Another Great Database on Ancestry

Once I waded through all the patriotic databases last week, I discovered Ancestry's latest database, California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, 1895-1985.  I do have a few relatives who lived in the bay area, so hoped to find something to indicate when they died. Hopefully I would find some who died before the California death records database beginning date of 1940.

Funeral Record

Some of the records you might expect to find are death certificates, death notices and the actual funeral record which sometimes includes a credit request. In addition, I found a letter from the daughter-in-law of a deceased woman, whose son also died before the total bill could be paid.

The image on the right shows a funeral record for Edward Percival Gould. It gives his birth date, death date and parent's names; place of birth is listed along with the cause of death; the person paying the bill is also listed and there is a small death notice attached. This record was on two separate pages, so you have to check the record before and after to make sure you get the entire record.

I had conflicting information on this man - with the cemetery record where he has a memorial stone having a date ten years earlier. Obviously, the cemetery record is wrong.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes