Looking at our family tree, for those for whom I have birth and marriage certificates, I now need to source death certificates. As you can see below, I already have Albert (Bert) Marelli’s death certificate as he died only recently, so I am going to look for the death certificates initially for Albert Marelli and then Martino Marelli who both died during the 20th Century.

For part of this exercise I am going to use findmypast.com to help source death certificates subsequent to the 1901 Census.

Step 1 – Sourcing death certificates

The first death certificate I am going to look for is that of Albert Marelli, father of Albert William and grandfather of Brian Marelli, my husband. As Albert William is no longer with us, I asked Brian if he could remember his grandfather. After giving the question some thought, he believed his grandfather was still living during the 1970s but couldn’t give an exact date.

My search years, to begin with, will be the decade of the 1970s and if I don’t find a record of his death during this decade, I will search five years prior to 1970 and five years subsequent to 1980, and keep following this process until I achieve a result.

As you can see above, I have typed in the criteria for my search: event, date range from/to, and the name of the person I am searching for. Then I clicked on ‘Search’.

The above is a part-view of the result of my search. Each year is split into quarters, i.e. Jan-Feb-Mar (March Quarter), Apr-May-Jun (June Quarter) and so on. It also lists alphabetically, from and to, the pages that house your ancestor by surname spelling, i.e. the surname March to Marino for the January quarter of 1970.

We can now start viewing our search pages as we would if we were to visit the FRC. After a reasonably short time, I found the Civil Registration details of Albert Marelli who died in the third quarter of 1974. Below is a copy of the detail at the top of the page and the registration of death for Albert. In later registers you will find the date of birth, which, in this case, I know to be correct, giving me further confirmation that I now have the correct death certificate.

If you now go back to Chapter 1, Step 4, you can order a copy of the certificate you have just sourced, if you want to, or leave it until placing a larger order.

My next search is for Martino. Brian has no recollection of his grandfather in living memory, so I can presume that he died prior to 1943, but I need a start date to commence my search. I know he was alive in 1901 but I do have a further clue. The marriage certificate of Albert to Lilian Chappell, dated July 1912, does not state that Martino is deceased (see Chapter 2, page 25).

So my search years for Martino were September 1912 until at least December 1943, but first I checked FreeBMD – unfortunately Martino was not as yet listed. Using findmypast.com I put in my search criteria and checked each quarter for each year since September 1912 and was very despondent when my search reached the beginning of the Second World War. He would be in his late eighties by then. Finally, in the March quarter of 1940,1 found the registration details for Martino’s death. If I had started at 1943 and worked backwards I could have reduced my search time. Never mind, these things happen all the time.

Again, you can now go back to Chapter 1, Step 4 and order a copy of the certificate you have just sourced.

I also sourced the death certificate for Amy Plummer who died in 1912 in Wandsworth and Frederick Stone Chappell, who died in Lyme Regis in 1924.I knew from the details of his daughter’s marriage to Albert Marelli in 1912 that he was still living at this time, so I took my search from there and found him in 1924. However for his wife, Susan Chappell, née Lugg, I broke the cardinal rule and went off at a tangent before sensibleness took over, eventually! I knew from the 1901 Census that Susan Chappell, née Lugg, was still living at this time. What I couldn’t fathom from Frederick’s death certificate was if she was still alive when he died in 1924. The reason for this being his daughter from Somerset was the informant on the death certificate, so there is no mention of his wife Susan.

I had no choice but to begin my search from 1901, as she could have died prior to her husband, but as I have no proof that she may have outlived her husband I would also have to search beyond 1924 if necessary.

I created a research form in Excel to keep track of everything I researched as I went, in order not to duplicate my search and waste time. It covers just the years from 1837, when Civil Registration started, and the quarters for each year. I added the names by hand. You could just as easily create such a form by hand and photocopy it, or create something similar in MS Word if you prefer. When I’m going to search specific years for an ancestor, 1 create a similar grid just for the specific years in which I expect to find an ancestor’s record, e.g. Mar, June, Sept, Dec 1860 to 1870. I write out the name, type certificate and spelling variations of the surname which helps to keep me focused on the job in hand. I have created a free, downloadable PDF of this form on my website, www.dianemarcelli.co.uk.

You will see above, I spent a great deal of time on this. I was convinced 1 would find Susan easily enough but my search took me from 1901 to 1955 searching under the name Chappell and then Chapple, and to my horror I still couldn’t find her. Next I tried searching Chap (for Chapel, Chapell etc.) but by 1930 I was totally despondent. Something was very wrong. I had found a couple of suspects in other parts of Devon under the correct spelling of her surname, but maybe she went to live with her daughter in Somerset, who was the informant on Frederick’s death certificate. The thought of starting again looking in another area did not appeal. This is when I remembered rule number one – try talking to living relatives first, Vic and Bet Marelli.

Sure enough after a conversation with Brian’s older cousin, Vic Marelli, the mystery was solved. Apparently Susan Chappell went to live with relatives in the Torquay area of Devon. A quick check of the couple of register pages I had printed off, luckily, and there she was. Susan Chappell lived until she was 94 years of age.

What else should we know about death certificates?

The top section of a death certificate is the same as that of a birth certificate and, as with births, death certificates also have a GRO reference number in the first column between 1 and 500. And if two members of the same family are recorded on the same page they might have the same reference number.

Column 1: When and where died

This is the actual date and place of death. The place of death could be at home, work, hospital, institution or even in another district, depending upon where the person was at this unfortunate time. So the residential address given here may not be that of the deceased but the address of the place at which they died.

The type of residence is not always shown in the address and although it does not state for example, a workhouse or prison, it is worth checking if the address was residential.

Column 2: Name and surname

The same care should be taken with death certificates as with birth and marriage certificates. If a person dies alone they may be dependant on a neighbour to register the death, who may not be in possession of the true identity of the person. A baby dying at birth may not have any name or just that of the father or, if illegitimate, the mother.

Column 3: Sex

Although rare, some mistakes are made when filling in this information.

Column 4: Age

This is the age of the deceased at the time of death, although the age on death certificates, especially during the 19th century, is more often wrong than right as I have found so many times when comparing birth, marriage and Census records with deaths.

We have to remember that the informant of the death, such as a neighbour or workhouse master, may be of no relation to the deceased and could be guessing their age. Also, the person who is deceased quite possibly may have estimated their age due to lack of legal documentation. Even if a family member is the informant, they do not necessarily know the exact age of the deceased. It could also be that the deceased lied about their age for one reason or another, such as a female who was older than her husband. Even with children, mistakes can be made so it is advisable to seek further evidence for the ages of deceased ancestors.

Column 5: Occupation

Here the word ‘occupation’ can have a different meaning from what we perceive occupation to mean. If the deceased is male, as with Martino, his occupation is shown as ‘fishmonger retired’, but the occupation of his wife Ellen was recorded as ‘Wife of Martino Marelli Ice Merchant’ and his daughter Rosalier as ‘Daughter of Martino Marelli Ice Merchant’. Sometimes the working occupation of a female is listed as well as the details of the father, or it might say ‘of no occupation’ if they were keeping house or ill, or sometimes even when they were actually employed.

A man could have no occupation shown, without explanation, meaning they were out of employment, or retired or perhaps ill. Also, the occupation on a death certificate could be totally different from their actual lifelong trade if, for example, in later years they became a night watchman.

If a child was illegitimate then their occupation would be recorded as ‘daughter of the mother’.

Column 6: Cause of death

Cause of death can be recorded as follows:

• Uncertified death. Early recorded deaths where there is nothing other than the cause of death recorded such as old age or senile decay. If the word ‘certified’ is written under the cause of death, it usually means a doctor has certified the death.
• Certification by a doctor. The most commonly recorded and usually with a doctor’s name. (You can usually establish if a doctor has certified the death by the medical terms used.)
• Certification by a post-mortem but without an inquest. Sometimes when a doctor has not certified a death, the cause of death is unknown and the coroner may request a post-mortem.
• Certification following an inquest. An inquest is requested in suspicious or unusual circumstances, as with Martino’s daughter Rosalier, and once satisfied, the death will be certified according to the circumstances. Rosalier’s death is recorded as accidental but could have been recorded as natural causes. Sometimes a record could read suicide or murder.

Column 7: Signature, description and residence of informant

The informant of the death would sign the certificate if able to write their name or they would make their mark as with other certificates. The informant could be whoever was present at the death. This could sometimes mean a relative even if the name is unfamiliar to you or it could just be an unrelated neighbour, friend or occupier of the property in which they died, such as a rooming house or workhouse. It is important to remember that earlier death certificates do not usually record the relationship of the informant or if they do, they could record someone as being a daughter when they are really a stepdaughter.

By the last quarter of the 19th century, more information about the informant is given making it easier to identify their relationship to the deceased.

If a partner of the deceased is unmarried, they cannot register the death unless they were in attendance when their loved one died.

When the informant is not related, the information recorded is more likely to have errors, as with one of my ancestors being recorded as the widow of her son Samuel, rather than of her husband William. Reasons for this could be that the informant William’s daughter-in-law, never knew her father-in-law as he died many years before when she was a young woman, and that she assumed he had the same Christian name as Samuel, her husband.

The address or residence of the informant will be recorded much the same as for births. Early records will more often record just a village, while later certificates will give a full address.

Column 8: Date of registration

Most deaths are registered within a day or two of the date of death but I found some deaths registered as long as eight days after the date of death. Reasons for delay could be because a person died in suspicious circumstances, as with the death of one of Martino’s children who died accidentally in bed, and an inquest delays registration. It is important to remember that the date the death is registered is the date you will find it in the indexes.

Column 9: Registrar’s signature

Here we have the registrar’s signature but if a death is recorded more than a year after the date of death, the signature of the superintendent registrar is also required.

Step 2 – Ordering death certificates

You are now ready to order your certificate and if you choose findmypast.com they have made this a very simple procedure.

This page gives you information about the various ways you can order certificates from the GRO including the online service.

So although searches can be carried out for recent ancestors, if you don’t get information from living relatives it can be a laborious task searching for a death certificate. With births you can estimate from a marriage date, and with a marriage you can estimate from a birth date, but with deaths unless you have a guide to the era of death, then it’s just a hard slog after 1901.

Step 3 – Sourcing civil deaths using the Census

The first couple I am going to source is William Plummer and Susan Plummer, née Jordan. William Plummer was born in 1845 and Susan Jordan in 1835, so it is conceivable that they were both living in 1901, so this is where I will start. A search of the 1901 Census in Ancestry.com produced the following record:

Name:	William Plummer
Age:	56
Estimated birth year:	Abt. 1845
Relation:	Father-in-law
Gender:	Male
Where born:	Tooting, London, England
Civil parish:	Battersea
Ecclesiastical parish:	St Barnabas, Clapham Common
County/Island	London
Country:	England

1901 England Census record for William Plummer.

Not only did it tell me that William Plummer was still living and working as a fog signalman for the railway, but it also gave me an insight into his relationship with his daughter Amy and her husband Martino. This also tells me that die families were close, or and took responsibility for their elders.

That means that I will have to search for William Plummer from 1901, but as you can see above at this date, William was a widower, meaning Susan Plummer, née Jordan, died pre-1901. So before I go hunting through Civil Registration I really need to establish if Susan Plummer was still living in 1891.

Name:	Susan Plummer
Age:	55
Estimated birth year:	Abt. 1836
Relation:	Wife
Gender:	Female
Where born:	Melksham, Kildare, Ireland
Civil parish:	Wandsworth
Ecclesiastical parish:	St Mary
County/Island:	London
Country:	England

1891 England Census record for Susan Plummer.

The only information that is misleading is the transcription for ‘Where born’: Melksham, Kildare, Ireland!! Obviously, this was a mistake, and viewing the original Census proved that it was a transcription error and should have read Wiltshire’.

Susan Plummer was living in 1891, which meant she died after this date but before 1901, so naturally these are my search years for the Civil Registration record of her death. My first stop, as always is FreeBMD. Luckily I found Susan Plummer listed and was able to order her death certificate online via the GRO.

Finding the Civil Death Registration for William was obviously not going to be as straightforward, although I was hopeful I might be lucky enough to find him on FreeBMD. Sadly, I did not as they seemed to have transcribed only up to 1911. But I can use this information if I can find out how many deaths have been transcribed up until 1911. Look at the bottom of my search page for William in FreeBMD, at the sentence beginning with ‘Has our search engine …’. I clicked on the word ‘here.’

As you can see, nearly all civil deaths have been transcribed up until 1911. This is where I made my decision to search not from 1901 but from 1911, in the hope I could save some time. I am pleased to say that my decision paid off and I found William Plummer in the first quarter of 1917 and saved myself ten years of searching.

The next stage using the Census, will take you back another generation. For the purpose of this exercise I will use the parents of William Plummer (who was married to Susan Jordan).

From William’s birth certificate below I know the names of both his parents and his father’s occupation but nothing else, except of course that his father, John Charitee Plummer was living in 1845. Obviously both parents would have been born pre-Civil Registration, but they may have married post-Civil Registration which means I could find their marriage records and their death records.

I also have the marriage certificate for William Plummer and Susan Jordan and this document has provided me with an excellent clue.

At the time of this marriage John Plummer was definitely no longer living, which means that he died pre-1865. So my first port of call is the 1861 Census to ascertain if both of William’s parents were living at this time.

Looking at the 1861 Census tells me that William’s father died pre-1861, but his mother died post-1861. I also have other information about William’s siblings and what looks to be a sister of Hannah – Rose Comfort, aged 20. Also, at the point in time the eldest child was born about 1838 meaning it is quite possible I could acquire the marriage details of William Plummer’s parents.

My next stop was the 1851 Census.

John was living in 1851, therefore my search criteria for his death record will be the years 1851 to 1861. Sadly, this Census also informs me that there was another child born prior to Civil Registration, meaning I probably will not be able to acquire their marriage record. Searches of the 1871 and 1881 Censuses informed me that Hannah Plummer died during this decade. I found the following:

	Deaths Jun 1855
Plummer, John Charitee	Wandsworth	Id 278
	Deaths Jun 1877
Plummer, Hannah Age 66	Lambeth	Id 336

Using either findmypast.com or Ancestry.com I can now go directly to the year and quarter to check the information and then order my certificates online via the GRO (see Chapter 1, Step 4). To be certain, I carried out a search of marriages from September 1837 to December 1850 but, as I now suspected, did not find the marriage records for John Charitee Plummer and Hannah Comfort.

The death certificate for John Charitee Plummer confirmed that I had the correct one, his occupation is listed as a carpenter and undertaker. As he died in the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, I have to wonder if his chosen career played on his mind in any way.

The cause of his death was apoplexy. I gathered the following information about apoplexy from Wikipedia, an online, free encyclopedia.

Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well.

The use of apoplexy for the term ‘stroke’ is derived from the fact that many patients lose consciousness during the acute stage of the vascular compromise (either through bleeding or ischemia). It is not to be confused with cataplexy (an attack of the neurological syndrome narcolepsy).

Occasionally, the term ‘apoplexy’ is used to describe haemorrhaging within other organs; in such usage, however, it is coupled with an adjective describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the kidneys can be called ‘renal apoplexy’, or bleeding within the pituitary gland can be called ‘pituitary apoplexy’.

In non-medical terms it is also used colloquially, particularly in its adjective form apoplectic, to mean furious, enraged, or upset to the point of being unable to deal with the situation rationally or diplomatically.

Step 4 – Updated family tree

Recap

• 1.Using findmyfamily.com to research.
• 2.Searching for deaths post-1901.
• 3.Keeping a track of your searches.
• 4.Ordering certificates straight from findmyfamily.com.
• 5.Sourcing Civil Registration records pre-1901 using the Census.
• 6.Total cost so far is:

  Annual UK Deluxe Membership with findmyfamily.com	£69.95
  Cost of 14 certificates	£98.00
  Total	£167.95
  Optional cost if choosing to utilise another source:
  Subscription to findmyfamily.com Census/BMD (You could choose either or both Ancestry and findmyfamily.com)	£65.00
  Total	£232.95

 Tips

• 1.If searching for a death certificate during the 20th century, check via the Census if the person was still living in 1901 via the Census.
• 2.Always talk to relatives before going off on a tangent to research your ancestors.
• 3.Always print off details of all suspects that you find, otherwise you might find yourself having to go through the whole painful process again.
• 4.Remember, just because someone has lived in the same place all their life, it does not necessarily mean that is where they died.
• 5.When using FreeBMD don’t forget to check coverage charts of what records have been transcribed.
• 6.Always allow for transcription errors in resource sites.
• 7.Always allow for transcription errors in the original Census.
• 8.Don’t forget to note names of other persons living at the same address even if their name means nothing to you now. They might turn out to be relatives giving you clues to other generations, such as Rose Comfort, sister of Hannah Plummer.
• 9.Don’t forget to be inventive in surname spellings when searching.
• 10.Don’t forget you can search by Christian names, date of birth and locations, including whole districts.