[or-roots] Minnesota Death Certificates Index Online

[Michelle A. Day]

Sorry for passing this on to non-Minnesota lists but we are all pretty
much doing research in other states also.  In case anyone is interested
and researching in Minnesota...

     The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy
     Newsletter and is copyright 2002 by Richard W. Eastman. It is
     re-published here with the permission of the author.

- Minnesota Death Certificates Index Online

Death certificates can provide valuable genealogy information for
researchers. Most death certificates will provide a place and date
of birth for the deceased individual, information that may be
elusive otherwise. Some death certificates will even provide the
names of the parents. Frequently, the death certificate may be the
only easily identified link back to a person's birth and his or
her ancestors.

The Minnesota Historical Society now has an online index of death
certificates in the state. The database currently indexes the
years from 1908 through 1955. The Minnesota state government
became custodian of death records starting in 1908, and these are
the records indexed by the Minnesota Historical Society. Earlier
records were kept by the county government and are not included in
the new online database.

I took a look at the Minnesota Death Certificates Index database
and found it very easy to use. From the search page you have
options for entering first/last name (exact, contains, starts
with, or ends with), date of death (expressed as a range of
years), county to search (or you can search all counties) and how
you want to arrange the results displayed (by last name, first
name, death year, and death county.)

After specifying a search, within a second or two a new page
appears, listing those items that match your search criteria.
Search results have a place for name, certificate ID, date of
birth, place of birth, mother's maiden name, date of death, and
county of death. However, not all the fields will be filled in.
For instance, in all the searches I conducted the date of birth,
place of birth, and mother's maiden name were blank in this index.

Keep in mind that this is strictly an index. The information in
this database does not include all the information contained on
the original death certificates. Information about date and place
of birth or parents' names may be missing in this online index but
usually can be found on the original certificates. If you find an
ancestor listed in this database, you will always want to obtain a
photocopy of the original death certificate. The Minnesota
Historical Society's Web pages make it easy to order the
certificate(s) by mail. When viewing the index listing for an
individual, you can click on "Add to Order." You may continue to
search in the database and even add more items to the order form.

When you are finished with your searches, you click on "View
Order." The order form will be automatically generated by the
Society's Web page and displayed on your screen. However, you must
send the order form and payment information by old-fashioned
"snail mail." You simply print the order form on your local
printer, and write a check ($8.00 per certificate requested) or
enter your credit card information on the order form. You then
send the order to the Minnesota Historical Society. The Society
will send photocopies of the certificates to you, normally within
three weeks of your order date.

The Minnesota Death Certificates database is an excellent tool for
anyone researching Minnesota ancestors between 1908 and 1955. You
can access the database yourself at:
http://people.mnhs.org/dci/Search.cfm