Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Texas Deaths, 1977 - 1986

I feel like I'm using a very slow microfilm reader. Seriously. Family Search now has some death certificates up for Texas from 1977-1979. I had really good results with 1977, so I thought I would get a jump on 1978 Texas deaths.

First, I printed a custom report in RootsMagic that listed the name, death date and location of the people that I know died in Texas in 1978. If and when all these records are indexed, I'll go and search by surname. that always turns up a few winners for me.

In order to search, you need to know the county and the month, at least, when they died. This required looking at some of the indices available online. You would think that one of these indices would have the certificate number listed. Oh no. That would be too easy. Instead you have to locate the year, month and county on Family search and page through. and it isn't even like they tell you that certificate number 12345 - 23456 is Harris county or anything like that. And the month? Well, let's say that several of the groups say Aug-Sept and include June and July too! Weird way of doing things if you ask me. And I am not going to page through Harris county, Texas. It's a huge file. So then I have to make a to-do list item so that I don't forget about searching once these records are indexed.

And I won't even talk about the hour I wasted looking for a record in the wrong year.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

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