          
Hamblen NA NA     1914-1925 A-K
1914-1925 L-Z
Hamilton         1881

1913 Chattanooga City
1914 Chattanooga City
 
Hawkins          
Colboch-Price Funeral Home Burial Records 1942-1975 (NEW CD)
Colboch-Price Funeral Home Burial Records 1976-1999 (NEW CD)
Bulls Gap Funeral Home 1948-1981 (NEW CD)
Nash-Wilson Funeral Home Burial Records 1955-1973 (NEW CD)
Nash-Wilson Funeral Home Burial Records 1955-1973 (spiral-bound)
Harrison Funeral Home Burial Records 1930-1942
Hawkins Co, TN Death Records 1914-1925
Ross Papers, Deaths 1881-1893
 
James:
1870-1919
 See Hamilton Co. TN		 NA NA     1914-1925 Death Index
Jefferson          
Johnson
222 Main St., Mountain City, TN 37683
(423) 727-7853		 x x      
Knox         1914-1920
1921-1925

1914-1919 Funeral Home Records
Loudon NA NA NA x  
1908-1912 Certificates
A-D E-H
I-L M-P
Q-T U-Z
McMinn x x      
Meigs:
Main St., Hwy 58
Decaturville, TN 37322
(423) 334-5747		 x x      
Monroe:
105 College St.
Madisonville, TN 37354
(423) 442-5948		 x x      
Polk:
P.O. Box 128
Cty Crthouse
Benton, TN
37307-0128
(423) 338-4527		 x x    

Higgins Funeral Home Records, 1928-1987, Benton, Tennessee [Blankenship, 1993)

Rhea:
375 Church St., Dayton, TN 37321
423 775-7808		          
Roane:
200 E Race St.
Kingston, TN 37763
865 376-5556 		x x   x Certificates

Murder & Mayhem Articles

Maxwell Funeral Home Records, Harriman, 1926-1979 by RCHC
Sevier x x    

  • Official Atchley Funeral Home Records - Sevierville, TN, 1930-1973 by SMHS

  • Official Atchley Funeral Home Records - Sevierville, TN, 1974-1999 by SMHS

  • Official Records of the Rawlings Funeral Home, Sevierville, TN, 1911-1995 by SMHS

  • Enoch Huffakers Funeral Home, Kodak TN
Sullivan        
Unicoi NA NA      
Washington          

 
South Carolina

In SC, death records were started in 1915 and are restricted from the public for 50 years.  The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has the certificates from 1915 to the year before the 50-year restriction. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control ["DHEC"] holds certificates after the 50-year restriction.  

Only the following are entitled to obtain a certified copy of a SC death certificate:

  • the person named on the certificate (if you are at least 18 years old),

  • the parent(s) named on the birth certificate, or

  • the guardian, or a legal representative of one of these.

Immediate family members and/or their respective legal representative may obtain a certified copy of a birth record if the registrant is deceased. An original, certified copy (no photocopies) of the registrant's death record must be submitted with the request. There are no exceptions.

There are 3 ways to obtain a vital record in SC.  For further information, go here.   

Searchable Databases

1850, 1860,
1870 & 1880
Mortality Schedules
 Ancestry.com

Death Index 1915-1957

SC Death Records 1821-1955
 Ancestry.com

SC Death Index 1950-1952
 Ancestry.com

SC Bapt Deaths 1835-1865 and 1866-1887
 Ancestry.com

Greenville Marriage and Death Notices 1826-1863 @ Ancestry.com
Maryland and South Carolina Lutheran Newspapers, Marriages and Deaths
 Ancestry.com

 

County
Probate Judges:		 Transcribed Mortality Schedules Transcribed County Records
On-line
1850 1860 1870 1880
Pickens     x    
Oconee NA NA x    
Anderson          
Greenville         List of Deaths by James Anderson
1840-1876
Spartanburg     x   Death Indexes

Submitted Death Certificates
 

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