Using Death Certificates in Genealogical Research

Dec 23, 2010
Mary Rayme

Death certificate from Baltimore City - © Mary Rayme

How a death certificate told the story of my German ancestor who lived, married and died in Baltimore City, Maryland.

In researching my family’s genealogy I recently came upon a Baltimore City public death record for online searching. I was surprised and pleased to find my great-great grandmother’s death date, which made it possible for me to send away for a copy of her death certificate. I sent away my request along with a check for $25 and exactly 23 days later I had a copy of the death certificate.

German Immigrant

My great-great-grandmother was Henrietta Caroline Menard (1844-1931) and she immigrated to America from the Posen region of Germany around 1869 at age 25. Henrietta and her husband, Henry, had five children and lived in Baltimore, Maryland. My g-g-grandfather Henry Menard was a tailor, a very common profession at the turn of the last century. I have found my g-g-grandparents through other public documents such as the 1870 census, the 1880 Census, the 1890 Baltimore City Directory, and the 1900 census.

Sometime after 1900, my g-g-grandfather passes away, as I find Henrietta living with her daughter Emma, and her son-in-law John, in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. Census records. This means my g-g-grandmother was a widow for over 20 years and living with her extended family in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Tale Told By the Death Certificate

Until I received a copy of my g-g-grandmother’s death certificate the above information was really the extent of what I knew about Henrietta Menard, my g-g-grandmother. The tale told by the various information on the death certificate supplies many fascinating new aspects of my g-g-grandmother and her life and death.

The death certificate from the Maryland State Archives is of good quality in that all of the information is readable and mostly legible. What a wealth of information is offered on this small, historic document of an average citizen’s death almost 80 years ago.

My g-g-grandmother Henrietta died at her residence in August, 1931. The occupation of the deceased is listed as ‘at home’, showing that she was a housewife. The death certificate also gave me my g-g-grandmother’s exact birth date, information I did not have.

Henrietta’s birthplace is listed as Germany. As an added bonus, I found the name of my g-g-grandmother’s father, Louis, who is my great-great-great-grandfather! Louis is listed as being born in Germany. Unfortunately, the family member who witnessed for the death certificate didn’t know the name of Henrietta’s mother, so alas, my g-g-g-grandmother’s name remains unknown. However, it is noted that she was born in Germany.

Cause of Death?

The death certificate also revealed the causes of death for Henrietta as pneumonia, with carcinoma of scalp as a contributing cause of her demise at age 87. Since my g-g-grandmother lived to such a ripe, old age, one might be tempted to think that she simply expired from old age. But the death certificate also lists that the “I attended the deceased from August 15, 1929 to the date of death in August of 1931” and is signed by her doctor, Mr. R. Greaghten (sp?), M.D.

The death certificate has a question to be filled in that asks, “Did an operation precede death? “Yes”, is the answer given and the date is listed as August 15, 1929. So the doctor who operated on my g-g-grandmother was also the attending physician at her death, and seems to suggest that the operation two years prior to her death in some way contributed to her demise. One might speculate that an operation to remove the scalp cancer was ultimately unsuccessful.

Additionally, Henrietta was removed from the home by undertaker John Allen, Sr. where she was buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery with her deceased husband.

Google Maps

From the address on my g-g-grandmother’s death certificate I am able to use Google Maps to see the exact tiny row house in Baltimore where she lived and died for over 20 years. I can zoom out of Google Maps and see that her house is near Ellwood Park and is approximately 20 blocks east of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

As an amateur genealogist it is a thrill to be able to find one public document that yields so much information, and all mostly carried out online. If you are researching your family’s genealogy in Baltimore, here is the searchable online Baltimore City Death Index that helped me find out more about the story of my g-g-grandmother, Henrietta.