Genealogy, inspired!
Today marks the birth date for my maternal Great Grandpa, Scottie, born in 1883, but today we’re going to talk about his death.
William Oscar AKA Scottie, is still quite an enigma to me and has been hard to find definitive documentation for except for a few tidbits and a very tragic train crash we’ll have to talk about another day.
That being said, I recently found his Death Certificate, and with the help of the internet Hive Mind, I’ve gained deeper insight into Scottie’s cause of death.
I often wonder why it is that the people closest to us, in physical proximity and in heart space, are the ones most often taken for granted…
Why we assume we know the facts or, at the very least, have bits and pieces of facts clear enough in our heads that it’ll all come together easily and turn out just fine in the end.
I find myself currently in this liminal space with my maternal grandpa, Phil, who lived and died before I came earth side.
After years of thinking about it, I finally ordered and received my Grandpa Phil’s death certificate last week and goodness was that exciting!
Funny, isn’t it, how excited we can get about documenting our ancestors…
Seeing the details in black and white…
Reflecting on the circumstances that led up to that final moment…
Contemplating all that came before and all that transpired after?
Vital records are the recorded documentation created by and kept under government authority that document the main life events of an individual. Vital records include birth certificates, marriage licenses and/or certificates, divorce certificates, and death certificates and are an integral component in your family history research.
One thing that comes up time and again when researching how to document one’s family history are the legal documents that can and should be used to confirm an ancestors identity and their relationships to others. These documents include vital records (birth, death, adoption, and marriage certificates), probate records/Wills, newspaper notices/Obituaries, and Census records, much of which can be found or ordered online if not held within your personal family records.
But what if you don’t have access to such records? Or what if they simply don’t exist?
This is the conundrum I’ve found myself in with multiple passed loved ones spanning three generations on my mom’s side. And so, as I’ve asked myself how to document the undocumented, I thought, “I surely can’t be alone, can I?”!